Teacher perception of school principal interpersonal communication style: A qualitative study of a Turkish primary school

The purpose of this study was to explore considerable aspects in communication patterns of a school
setting that might play important roles in principal-teacher interactions. By using a qualitative
research method, the present study focused on teachers' views on communication styles of the school
principal in a Turkish primary school. A semi-structured interview form prepared by researchers
was applied to 14 teachers in a school from Ankara province. Content analysis is employed in the
analysis of the data. Results illustrated that communication within this school perceived by
interviewed teachers was inefficient. The school principal doesn’t effectively use communication for
developing collaboration between teachers and improving school. Findings from this study strongly
point out the need of developing an interaction between the principal and teachers that can allow
open two-way communication Recommendations for future research are made including the need
for an investigation based on the opinions of not only teachers but also principals, parents and
students. Additionally, school principals and teachers’ interactions can be examined in a more
detailed way by using a social network analysis approach.