Investigation of the relationship between teachers 'communication skills and teachers' leadership

The main purpose of this research is to reveal the relationship between the of communication skills and the perceptions of teacher leadership of elementary school teachers. The research was designed with the predictive correlational model, one of the quantitative research methods. The population of the research consists of teachers working in elementary schools in the central districts of Gaziantep in the 2020-2021 academic year. The sample of the study consists of 625 teachers selected according to the simple random sampling method. Three data collection tools were used in the study: "Personal Information Form" to determine the demographic characteristics of teachers, "Communication Skills Scale-Adult Form (CSS-AF)" to determine their perceptions of communication skills, and "Teacher Leadership Scale" to determine their perceptions of teacher leadership. The data obtained were analyzed using the SPSS 22 program. Data analysis was performed with t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation analysis, simple and multiple linear regression analysis. The findings of the study show that teachers' general perceptions of communication skills are high, and their general perceptions of teacher leadership are moderately high. There is no significant difference in communication skills of teachers in terms of gender, age, branch, professional seniority, tenure at school, number of teachers at school, while teacher leadership perceptions differ significantly only in the branch variable, in favor of classroom teachers. On the other hand, our study reveals that there is a positive, significant and moderate relationship between teachers' perceptions of communication skills and their perceptions of teacher leadership. According to teachers' opinions, teachers' communication skills are a positive and significant predictor of teacher leadership. Communication skills explain 29% of the total variance regarding teacher leadership. Among the dimensions, the basic skills of teachers and the ability to express themselves are the most important predictors of teacher leadership. Our suggestions were included in the study, in line with the findings, results, and relevant literature.