Investigation of the relationship between perceptions of school culture and organizational silence teachers' in kindergartens

The aim of this study is to reveal the relationship between the existing school culture and organizational silence in kindergartens. Accordingly, to determine the current organizational culture and organizational silence levels of kindergartens according to the teachers' perceptions, to determine whether there are significant differences in the kindergarten perceptions of organizational culture and organizational silence in terms of gender, seniority, age, duration of service at school, and whether or not there are any union members; and It is aimed to reveal whether there is a significant relationship between school culture and organizational silence behavior. This study is a relational screening study. The working group of the research consists of teachers working in all kindergartens that continue their activities in Malatya city center and its districts in the 2019-2020 academic year. Since the universe is not very large, data has been collected from the teachers in the entire universe by not taking a sample. The study has been conducted with 184 teachers working in 42 kindergartens in Malatya city center and its districts. The "School Culture Scale" and the "Organizational Silence Scale" have been used as data collection tools. In addition, "Personal Information Form" has been used to determine the demographic variables of the teachers. The data obtained in the study have been analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social SPSS 22 (Windows) program. Independent samples t-Test, to determine whether teachers' perceptions of school culture and heir perceptions of organizational silence differ according to gender and whether they are members of any union; One-Way ANOVA has been performed to determine whether it differentiates according to age, seniority and duration of service in the school in which they work. Percentage, frequency, average, standard deviation, etc. have been used as descriptive statistical methods in the evaluation of the data. Pearson Moments Correlation Coefficient analysis has been performed to test whether there is a significant relationship between organizational culture and perceptions of organizational silence. According to the results of the research, it has been concluded that the organizational silence levels of the teachers working in kindergartens are at a medium level. When the answers given by the teachers to the questions related to the demographic characteristics of the measurement tool were examined, it was concluded that there was no significant difference between the variables of gender, age, seniority and duration of service in the school where he worked. When the answers given by the teachers to the questions related to the demographic characteristics of the measurement tool are examined, it has been concluded that there are no significant difference between the variables of gender, age, seniority and duration of service in the school where he worked. According to the variable of being a member of any union or not, it has been determined that the teachers who are members of any union in the school environment sub-dimension are more silent than teachers who are not union members. It is concluded that teachers' perceptions of school culture are at a high level in general and in all sub-dimensions. According to the gender variable, it has been determined that male teachers' perception of school culture is higher in the collaborative leadership dimension. It has been concluded that there is no significant difference between the variables of age, length of service in the school where he work and membership of any union. According to the variable of length of service (seniority) in teaching, there is a significant difference in teachers' perceptions of school culture regarding professional development, unity of purpose and professional support sub-dimensions. It has been determined that teachers with 6-15 years of service time (seniority) have higher perceptions of professional development, purpose unity and professional support than teachers with 16-25 years of service time (seniority). According to the findings, a negative and low level relation has been found between school culture and organizational silence. According to this result, it can be said that as the organizational silence levels of teachers increase, their perceptions of school culture decrease. Key Words: School Culture, Organizational Silence, Kindergarten