Send us Fan Mail T is for Trust and Belonging — the first element of the THRIVE framework, and the one that comes first for a reason. Kurt opens with Molly Morgan. A convict transported from Devon in the late 1700s, whose ship wrecked on Tuggerah Beach on the NSW Central Coast. Rather than turn herself in, Molly disappeared — lived with the local Aboriginal peoples on the land, outsmarted the red coats who hunted her for years, and eventually emerged as a businesswoman and respected community figure. The system wanted her contained. She had other ideas. Kurt found her story while searching for something — anything — that might connect a room full of Central Coast kids to a history unit about early Sydney that meant nothing to them. What followed was a unit redesign that started with Molly and the local land, the families who'd been there for generations, the history that was already under their feet. And then there was one particular student. A child in state care, living in hotel rooms, waiting for a placement in a specialist emotional support unit. A child who tested every room he entered to see if it would hold him. Who disrupted, derailed, grabbed every bit of attention he could find — because attention was the one thing he'd learned to get. Kurt tells the story of what happened when that child was given a role in a historical press gallery. The moment he asked for one more chance. The moment he shone. The episode then unpacks the T element properly. What trust actually is — and what it isn't. Why belonging is not warmth. Why the most important question a teacher can ask is not am I treating everyone fairly but who in this room has quietly concluded they're not a learner. And why the conditions that retain teachers in the hardest schools turn out to be the same conditions that retain students. For classroom teachers: what does your room teach students about whether it's safe to not know something yet? For school leaders: what does your school teach its staff about whether it's safe to struggle, disagree, or need help? The Theory of Trust and Belonging The research traditions that underpin the T element of THRIVE — where trust sits in the science of human motivation and learning. Self-Determination Theory — the relatedness need Ryan, R.M. & Deci, E.L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. → The foundational paper on the three basic psychological needs. Relatedness — the felt sense that you matter to the people around you — is the T element's theoretical home. When relatedness is unmet, cognitive and emotional resources that learning requires are redirected toward managing belonging instead. Deci, E.L. & Ryan, R.M. (2008). Self-determination theory: A macrotheory of human motivation, development, and health. Canadian Psychology, 49(3), 182–185. → A more accessible overview of SDT, including the distinction between environments that support versus undermine the three basic needs. Useful for professional learning contexts. Being, Belonging, Becoming — the philosophical foundation Australian Government Department of Education (2022). Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia, Version 2.0. AGDE. → The philosophical framework that gives the T element its deepest roots. Belonging in the EYLF is not a feeling — it is a condition of existence. Before a child can genuinely Be or Become, they must Belong. Free to download from the Australian Government website. Sumsion, J. & Wong, S. (2011). Interrogating 'belonging' in Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 12(1), 28–45. → The politics of belonging argument — belonging is not just warmth and welcome; it is power. Who gets to belong on their own terms and who has to assimilate in order to belong. Essential reading for any leader thinking about equity and inclusion. Peers, C. & Fleer, M. (2014). The theory of 'conceptual holds': Scaffolding learning and development within a play-based program. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 3(4), 285–295. → Draws on Vygotsky and Dewey to argue that belonging is not a destination but a process — always in formation, always shaped by relationship and environment. The becoming argument applied to belonging. The hidden curriculum of belonging The research on what schools inadvertently teach students about who belongs — and whose identity the system values. Jackson, P.W. (1968). Life in Classrooms. Holt, Rinehart and Winston: New York. → The original hidden curriculum argument. Schools teach two curricula simultaneously — the formal content, and the unofficial lessons about how to wait, comply, and manage the appearance of belonging. The 'who in this room has quietly concluded they're not a learner' question in this episode comes from Jackson's insight. Hattie, J. (2009). Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. Routledge. → The teacher-student relationship is among the strongest in-school influences on student achievement. Not the program. Not the resource. The relationship. Trust is the prerequisite for the relationship. Trust and Belonging — the teacher dimension The research confirms that the conditions that retain teachers are the same conditions that engage students. ★ NEW — July 2026 Dadvand, B., Murphy, S., Bourke, T., Mills, R., Eacott, S., & Mac, Q. K. (2026). What keeps teachers in hard-to-staff schools? Evidence from school leaders and the research literature. La Trobe University: Victoria, Australia. ISBN: 978-1-7636010-1-7 → The source for Paul's visible leadership quote in this episode. Three leadership themes emerged consistently across five Victorian hard-to-staff schools: building a culture of belonging, providing psychological anchor through visible leadership, and seeing and recognising each staff member as an individual. These are T — Trust and Belonging — confirmed from a workforce retention direction. Open access, reproducible for educational purposes. Kim, J. (2019). How principal leadership seems to affect early career teacher turnover. American Journal of Education, 126(1), 101–137. → Principal non-responsiveness is a major contributor to decreased teacher wellbeing, even among well-intentioned principals. Small concerns that go unaddressed become decisions to leave. Trust is built or destroyed in the small moments. The Masters connection — growth curriculum needs trust underneath it Masters, G. (2024). The Children We Leave Behind. ACER Press: Melbourne, Australia. → Referenced in this episode in connection with the T element argument: growth-based curriculum and progressive assessment — Masters' central proposals — require students to be honest about what they don't know yet. Honesty requires safety. Safety requires trust. T comes first not because the framework says so, but because the structural reform Masters argues for cannot function without it. Global practitioner network voices The educators from Kurt's LinkedIn study who independently described the T element without knowing the framework. Secondary classroom teacher and educational consultant, Podgorica, Montenegro. 30 years in education. → 'Trust is built when leadership does not only ask teachers to be resilient, but actively removes avoidable pressure from the system.' — quoted in this episode. System leader, ACT Australia. 35 years in education, overseeing 14 schools. → 'Students don't just need to feel they won't be humiliated — they need to feel they actually have a place here. Those are related but not the same thing.' — quoted in this episode. Global practitioner network (2025). The Why Behind Educators Who Thrive — six respondents across four continents. Kurt Walker LinkedIn study. Want to participate in the study? Click Here Want to help keep this work going? Your support helps Kurt and his small research team continue creating meaningful, practical content for educators. Or perhaps you simply want to buy him a coffee to say thanks for the chat. You can do that here. Take the next step — connect with Kurt on LinkedIn and be part of the ongoing conversation.
