This study examined the relationship between the perceived communicator styles and educational environments of 1675 students from 18 New South Wales high schools. Two major communicator style profiles described as ‘animated-dominant’ and ‘supportive-attentive’ were related to actual school environments and three preferred classroom environments defined as ‘peer-conflict’, ‘individualisation’ and ‘teacher-managed’. The findings indicate a very positive association between supportive-attentive communicator style and actual school environments. In sharp contrast, students perceived as animated-dominant held rather negative views concerning teachers, affective climate and opportunity for advancement in the actual school environment. In terms of preferred classroom environments, the only consistent finding was a rejection by students perceived as having animated-dominant and supportive-attentive communicator styles of a rather restrictive teacher-managed environment. Neither of these major findings was substantially modified by the year level or sex of the high school student.
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