EDUCATIONAL SUPERVISION

 

School supervision, since its origin in the early nineteenth century in Great Britain has been the main instrument of facilitating and ensuring quality improvement in schools. It started as a tool for monitoring, by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Schools that was based on top-to-down authority and control model as well as on rules, regulations, acts and codes. In India the system of inspection came in vogue with the recommendations of Wood’s Dispatch of 1854, mainly for regulating the private-aided and missionary schools. Its main aim was to control and maintain the educational system rather than improve and develop it. Its nature was authoritative, autocratic and unscientific. Hence the word inspector or supervisor had a negative connation and even became a taboo in many countries. Inspection was seen as an old fashioned, non-democratic institution and a few countries got rid not only of the terminology, but also of the supervision service itself. In the beginning of the 20th century, the concept of inspection was modified and came to be known as Supervision. The emphasis shifted from rigid inspection to democratic supervision. Countries which had dismantled their supervision services earlier reestablished them whereas countries which did not have them in the past have created them. The focus shifted to reorganizing and strengthening supervision services with the aim of enhancing efficiency and, improving quality of institutions.

 

The term supervision is an interaction between at least two persons for the improvement of an activity. It is also a combination or integration of processes, procedures and conditions that are consciously designed to advance the work effectiveness of individuals and group.

Adams and Dicky, “Supervision is a planned program for the improvement of institutions”.

Barr and Burton : Supervision is the foundation upon which all programs for the improvement of teaching must be built.

Kimball Wiles : Supervision is the service activity that exists to help the teachers to do their job better.

Harled Spears: Supervision is the service provided by the state for helping educators and educational administrators to do a better job.

Bernard and Goodyear: Supervision is an intervention that is provided by a senior member of a profession to a junior member or members of that same profession. This relationship is evaluative, extends over time, and has the simultaneous purposes of enhancing the professional functioning of the junior member(s).

Douglas et.al – „ Supervision is the effort to stimulate , coordinate and guide the continued growth of teachers, both individually and collectively, in better understanding and more effective performance of all the functions of instruction, so that they will be better able to stimulate and direct each students continued growth towards a rich and intelligent participation in society.‟

Educational Supervision is essentially the practice of monitoring the performance of school staff, noting the merit and demerits and using befitting and amicable techniques to ameliorate the flaws while still improving on the merits thereby increasing the standard of schools and achieving educational goals.

From the above definitions, the following components of supervision emerge:

Supervision is an intervention

There are unique competencies and skills involved in supervision that allow the supervisor to help the supervisee.

Supervision is provided by a senior member of a profession

A supervisor is more advanced, at least in some important ways, than the supervisee. It is important that the supervisee understand the roles and expectations of each supervisor.

Supervision is a relationship that extends over time

The process of supervision occurs within the relationship between the supervisor and supervisee. It is important to keep in mind that both the supervisor and supervisee contribute to the relationship and have responsibilities within the process. The fact that supervision is ongoing allows for the relationship to grow and develop. While not the sole determinate of the quality of supervision, the quality of the relationship between the supervisor and supervisee can add or detract from the experience. It is important that the “relationship” aspect of supervision not be overlooked or neglected.

The supervisor evaluates and monitors

In order to enhance the professional functioning of the supervisee, the supervisor constantly monitors and provides feedback regarding supervisee performance. It can be said that supervision is a specialized service focused to bring qualitative improvement in education.

Purpose of Educational Supervision

Supervision is an aspect of educational administration which has to do with providing assistance for the development of better teaching and learning situation. It offers guidance to the teachers so that they can become competent in self-analysis, self-criticisms, and self-improvement and at the end have self-actualization. One of the functions of supervision is to ensure that educational policies and laws are properly enforced in order to improve the students‟ performance and to develop education for youth. Hence educational supervision is a must towards achieving and maintaining satisfactory academic standard in schools.

The purpose of supervision is

 To help improve the quality of schools and achievements of students;

 To monitor personnel and school quality and national educational goals;

 To ensure the essence of establishing schools worthy to produce well-educated citizens who will serve effectively in all the sectors of the economy where their services are needed;

§ To directly influence the behavior of teachers and the teaching processes employed to promote pupils learning.

§ To ensure that each individual teacher within the school system has been performing the duties for which he was scheduled

§ To know the direction of the school and to identify some of its most urgent needs.

§ To know the effectiveness of classroom management by the teachers

§ To discover special abilities and qualities posed by teachers/lecturers in the school;

§ To know the effectiveness of classroom management by teachers/lecturers;

§ To assess the tone of school and identify some of its most urgent needs;

§ To provide a guide for staff development;

§ To provide the Department of Education with a full picture as possible of institutions

§ To ensure that public funds on education are wisely spent in the schools;

§ To fulfill the requirement for registering a school for public examination;

§ To examine record keeping in accordance with the relevant educational laws and regulations; and

§ To develop a favorable climate for effective teaching and learning.

Basic Principles for Effective Supervision

i. Healthy Atmosphere

The environment should be made stress free and motivating.

ii. Staff Orientation

The nature of the work must be specified in clear terms. Staff should be made to understand clearly what is expected of them. New staff must be given the necessary orientation. They should have a schedule to know where to get information and materials to help them perform the work satisfactorily well.

iii. Guidance and Staff Training

Staff should be offered necessary guidance. They should be guided on how to carry out the assignment, standards should be set by the supervisor .General information should be made available to all and specifics to individuals assigned to a particular task. Techniques of how to perform an activity must be given at all times. The school must arrange and participate in staff training.

iv. Immediate Recognition of Good Work

Good work should be recognized. This implies that the acknowledgement of any good work done must be immediate and made public to others which will then serves as motivator.

v. Constructive feedback

Unsatisfactory work should be constructively criticized. Constructive feedback should be given to the affected staff in private.

vi. Opportunity for Improvement

Staff should be given opportunity to prove their worth. They should be encouraged to use their initiatives in performing their jobs and taking decisions.

vii. Motivation and Encouragement

Staff should be motivated and encouraged to work to increase their productivity. They should be encouraged to improve their ability to achieve organizational goal.

Changing Concepts in Educational Supervision

Neagley et.al states that Modern Supervision at its finest is both dynamic and democratic reflecting the vitality of enlightened and informed leadership. All human beings in the educative process – students, teachers, administrators and supervisors – are individuals of worth, endowed with unique talents and capacities. The primary aims of supervision must be to recognize the inherent value of each person, to the end that the full potential of every individual will be realized .‟ Modern Supervision employs the philosophy of Democracy, the psychology of group dynamics, interpersonal relationships, professional leadership etc. contributing to its dynamic nature.

1. Modern Supervision is democratic and co-operative in spirit and organization

Modern supervision is based on the assumption that education is a creative and co-operative enterprise, in which all teachers, pupils, parents and administrators participate and supervisors

 

are their academic leaders who stimulate, guide and advise them in improvement of instruction. A group with democratic leadership fosters more objective attitudes, more co-operative effort, more constructive suggestions, greater feelings of wellness and more feelings of joint goals.

2. Modern Supervision is established on maintenance of satisfactory Interpersonal Relationship

A group’s productivity is affected by the quality of its human relations. Hence the supervisor must focus on developing group feeling, group morale and group cohesiveness.

3. Modern Supervision must be communicative

Researches indicate that good communication is related to morale of the teachers and free exchange of information helps good planning. According to Wiles, if a supervisor hopes to facilitate communication, he will work for decrease in status lines, for constant study of the processes used in the group, and for desirable physical structure and competent group leadership.‟

4. Modern Supervision is comprehensive in scope

Modern Supervision encompasses the total school programs and necessitates proper articulation through all the supervisory agencies. Neagley et.al states „Today supervision is directed at improving all factors involved in pupil learning. Gone are the days of attempting to improve the teacher without regard to the totality of the teaching-learning situation in the school. The modern supervisor’s role reaches far beyond the traditional classroom situation.‟

5. Modern Supervision is creative

The purpose of supervision is to draw out the best in teachers- to ignite their latent talents, to stimulate the initiative, to encourage their originality and self-expression. It emphasizes their success and strengths. The supervisor should be creative and resourceful.

6. Modern Supervision is scientific

The supervisor uses scientific methods like surveys, action researches, experimentation etc, to enhance his performance more make instruction more effective. Teachers are encouraged to think critically and constructively.

7. Modern Supervision is experimental and auto-critical in nature

The modern concept of supervision stimulates experimentation and self criticism. Neagley et.al states that one of the foundation stones of the emerging philosophy and practice of supervision is the belief that current practice should always be questioned and evaluated and placed under the searching light of critical analysis. Any aspect of the learning situation found to be ineffective or detrimental to the achievement of better situation is scrap or modified as the

 

case may be. The supervisor leads the teachers in the constant search for better and more efficient ways of doing their jobs, believing that there is always scope for improvement.

Types of Supervision

i. Corrective Supervision ii. The Preventive Supervision

iii. The Coercive Supervision iv. The Creative Supervision v. The Clinical Supervision

 

i. The Corrective Supervision “Fault finding” is another name for this type of supervision. The inspecting officer or supervisor visits schools with the intent of locating faults and mistakes with the methods of teaching, progress of students, maintenance of records etc. The supervisor is more concerned with the finding of inefficiencies rather than in giving able guidance. He makes a note of all the errors and reports it saying that they have to be rectified. Suggestions are not given as to how to do it. As a guide his work is limited but as a critic his work is more predominant.

ii. The Preventive Supervision

The supervisor anticipates any mistakes the teachers may commit and helps the teacher avoid them. The experienced supervisor knows what type of mistakes and errors the teachers usually commit and takes measures to educate and guide the teachers about the methods to avoid them. This type of inspection helps the teachers to meet situation with confidence as they foresee the problems beforehand and act as his friend and guide.

iii. The Coercive Supervision

This is an authoritarian concept wherein the supervisor has the authority to make momentous decisions. Nobody ever questions the validity and feasibility of such decisions. Teachers are to carry out the orders and instructions of the coercive supervisor. Such supervisors believe that the most effective means of making the teachers work is by compelling them to teach scheduled subject matter in pre-determined ways.

iv. The Creative Supervision

Creative supervision encourages the teachers to feel free to think for themselves in matters pertaining to objectives, curriculum, organization and content, methods of teaching and evaluation. The teachers develop their own techniques and they are encouraged to exchange views with the supervisor and co-workers. This provides opportunity for the teachers to grow through the exercise of their talents and abilities under expert and professional guidance and encouragement.

 

v. The Clinical Supervision

Gold hammer and Cogan borrowed the term “clinical supervision” from the medical profession, where it has been used for decades to describe a process for perfecting the specialized knowledge and skills of practitioners. Essentially, clinical supervision in education involves a teacher receiving information from a colleague who has observed the teacher's performance and who serves as both a mirror and a sounding board to enable the teacher to critically examine and possibly alter his or her own professional practice. Although classroom observations are often conducted by university supervisors or principals, clinical supervision is increasingly used successfully by mentor teachers, peer coaches, and teacher colleagues who believe that a fresh perspective will help to improve classroom success.

Despite many variations that have been proposed over the years, the basic five-stage clinical supervision sequence suggested by Gold hammer (1969) remains most widely known. The five stages are

1) Observation 2) Analysis 3) Strategy planning 4) Conference 5) Post-conference analysis (follow up).

1.3. Techniques of supervision

Instructors have the resources which have to be tap, and it is the function of the supervision to help discover these for the ultimate benefit of the learners. Supervision of instruction leads to an improvement of the teaching and learning process. Supervision is also concerned with problem solving aimed at assisting the teachers to know their problems and find the best solution to them. There are many techniques of supervision that can utilized to bring about desirable effect in teacher‟s behaviour for achieving teaching effectiveness. These techniques can be broadly classified under two heads namely-

1. Group techniques and

2. Individual techniques

Group techniques

i. Curriculum construction and development

This should be undertaken by the teachers and supervisors with the aim of making learning experiences of the students worthwhile and up-to- date. This will lead to improved courses of study, better staff understanding and relationships, improved articulation among various school units such as primary and secondary schools and a general awakening of interest in new trends of methodology and school organizations.

ii. In-service education

This ought to be provided to teachers by the supervisor in a carefully planned manner on the basis of their felt needs and requirements. This will enable teachers to update their knowledge with respect to content, methods of teaching and school organization. Requisite knowledge and skills ought to be imparted based on their area of specialization and the subject discipline they teach.

iii. Action research

Research and experimentation should be undertaken in collaboration with the teachers. Focus on action research will enable the teachers to be more problem conscious and equip them with problem solving skills which will in the long run develop their professional competence as well as their teaching- learning process.

iv. Community participation

Adequate orientation of teachers to the school and community will lead to better relationship with the community besides facilitating the solution of many day to day problems help in organizing curricular and co-curricular programs. The importance of engaging parents, purposefully and meaningfully, in all aspects of teaching and learning will help develop and implement strategies that create and enhance partnerships among teachers, parents and students.

v. Teacher visitation

This involves one teacher visiting and observing another teacher in action in another class within the school or in a class in another school (inter-school visitation) also, called reciprocal visitations‟ the technique is a good supervisory one that often yields valuable results. This

technique is particularly helpful if the inexperienced teachers watch the experienced one‟s in action.

vi. Model

The supervisor has to deliver demonstration lessons, arrange such lessons himself and by experienced and skilled teachers and experts. Meetings should be conducted where demonstration/ model lessons are delivered and experiments conducted followed by discussion.

vii. Resources

The supervisor should arrange for exhibition of books, illustrative and instructional journals, Teachers should be trained in the preparation of low cost teaching aids, use of multimedia, technology etc.

viii. Visits

Inter school visits, study tours, and educational trips can be organized for teachers so that they gain experience and develop new insights, thus improving their practice and educational programmes.

ix. Conferences

Educational conferences, seminars, and study groups where teachers, experts and supervisors meet to discuss problems faced by them and the solutions applied will equip he teachers with overall problem solving skills.

x. Dissemination of information

News bulletin and circulars can be utilized to disseminate new ideas and information about modern trends, practices and innovations, among teachers. Thus the isolation prevailing among schools can be broken and tried out good practices existing in one school can be propagate among others for encouraging the innovator and for reaping the good fruits of such innovations.

xi. Staff meeting

The supervisor after supervision meets with the staff to discuss problems and issues identified by him during the course of his inspection. He also addresses and satisfies the queries of the teachers and headmaster .The faculty thus benefits from the supervisors knowledge, skill and expertise.

2. Individual techniques

i. Classroom observation and curriculum

This will enable the supervisor to observe the curriculum in action. The observation is to be done with the intent of observing the curriculum in action, judging the adequacy of the learning experiences provided and ascertaining the teacher’s competencies. This procedure will also help the supervisor plan and organize in-service programmes.

 

ii. Classroom observation and professional growth

Observing in the classroom is the most commonly used technique of instructional supervision. It is a situation where the teacher is working directly with the learners and the supervisor is present as a witness to observe and systematically record classroom events. During observation the supervisor also looks for planning and preparation, lesson presentation, teachers‟ personality and student-teacher interaction. Observations serve to inform supervisors not only of the problems teachers are encountering but also about the practice followed. Feedback is provided on ways of making the procedure more effective. The supervisor and the supervisee deliberate on ways in which the classroom instruction may be improved. This also helps identify possible areas for enhancing professional growth of the teacher.

iii. Promoting professional leadership

The supervisor cannot make himself available to all teachers requiring academic advice. Hence identifying competent teachers and encouraging them to advance professionally will enable them to delegate some supervisory functions.

iv. Encourage professional writing

This will enable efficient teachers with literary aptitude to contribute to the enrichment of professional literature and help in dissemination of information.

v. Research

Research is a systematic and objective collection and analysis of data in order to find solutions to instructional identified problems. It could be used for instructional supervision technique. In this regard, the supervisor has to work with the teacher to find solutions to problems of teaching/learning that confront them instead of dictating solutions to settling educational problems relating to teaching and teachers.

 

1.4 Educational Supervision and Human Relations

 

Human resources development in supervision is the process by which the educational supervisors identify, develop and effectively release the maximum potential of the supervisee for the benefit of both the institution as well as for the supervisee.

In the educational institution, human resources include the workers and the students. The workers here consist of the teaching and the non-teaching staff. The combined effort of workers and students is aimed at enhancing teaching and learning in the institution. Efficient human capital development depends on the quality and effectiveness of teachers. Hence a consciously designed human resource development effort is required in order to ensure that work motivation and job satisfaction is enhanced and all teachers become „willing professionals.‟

The nonteaching or support staff in an educational institution are those employees who provide the support services. They ensure that the teaching and learning environment is made conducive for the attainment of the educational objectives. In order for the support staff to be effectively involved in the achievement of the educational objectives, their potentials need to be consciously detected, developed and released.

The students form a very significant part of the human resource in an institution. They are the ones who learn; in addition, the students are the ones through whom the educational objectives are achieved. They should form an integral part of the human resources development program. A number of students are or should be appointed to positions of leadership such as prefect and captain, which provide the management and the students with an important link. The student representatives can perform their roles effectively if their potentials are consciously developed in planned forums such as seminars, debates elocutions etc.

To be effective a supervisor must always adapt his behavior to take into account the expectations, values and interpersonal skills of those with whom he is interacting. This applies to relationships with superiors, peers and subordinates, students etc. There can be no specific rules of supervision which will work well in all situations. For any approach to be effective, it must be applied taking into account the characteristics of the situation and of the people involved. Sensitivity to the values, perceptions and expectations of others is an important dimension of effective supervision. Knowledge of this will help the supervisor adapt his behavior for optimum benefit. In order to create the conditions for effective supervision, institutions must establish an atmosphere and the circumstances which enable and even encourage every supervisor to deal with people he encounters in ways that fit the values and expectations of the institution.

According to Likert, the supervisors who have the most cooperative attitudes in their work groups display the following characteristics-

The Supervisor is supportive, friendly, and helpful rather than hostile. He is kind but firm, never threatening, genuinely interested in the well being of subordinates and endeavors to treat people in a sensitive considerate way. He is just if not generous.

The Supervisor endeavors to serve the best interest of the people around him as well of the institution.

The Supervisor shows confidence in the integrity, ability and motivation of subordinates rather than distrust.

The Supervisor‟s confidence in subordinates leads him to have high expectations as to their level of performance. With confidence that he will not be disappointed he expects much, not little which results in a supportive rather than a critical or hostile relationship.

The Supervisor ensures that each subordinate is well trained for his job. He endeavors also to help subordinates by training them for jobs at the next level. This involves giving them relevant experience and coaching whenever the opportunity offers.

The Supervisor coaches and assists employees whose performance is below standards.

The supervisor thus develops his subordinates into a working team with loyalty to the institution by using participation and other kinds of group leadership practices.