Supervision and Education

Supervision and Education

EDU 532

January 30, 2011

Supervision today is complicated by a number of factors, including diversity of conceptions of supervisionand good teaching, mandates from the state level, and tensions between teachers and administrators supervisors.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Online, instructional supervisionnarrows the focus to a more limited set of responsibilities, namely, supervision for theimprovement of instruction.Supervision emerged slowly as a distinct practice, always in relation to the institutional, academic, cultural, and professional dynamics that have historically generated the complex agenda of schooling.The roles and titles of supervisory personnel vary among the school systems of the nation. Supervisionis defined in this text as a service provided to teachers for the purpose of improving instruction, with the student as the ultimate beneficiary.
A supervisor is a trained auxiliary or staff person whose primary function is the provision of service according to a conceptual model. The model presented in this chapter portrays the supervisor as fulfilling the roles of coordinator, consultant, group leader, and evaluator within the domains of instructional, curricular, and staff development. The supervisor should possess personal traits that will enable him or her to work harmoniously with people and sufficient knowledge and skills to perform all functions effectively. Leadership, interpersonal, and communications skills appear to be especially important to successful supervision. Supervisors should possess a judicious mix of technical, managerial, and human relations skills (Encyclopedia Britannica Online).

Sidhu G. K. (2010). Formative Supervision of Teaching and Learning: Issues andConcerns for the School Head.
In this article it talks about formative supervision of teaching and learning it talks about how it is often said that school heads are sense makers of learning organizations. In such an equationschool heads must ensure that improved student learning becomes the primary function of all schools. Supervisors must hold teachers accountable for providing qualityeducation that puts forward well planned curricular and teaching strategies that take into considerationthe diverse needs of all kinds of learners in their classroom. In the teaching and learning agenda, the school supervisors are usually the school heads, senior assistants to the school head, instructional lead teachers, department heads, and master teachers. Formative supervision is a process whereby the school administrator assists the classroom teacher to improve his or her teaching instruction to enhance student learning.
Sidhu (2010) also states, that there are three main types of supervision: directive, non-directive and collaborative. Directive supervision role is to inform, direct, model, and assess those competencies. Non-directive supervision is based on the premise that learning is basically a private experience and therefore teachers must have the ability to conduct self-reflection and come up with their own strategies and solutions to improving their teaching and learning process. The supervisor’s role is to listen and not be judgmental. Finally, collaborative supervisor’s role is to be an active member of the interaction process and guide the problem-solving process and help make teachers make decisions on their common problems.
In conclusion, school heads need to include teachers in the loop of training and supervision in order to create cultures of collaboration, inquiry and reflection in order to enhance the teaching and learning process in schools.

Ehren M.C.M (2008).The Relationship between School Inspections, School Characteristics and
School Improvement.British Journal of Educational Studies.

In this article it talks about school supervision focuses on the quality of education, educational standards, the management of financial resources, and the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of students. School characteristics may also explain differences in schoolimprovement as a result of inspections. Genuine school improvement requires that the school staff is willing to change. Supervision takes the form of in classroom observation, assisting teachers, professional and group development, evaluation of teachers, research and revision of the curriculum. They identify any educational problems and promote academic achievement.A school with a high innovation capacity is one which is capable of implementing change.Participation in decision-making, cooperation between teachers and a shared vision are also important factors. The Educational Supervision Act assumes that school inspectors provide feedback to schools on their strengths and weaknesses including suggestions on how to improve. Schools with a highinnovation capacity are expected to be more capable of successfulchange. In these schools improvement is a continuous process, and they are probably more willing to accept the feedback fromthe school inspector and to use it for their own improvement.Schools with lower innovation capacity require support from externalbodies such as external advisors to implement successfulchange or improvement.
According to Ehren (2008), supervision forms part of an overall quality monitoring and, which include other devices such as examinations, achievement test and self-assessment practices by school and teachers. Supervisors usually wear two or three other hats, but their specific responsibilities tend to include some or all of the following:
1. Mentoring or providing for mentoring of beginning teachers to facilitate a supportive induction into the profession.
2. Bringing individual teachers up to minimum standards of effective teaching.
3. Improving individual teacher’s competencies, no matter how proficient they are deemed to be.
4. Working with groups of teachers in a collaborative effort to improve student learning.
5. Working with groups of teachers to adapt the local curriculum to the needs and abilities of diverse groups of students, while at the same time bringing the local curriculum in line with state and national standards.
6. Relating teachers ' efforts to improve their teaching to the larger goals of school-wide improvement in the service of quality learning for all children.
In conclusion, the improvements accomplished in the schools proved to be those which were simple,straightforward changes. More complex changes ask much ofschools and of inspectors. External school inspection does encourage school improvement under specific conditions care should be taken in limiting the role of external school inspectors.

Williams, H.S. (2009). Leadership Capacity: A Key to Sustaining Lasting Improvement.
In this article it talks about leadership capacity schools successful in sustaining school improvement build capacity for leadership within the organization. Leadership capacity is about creating conditions within the school for growth, self-renewal, and the development and distribution of leadership throughout the school organization. School leaders and teachers must commit, participate, and have leadership capacity for a school to sustain meaningful change. Supervision inschools is the key to success for the entirelearning community.
Williams (2009) also states, that leaders must incorporate all oftheir staff in the decision making for theschool. Simply using cooperativelearning alone, without paying attentionto the school as a whole system, will not result in adequate change. Teacher leaders begin to recognize that their focus must move from a single innovation or fromtheir own classrooms to a wider, wholeschool perspective. The change to this type of leadership allowsfor schools to transform into the type oflearning communities that are needed to meet the diverse needs of students today. Supervisors can keep teaching teams organized and collectively working on school wide improvement goals and that through committee work they keep the school moving forward in such areas as reading, writing, and mathematics. The more that leadership is cultivated in a school, the more likely it is that everyone will get a chance to use their talents fully and the more committed everyone is likely to be.
In conclusion, the roles and responsibilities that involve all staff and nurture collaboration are processes that will transform a school. Leadership capacity is imperative to sustaining school improvement and student learning. It must be embedded into the school environment in order for success to be achieved.
Beycioglu, K. (2009). Roles of the Supervisor.Inonu University Journal of the Faculty of Education.

In this article it talks about roles of the supervisor. Supervision is usually seen as a work in process that is mainly doneby supervisors, principals, school superintendents, and assistant principals.According toBeycioglu (2009),a distinguishing feature of truesupervisors is that they leave their offices frequently for the purpose of helping other schoolpersonnel namely, teachers do their jobs better. Instructional supervisors are employed to help teachers build on their strengths, improve, andremain in the profession instead of probing teacher’s deficiencies and seeking their dismissal. Supervision of instruction is what school personnel do with adults and things to maintain orchange the school operation in ways that directly influence the teaching process employed topromote pupil learning.
Beycioglu (2009) also stated, that supervision is a means of offering to teachers, in acollegial, collaborative, and professional setting, specialized help in improving instructionand thereby student achievement.The article also talks about how supervisiontoday is complicated by a number of factors, including diversity of conceptions of supervisionand good teaching, mandates from the state level, and tensions between teachers and administrator supervisors.
In conclusion, the supervisor exercises various roles within each of three domains: instructional,curricular, and staff development. The supervisor acts as coordinator, consultant,group leader, and evaluator to assist teachers in the improvement of instruction, curriculum planning, and personal and professional growth and development. In doing so, thesupervisor must bring a wide range of knowledge and skills.

In conclusion, supervision has gone through many metamorphoses. If we look at some of the changes that have occurred in this field since the early days, we can randomly establish historical time frames for the evolution of instructional supervision. Supervisors demonstrate techniques, offer suggestions, give orders, evaluate employee’s performance, and check on results. Many countries have attempted to reform their school supervision services to improve educational quality. Indeed, the ability of schools to use their greater freedom effectively will depend to a large extent on the support services on which they can rely, while supervision may be needed to guide them in their decision-making and to monitor their use of resources.
References

Beycioglu, K. (2009). Roles of the Supervisor.Inonu University Journal of the Faculty of

Education. Retrieved January 22, 2011 from Academic Search Premier database.

Ehren M.C.M (2008).The Relationship between School Inspections, School Characteristics and

School Improvement.British Journal of Educational Studies. Retrieved January 22, 2011

from Academic Search Premier database.
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ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Encyclopedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Retrieved January 22, 2011 from Academic

Search Premier database.

SCHOOL INSPECTIONS AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
Sidhu G. K. (2010). Formative Supervision of Teaching and Learning: Issues andConcerns for

the School Head. Retrieved January 22, 2011 from Academic Search Premier database.

Williams, H.S. (2009). Leadership Capacity: A Key to Sustaining Lasting Improvement.

Retrieved January 22, 2011 from Academic Search Premier database.

References: Beycioglu, K. (2009). Roles of the Supervisor.Inonu University Journal of the Faculty of Education Ehren M.C.M (2008).The Relationship between School Inspections, School Characteristics and School Improvement.British Journal of Educational Studies Encyclopedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Retrieved January 22, 2011 from Academic Search Premier database. the School Head. Retrieved January 22, 2011 from Academic Search Premier database. Williams, H.S. (2009). Leadership Capacity: A Key to Sustaining Lasting Improvement. Retrieved January 22, 2011 from Academic Search Premier database.