Educational Supervision

What is supervision?
Supervision is a process of facilitating the professional growth of a teacher, primarily by
giving the teacher feedback about classroom interactions and helping the teacher make use
of the feedback in order to make teaching more effective.

Therefore, supervision broadly refers to the professional guidance and support
provided by the educational managers, who are expected to offer the teacher
assistance that will enhance and improve teacher motivation and classroom
instruction

What is the purpose
of supervision?

Checking on the availability of teaching-learning materials

Advising on the
appropriateness
of the teaching-
learning materials
in use

Advising on the school climate

Advising the
availability and
quality of
advising and
support services
available to the
teacher

Promoting curriculum
change and innovation

Attending to the welfare of teachers

Attending to
institutional
problems

Data collection to
facilitate planning and
decision making

Monitoring policy implementation

When we focus shifts to the teacher as a professional operating in classroom,
some of the reasons for conducting supervision would be:
 providing feedback on
teachers performance
 identifying needs for staff
development
 identifying potential for
promotion
 conducting quality assurance
checks
 ensuring teacher motivation
and morale
 providing professional
support and guidance to the
teachers

In both of the above situations,
supervision ensures that the
professional environment is
supportive of the teaching and
learning process. The ultimate
objective of supervision is to
improve the quality of teaching
and learning. This means that
supervisor need to play the roles
of :
 Planner
 Organizer
 leader
 Helper
 Evaluator
appraiser, motivator, communicator, and decision-maker

Learning activity
What would be the possible effects of lack
of supervision on the teacher and the school?

A variety of supervision types can be
perceived to lie on a continuum with
two extremes. One extreme is a type
of supervision in which the supervisor
acts as a friend and provides a
shoulder for the supervisee to lean on.
At the other end of the continuum,
supervision demands strict
accountability from the supervisee.
Here, the supervisor may be interested
in fault-finding.

Critical friendship
The supervisor acts
as a friend and
guides the
supervisee

Mentoring
The supervisor acts
as a role model for
the supervisee

Monitoring
The supervisor
checks on progress
and any problems
as well as advising
on solutions

Advisory
The supervisor assumes a relatively superior position in terms of knowledge
and skills

Clinical supervision in this situation, the supervisor and supervisee engage
in face-to-face interaction that is primarily based on
the observation
of performance
and emphasis on
collegiality

Hard accountability
In this case, the supervisor performs
the traditional inspector’s role,
demanding strict accountability from
the supervisee

Learning activity An educational manager may use
different styles of supervision
depending on the situation and
purpose for which supervision is
being conducted. Identify three
styles of supervision that you
would use as an educational
manager. Have you been supervised
by anyone using these styles?

In conducting
supervision, it is
important for the
educational
manager to decide
on the target group
or aspect of the
school that you
want to supervise.
Your supervision
must be focused
in order to achieve
the desired
outcomes.

Below is the list of possible
beneficiaries of supervision:
 teachers
 heads of departments
 head teachers
 inspectors

When supervision is
effectively and efficiently
undertaken, it benefits the
learners. Effective supervision
can lead to:
o improved physical
learning environment.
o provision of adequate and
appropriate teaching and
learning materials.
o improved management
and administration practice.
o improved teacher
motivation and morale and effective planning.

Planning for
school
supervision

Planning is the first step to take for any education manager who
has decided to undertake a supervision exercise.
Planning involves the ability to determine in advance what should be done, how it is to be done and the
time frame within which the task is to be undertaken. Failure to plan is planning to fail. Jacson (1968),
as quoted by Beach and Reinhartz (1989), concludes that “planning is a prerequisite for supervision so
that they can help teachers to be proactive.”

When planning school supervision, education managers should
address the following aspects:  identifying the target
group for supervision.
 identifying people to be
consulted.
 deciding on the purpose
of the supervision exercise.
 deciding on the time frame
for the exercise.
 deciding on the cost of the
exercise.
 deciding on follow-up
activities.
Teacher supervision can be both rewarding and frustrating. Duke and Stiggins concur that
effective teacher supervision can lead to improved performance, personal growth and
professional esteem. If the supervision is poorly done, anxiety or boredom can result. Talented
teachers may even be driven from the profession. You must carefully plan supervision in
order to yield a positive outcome.

Feedback and Follow-UpAs stated earlier, supervision has to be meaningful and beneficial to both the supervisor and supervisee
You must interact with the supervisee in order to address the purpose for which you are conducting the
supervision. The supervisee benefits from the feedback and follow-up activities you provide as part of
the supervision process.
Providing feedback to the supervisee is beneficial in that your are:
• identifying the strengths of the supervisee and building on them.
• attending to institutional problems.
• Data collection to facilitate planning and decision making and monitoring policy implementation.

Feedback can be provided to the supervisee through oral briefing, lesson observation reports, appraisal
forms, checklists and written reports. It is essential that once feedback has been provided, follow-p
activities be identified and undertaken. These follow-up activities can take the form of :
 staff development,
 staff movement or transfers,
 guidance and counselling,
 disciplinary measures,
 recognition and celebration of success, and review of school development plans.

Educational Supervision

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