Communication in a High School Staff
| Date | 01 February 1967 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009613 |
| Pages | 125-135 |
| Published date | 01 February 1967 |
| Author | BARRIE BRENNAN |
| Subject Matter | Education |
THE
JOURNAL
OF
EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
125
VOLUME
V,
NUMBER
2
OCTOBER,
1967
Communication
in a
High School Staff
BARRIE BRENNAN
(The research project here reported constituted section
of a
Bachelor
of
Letters
thesis submitted
in the
Department
of
Education
at the
University
of New
England.)
A communication diary
was
used
to
gather data
on the
oral
communication
of a
small high school
staff. The
data were
analysed
to
gain information
on the
patterns
of
communication
in
the
organization.
It was
found that communication concern-
ing school policy
was an
important activity
of
teachers—more
so,
in fact, than communication
of a
private
and
personal nature.
Within
the
school hierarchy high status persons ranked high
in
communication
on
personal
and
pri\atc matters.
The
most
senior members
of the
hierarchy seemed
to be
isolated from
the
personal
or
informal communication
net. The
results appear
to
have some implications
for the
allocation
of
teachers
to
staff
rooms.
INTRODUCTION
The research reported here sought
to
survey
the
oral communi-
cation behaviour
of a
school
staff. Its
first
aim was to
note
the
trends
and
patterns evident
in the
communication behaviour
of
the staff group:
Who was the
most communicative?
Who was
the least communicative?
How did
various staff members perform
on various aspects
of
oral communication? What hierarchical
positions were associated with
a
high level
of
oral communication?
A second
aim was to
determine whether
the
results
of the
research
had any
practical implications
for the
communication
behaviour
of the
school principal.
For
example,
on the
basis
of
this research with
a
working group,
did any
principles
or
guides
to action appear that could
be
applied
to
similar groups?
The school
in
which
the
research
was
conducted
and of
which
the researcher
was a
staff member,
was a
high school serving
a
small town
and its
surrounding rural community
in
central west-
ern
New
South Wales.
The
pupil population
was 300 and the
MR. BARRIE BRENNAN holds
the
degree
of B.A. and the
Dip.Ed. from
the
University
of
Sydney
and the
Litt.B.
in
Education from
the
University
of
New England.
He is a
Member
of the
Australian College
of
Education
and has
taught
in
several high schools
in New
South Wales.
At
present
he is
English
Master
at
Gilgandra High School.
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