Communication in schools: signs and symptoms for administrators

This article describes features of communication among staff members in schools. These features, both positive and negative, include openness, accuracy, distortion, access, and overload/underload. A recent study of communication in New South Wales schools confirmed the existence of these as variables related to job satisfaction and stress of staff members. Potential impacts of these features are discussed in the article and the implications for school administrators are highlighted. The author argues that, by examining features of communication among staff, a school administrator can gain insights into the state of the school's climate and general organisational health.