The relationship between perception levels of primary school teachers related to learning organization and organizational health

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between primary school teachers' perception levels of learning organization and organizational health. The research was modelled as a survey search and it is a descriptive work. First of all, research concerning "learning organization" and "organizational health" was done. During the research, as a data gathering medium, Organizational Health Scale developed by Akbaba (2001) and Learning School Scale by Subas (2010) were applied to primary school teachers. The data taken from the questionnaires were evaluated to see whether they showed any significant differences regarding the variables of age, gender, educational background, seniority and the length of service at school. In the statistical analysis of the gathered data, SPSS 15.0 software package was used. In addition to this, the percentage, frequency, means and standard deviation of the data were calculated. The tests which were conducted to be able to set the differences among the values include independent samples t-test, one way analysis of varience ANOVA, Kruskal Wallis-H test and Mann-Whitney U test.The population of the study consists of the primary school teachers working in Sancaktepe, stanbul during 2012-2013 academic year. As for the sample of the study, 116 primary school teachers working in 10 different state schools in Sancaktepe participated in the research. It was concluded that there was a positive significant relationship between the total score of Organizational Health Scale and learning as a team which is a factor of Learning School Scale. The results of the scales show that the teachers who work in healthy organizations have internalised cooperative learning and also think that it is much more effective than individual learning. In addition, a significant relationship was found between the shared vision which is also a factor of Learning School Scale and the total score of Organizational Health Scale. It can be understood from this result that the teachers who work in healthy organizations attach a lot of importance to the visions of their schools as well as seeing themselves as a part of these visions. Furthermore, the positive significant relationship between personal control and mental methods factors of Learning School Scale and the total score of Organizational Health Scale identifies the impact of organizational health on teachers. It can be inferred that learning organization perceptions of teachers who work in healthy organizations are high. As a result of the conducted difference tests, it was found out that the perception levels of primary school teachers related to learning organization and organizational health differed from each other significantly concerning some variables. The organizational health perception levels of primary school teachers were examined by focusing on the factors of Organizational Health Scale which are organizational leadership, organizational wholeness, environmental interactivity, organizational identity and organizational product, According to the results, it is clear that their perception levels do not differentiate depending on length of service at school, marital status, age and educational background variables. On the other hand, primary school teachers' perceptions of organizational identity and product differentiate concerning teachers' seniority and the difference is in favour of 5 years and under 5 years group rather than the 6-11 years group regarding the mentioned variable. Additionally, it was found out that the age variable showed a significant difference in favour of men in organizational leadership and product factors. Primary school teachers' perceptions of learning organization were examined by considering learning as a team, shared vision, personal control, mental models and systems thinking factors of Learning School Scale in detail and it was concluded that personal control factor showed a significant difference regarding the age variable. This significant difference is in favour of 41 and over age group compared to the 30 and under 30 age group. In addition, the data obtained from the tests indicate that men's perceptions of learning as a team and systems thinking is higher than women. It can also be pointed out that personal control factor is in favour of the 41 and over age group rather than the 30 and under 30 age group. Finally, as for the other factors, no significant differences were founddepending on age, sex, seniority and the length of service variables. Key Words: Learning Organization, Learning School, Organizational Health, School Health, Teachers Perception.