Despite decades of research, predictors of teacher quality have been difficult to determine, leading to challenges in proposing policy. The current review suggests that students’ trust in teachers may be an important, but understudied, part of teacher success. Indeed, even young children are surprisingly adept at deciding what type of a teacher to choose to learn new information. First, they prefer to learn from a teacher who has been an accurate source of information in the past. But they also take into account various social features of the teacher such as familiarity, emotional relationship, and social group membership. This research on children’s trust in teachers can translate into practice and policies for improving student outcomes.
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