Examining the relationship between preschool teachers' prosocial behaviors and communication skills

In this study, which examined the relationship between prosocial behaviors and communication skills of preschool teachers, their attitudes towards prosocial behaviors and communication skills were compared on the basis of dimensions. In addition, significant differences were tried to be determined on the basis of independent variables such as gender, age, professional seniority, educational status, tenure at the school and the number of students in the class. The research was carried out with the relational scanning model. The population of the research consisted of pre-school teachers working in the kindergartens of independent kindergartens and primary schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education in the central districts of Diyarbakır (Bağlar, Kayapınar, Sur, Yenişehir). Stratified Sampling method was used to determine the number of teachers to be included in the research sample. The sample of the study consisted of a total of 309 preschool teachers, 262 female and 47 male. In order to collect data for the research, the "Personal Information Form" containing information for preschool teachers, the "Adult Prosociality Scale" to measure prosocial behaviors, and the "Communication Skills Scale - Adult Form (IAS-EF)" were used to determine communication skills. The data collected through the scales were transferred to the computer environment and analyzed using the SPSS statistical package program. In order to determine the relationship between the demographic characteristics of the teachers participating in the research and the prosocial behaviors of preschool teachers and their communication skills, the mean and standard deviation values were calculated in each sub-dimension of the YPÖ and IBÖ-YF scales. Before deciding on the tests to be performed, normality and homogeneity tests were applied, followed by Independent Samples t Test (Independent Samples t Test), professional seniority, number of teachers in the school and number of students in the class, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), for samples unrelated to the gender and educational status of preschool teachers. Duration of tenure Kruskal Wallis-H tests conducted at the school studied were used. As a result of these tests, multiple comparisons were made with the Tukey test and Mann-Whitney U test to determine which subject groups had a significant difference. Simple linear regression analysis was used to predict preschool teachers' perceptions of communication skills. In interpreting the regression analyses, standardized Beta (β) coefficients and t-test results regarding their significance were taken into consideration. The .05 significance level was taken as basis in the analysis of the data. As a result of the research, in the analysis made on the basis of the dimensions of preschool teachers' attitudes towards prosocial behaviors and communication skills, it was seen that the attitudes of preschool teachers towards prosocial behaviors were at a very high level. When the results of pre-school teachers' prosocial behavior levels were examined according to the gender variable, a significant difference was found in the mean scores in favor of female teachers. When the results of the research were examined according to the gender variable, it was concluded that the communication skills of female teachers were higher than those of male teachers. According to the professional seniority variable of teachers, a statistically significant difference was observed in the "compliance with communication principles" sub-dimension of communication skills levels. It is seen that the significant difference in the attitudes of the teachers participating in the research towards communication skills according to the number of teachers in the school is between teachers whose number of teachers is "20 and above" and teachers whose number is "0-10". It is seen that the prosocial behaviors of the preschool teachers participating in the research increase as the number of students in the class increases, and their attitudes towards prosocial behaviors also increase. As a result of the analysis conducted to examine the communication skills of preschool teachers according to the variable of the number of students in the class, a significant difference is observed in the dimension of "willingness to establish relationships" in terms of the variable of the number of students in the class. Finally, when the correlation between preschool teachers' prosocial behaviors and communication skills was examined, it was determined that there was a moderate, positive and significant relationship between the two variables. It was also determined that the prosocial behaviors variable explained 24% of the change in the attitudes of the communication skills variable and that the prosocial behaviors variable was a significant predictor of the attitudes of the communication skills variable. Keywords: Prosocial, prosocial behavior, communication, preschool education, preschool teachers.