School Managers’ Interpersonal Communication Skills in Turkey

The purpose of the study, which was conducted as a survey using a descriptive method, was to explore school managers’ interpersonal communication skills in Turkey. The data were collected from teachers and managers working in Kindergartens, Primary Schools, Anatolian High Schools, and Vocational and Technical High Schools in the province of Antalya, Turkey via the “Interpersonal Communication Skills Questionnaire” consisting of 22 items designed with five-point Likert scales, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The population of the research consisted of 11690 teachers and managers working in these schools. A total of 1441 questionnaires were responded. After the invalid questionnaires were eliminated, 1284 questionnaires were included in the analysis. In order to determine the views of both managers’ and teachers’ means, frequencies, standard deviations, two kinds of parametric tests, independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA, were utilized. Consequently, school managers’ communication skills in empathic sensitivity, reflective listening and feedback and creating positive communication climate seem to have a satisfactory level in the current state. This is hopeful in that this is likely to mean that they engage in new communicational techniques and technologies for their personal and professional development.