What makes a good communication for the schools?

Communication is described as the lifeblood of teaching and learning ¹ and I totally agree with this description. It is through communication that we make people aware of what is happening in the school and get their support. Our efforts, activities, field trips, students’ success stories, test results, festivals and many more are meaningful through communication and it is the communication that values everything that happens in the school.

When Communicating stay away from…

1. Sermonizing
2. Empathy threats
3. Whining
4. Showing off

Lack of communication or no communication is like a delicious dish that is not being served. Good communication, on the other hand, is two-way, well planned and constant flow of quality information to the parents and community members ². Moreover, if the communication is multi-modal and targeted, has clear intention and consistent with school values ³ and, most importantly, doesn’t contradict with the community’s values, beliefs and culture, then it can be considered as good and effective and as a result we are more than likely to establish effective partnerships ⁴ with parents and communities.

As schools, knowing what we target when communicating with others would help us to get the message across. The way and style that we express ourselves, our body language, gestures, and intention are so significant to be understood. The information that we want to convey should be clear, simple and free from too many jargon to have an effective communication. There are many mistakes that we make when communicating and the bad thing is that we, most of the time, are not aware of those mistakes.

Some of the common communication mistakes are sermonizing, empathy threats, whining, showing off and communication overload.⁵   Moreover, not listening well or not paying enough attention, flying into a rage when being attacked and bad memories with the person communicating are some other mistakes and problems.

Informing your parents timely about what is happening in the school may make a big difference and prevent a minor problem become a complicated one. Moreover, it is crucial to act promptly about a misunderstanding in your school with today’s technology that makes communication very fast among the parents, staff and community. Analyze the situation, prepare your explanation in advance and act quickly if you do not want your parents to be out of control.

Knowing our targets as administration will help us to write the policy and procedures that will take us to our targets so it would not be too late to inform. Always keep in mind communication is the heart of education and there has been so far no record that a living thing was able to live without a heart ⁶.

M.Canbaloglu
MMEDUCATION

REFERENCES

1. The twenty biggest communication mistakes, p. 2
2. How strong communication contributes to student and school success, p. 13
3. Voices on the Frontline, p. 9
4. How strong communication contributes to student and school success
5. The twenty biggest communication mistakes, p. 6
6. How strong communication contributes to student and school success, p. 6