The study on relationship between co-creating leadership of elementary school principals and teacher professional learning communities: Teacher trust as a mediator

The purposes of this study were as follows: (1) to examine the relationship among principal co-creating leadership, teachers professional learning community, and teacher trust; and (2) to verify the mediating effect of teacher trust. The study employed a survey method generated by the researchers entitled “Principals’ Co-creating Leadership, Teachers’ Professional Learning Community, and Teacher Trust Inventory.” Participants were 838 elementary school teachers from Taipei City, New Taipei City and Taoyuan City. Data was analyzed by Pearson correlation and structural equation modeling. Three main findings were elaborated as follows: (1) There is a positive and significant correlation among principals’ co-creating leadership, teacher professional learning communities and teacher trust. (2) Principals’ co-creating leadership has significant direct effect on the teacher professional learning community. (3) The impacts of principals’ co-creating leadership on teachers’ professional learning communities are partially mediated by teacher trust. According to the research findings, several suggestions for the implementation and further studies are proposed.