The reflection of school climate on the learning and teaching process from the perspective of public preschool administrators and teachers

A warm school climate in which the staff is contented determines the quality of teacher-administrator relationship, which can affect the learning and teaching process since it has a significant role in forming a positive or negative learning environment. It should not be forgotten that all the members need to feel comfortable, safe and free for a positive school climate. Moreover, the schools having a flexible working environment rather than those with strict disciplinary policies are more successful in terms of the learning and teaching process. Since preschool institutions are the first environments that children contact following their families, all the staff, especially the administrators, should create a school atmosphere as warm as a family. This is a descriptive research, aiming to identify preschool administrators' and teachers' views on school climate, the problems they face in this respect, the ways coping with these problems and the reflections of school climate on learning and teaching process. As the first step of the study, the Organizational Climate Description was administered to 145 teachers and 4 school administrators working at 18 different preschools in Eskisehir to have purposive sampling. As the second step, the standardized scores from the scale were identified, the volunteering administrators and the teachers of the two schools getting the highest and the lowest scores were interviewed. The data were analysed using inductive analysis technique; the data gathered through the semi-structured interviews were coded and sub-themes and themes were identified based on the codes. The results of the study revealed that the administrators and the teachers described climate with the concepts of sharing unity, trust and healthy communication. Also, the administrators and the teachers of the school having a healthy school climate seemed to perceive school climate as more positive than the other school's. The findings indicated that the most important factor in forming school climate is the school administrators, and the personality of the administrator is the most important factor in formation of school climate. The principles and behaviours of the administrators along with the type of school climate at their schools are shaped by their personality. School administrators personality affects their behaviors in school, communication styles, the amount and type of teacher support they provide and the way they approach to problems. The school climate and administration style affects the relationships in school. If the administrator is warm, positive, cheerful and considerate, the school has a positive, open and healthy atmosphere as well; on the other hand, if he/she is negative, distant, strict and prejudiced, the atmosphere is also negative and unhealthy. Acoording to the participants of the study, the administrators and the teachers have different responsibilities to form a positive school climate. The administrators should be open to ideas, fair, sincere and have a constructive and balanced relationship, and most importantly adopt an administrative mentality with the soul of a leader. As for the teachers, they should be considerate, aware of their responsibilities, helpful to each other and cooperative. The study also revealed that the work atmosphere and the climate at schools directly affects teachers and then indirectly the students. A positive school climate was found to be reflected in teachers as satisfaction, expectations being met, job satisfaction, motivation, high performance and productivity while positive reflections on students were a more teacher interaction, positive mood, warm environment and more and better quality activities. On the other hand, a negative school climate seems to cause unfulfilled expectations and dissatisfaction, burn out and lack of motivation due to unsolved problems in teachers. While in children the possible effects of negative climate are which in return affects the children as more aggressive teacher-child and peer relationships due to the negative atmosphere in the classroom, more restrictions and communication problems, less teacher involvement and decrease in the number and quality of activities conducted in the classroom. Key Words: Preschool education, school climate, climate reflections, preschool teachers, preschool principals.