Teachers' Perception and Opinions Regarding the Communication Skills of School Administrators

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The aim of this study is to evaluate communication skills of school administrators according to the perceptions and opinions of the branch teachers working in secondary schools. In the study, the explanatory pattern involving the quantitative and qualitative methods was used. Quantitative part of the study was designed in the screening model. The quantitative data was collected from 211 teachers working in the province of Sivas through the "Scale for Communication Skills of School Principals". The qualitative part of the study, however, was conducted in accordance with the case study design. The qualitative data, on the other hand, was obtained from 20 teachers working in the province of X through the semi-structured interview form. Quantitative findings of the study show that the teachers perceive the communication skills of school administrators highly positive whereas they, in general, they find the communication skills of school administrators unsatisfying according to the qualitative findings. In this context, we can say that the qualitative findings do not support the quantitative findings, and accordingly, the school administrators have problems in their communication skills. Keywords: communication, communication skills of school administrators, branch teachers Extended AbstractPurpose and Significance: The most important element that starts the process of communication and determines the structure and nature of the communication is the school principal (Celep, 2000). The school principal, who has the characteristic of human resources manager in a school organization, is also a communication leader. An organization without communication is not possible. Yet, it is also impossible to have a common goal in a school organization without communication, to achieve this goal and to coordinate human resources of the school organization (Karslı, 2006). Thus, having an efficient communication network in schools which is an educational organization is almost a necessity.Analyzing the relevant literature, the studies on the communication skills of school administrators in educational institutions are not rare (Argon & Zafer, 2009;Ärlestig, 2007;Aslanargun & Bozkurt, 2012;Aydoğan & Kaşkaya, 2010;Doğan, Uğurlu, Yıldırım & Karabulut, 2014;Durgun, 2011;Halawah, 2005;Myran, Sanzo & Clayton, 2011;Özan, 2006;Rowicki, 1999;Şimşek & Altınkurt, 2009). As is seen, the * The quantitative findings of this article were taken from the master's thesis of Osman Koçak.