In fulfilling successful school environment, communication has played vital roles. Communications among school leaders, teachers, students, parents, personnel and stakeholders are of equal importance in bring the school in the peak of success. However, just like any other organizations, school faces many barriers to communication.

         Here are some of the barriers to communication I have observed in my experience as teacher.

         Leader branding. Most of the times just because people heard that a certain leader who is coming in their school is like this, did this or like that, they tend to brand. Stereotyping and believing in hearsay is a kind of barrier to communication. In this situation, you are not giving the leader a chance to prove himself and perform in his best. To me, this does not speak of the leader, but the kind of people you are. Branding and stereotyping a leader you have not worked with is a characteristic of unprofessional person, who should not serve in a school. This also limits a lot of possibilities to knowing each other and giving a chance for an unbiased relationship towards achieving more desirable goals for professional development and students’ achievement.

         2. Lack of listening. We often hear that we are given two ears and one mouth so we could do more listening than talking, but in many cases it’s the other way around. Instances would show that this kind of barrier to communication is also associated with pride. We often don’t want to listen because may be we have the pride, anger, and lack of trust and confidence. In any kinds of relationships in school, if you don’t listen, it would create a lot of problems. This kind of barrier is a two-way process, meaning the school leader or teachers might be the ones not listening.

         3. Individual differences. This is the biggest barrier to communication in an organization. No one is the same in an organization, and this leads to misunderstanding, miscommunication, branding, labelling, and a lot more. We tend to think of ourselves first before anyone else. We tend to be unprofessional in dealing with others just because we don’t have the same wavelength. We don’t want to work to people with different perspectives as ours. However, as professional teachers, we have to turn the tables and use our differences to be united towards gearing a culture of excellence. 

         Barriers to communication are part and parcel of a school organization. These make the school setting even more alive, as they open possibilities and potentials of knowing each other better through bridging gap and building trust and confidence.

By: Gerlie Sapad Tagudin | Teacher III| Barretto II Elementary School | Olongapo City