**3.1 The concept and the importance of school climate**

We have discussed the concept and the importance of school climate for ensuring the effectiveness of educators' work and achieving school objectives. The conditions of school life are increasingly harsh, with incidents of violence and aggressiveness becoming part of the daily life in schools [6]. As a microcosm of society, school is influenced by the broader environment, in which rapid change, uncertainty, violence, and insecurity prevail. Furthermore, verbal and physical abuse often occurs in settings of grinding poverty. There are two sides to school climate: for those directly involved it can be understood as a subjective experience, while for outsiders it can be seen as a set of objective characteristics. Such characteristics include violent and aggressive acts, negative behavior, higher dropout rates, and educators abandoning the field of education.

We have analyzed the parameters that can contribute to the improvement of school climate as lived experience. In the workplace, educators observe and record aspects of the broader society. Their profession becomes harder not so much because of the demands concerning teaching and the promotion of knowledge as the social and psychological problems they are required to address. They have to work in an environment of increasing cultural and technological complexity, at a time when availability of resources is being restricted. Studies on educators' workrelated stress indicate that their profession is becoming increasingly demanding and their role is being redefined. In the context of this redefinition, many are those who take a decision to leave their jobs [4]. We have seen how school climate as lived experience can be a crucial factor affecting educators' performance and a sense that they are effective and competent. When there is tension, violence, and uncertainty in school, it is not only the performance of educators that is reduced but also, as a consequence, that of students as well. By contrast, in a school climate which is positive, job satisfaction increases, while work-related stress tends to decrease. This finding has provided an answer to the first research question.

### **3.2 Communication as a key factor for positive school climate**

They are several ways to create a positive and creative climate in schools in order to enable educators and students to express themselves, create and experience the joy of achievement. It is true that external agencies and competent bodies cannot sense school experience. To them, school reality is an abstraction, an object to be observed, a set of quantitative data to be statistically analyzed. It is hard for outsiders to perceive the lived school reality and thus to fully understand the meaning of school conditions. Given this fact, factors that can contribute to forming positive school climate which come from within the school community were identified in the literature. We have found that interpersonal communication in school is an invaluable tool that can be used to this end. Communication is a social activity *per se*, forming relationships and promoting solutions. Furthermore, the collective work which is organized on the basis of effective communication, emotional intelligence, and empathy can indeed contribute to solving problems and creating positive school climate. The profession of educators is a social profession, not only in terms of what is provided to society as a whole through educating students but also because of its inherent nature. The teacher is not a lonely worker; such an idea is useless and limited in its perspective. Instead, he/she is understood as an

interpersonal professional [46], one who shares his/her ideas and thoughts, and acts collectively. A teacher with social and communication skills can deliver both within the school community and in the broader society. Communication and teamwork, then, are key factors in promoting positive school climate, in forming a school in which all teachers and students will wish to live, work, and exist. This finding has provided an answer to the second research question.

#### **3.3 School principal communication skills and school climate**

In our study, we found that school principals have a very important role to play regarding school climate. School principals should possess considerable communication skills, be democratic, and promote cooperation. Understanding the attitude and behavior of educators is one of the desiderata of school leadership. But for this to happen, principals should be emotionally intelligent; in other words, they should be capable of "reading" the emotions of those they work with. Individuals with high emotional intelligence are capable of the following:

