Management of Instructional Supervision:

Principals as Instructional Leader

Provisions under Act 550Education Act 1996

• 117 Duties of Chief Inspector• The Chief Inspector shall:

(a) be responsible, in collaboration with such authorities as the Minister may appoint, for ensuring that an adequate standard of teaching is developed and maintained in educational institutions

• (b) – (d)

• 121 General powers of Inspectors of Schools• (b) require the chairman of the board of governors or a

governor or any other person responsible for the management of the educational institution or a teacher or employee or person found in the educational institution:

• (i) to produce for his inspection any time-table, syllabus or record pertaining to subjects taught or to be taught or any book, material, document or article relating to or which in the opinion of the Inspector may relate to the teaching carried on in the educational or the management of the educational institution; and

• (ii)

Rujukan Surat Pekeliling

• Ikhtisas Bil. 3/1987 Penyeliaan pengajaran pembelajaran

• Ikhtisas Bil. 3/1999 Penyediaan rekod pengajaran dan pembelajaran

• Ikhtisas Bil 12/2002 Pelaksanaan pengajaranPelaksanaan pengajaran dan pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam Bahasa Inggeris di SRJK© mulai 2003

• Ikhtisas Bil 4/1986 Panitia mata pelajaran

• Surat Pekeliling Ikhtisas Bil 16/2000Salah laku memasukkan unsur politik dalam soalan peperiksaan/ujian di sekolah dan perbuatan menghasut/meracuni fikiran pelajar membenci kerajaan

Definitions of Instructional Supervision

• Supervision is assistance for the improvement of instruction (Glickman, Gordon and Ross-Gordon)

• Supervision should be viewed as a function of process rather than a role or positionTherefore, educators from the top to the bottom of its organizational chart can engage in the function and process of supervision

• 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 that feedback in order to make teaching more effective … a process designed to improve instruction by conferring with the teacher on lesson planning, observing the lesson, analyzing the observational data, and giving the teacher feedback about the observation (Glatthorn, 1997 in Azali Mahbar)

• As supervisors gradually increase teacher choice and control over instructional improvement, teachers will become more reflective and committed to improvement, and a sense of ethos or a cause beyond oneself will emerge

Purposes of Supervision

• Quality control• Professional development

Helping teachers to grow and developImproving basic teaching skills

• Teacher motivation(Often overlooked)

Schools of Thought aboutLearning and Teaching

• Current models of instruction derive largely from the behaviorist, cognitive, and humanistic psychological perspective (Wittrock (1987)

• The cognitive School of Thought• Meaningful learning

Reception learning: Learning that takes place when we present our students with new information that is carefully organized and structured (read on advance organizer)Discovery learning: Learning that takes place when students are provided with experiences and experiments from which they derive their own knowledge and meaning (read on constructivism)

• Problem solving: It requires that a situation exists wherein there is a goal/goals to be achieved and that learners be asked to consider how they would attain the goal(s)

• The Humanistic School of Thought• Beliefs of the humanistic school:

Having good feelings about oneself (self-respect, self-worth, self-efficacy)Having good feelings about othersThe school should fit the child rather than the child should fit the schoolClassrooms must help kids/youth satisfy essential human needs as suggested by Maslow, 1968)

• Humanistic approaches to teaching:Teacher Effectiveness Training (TET), Inviting School Success, and value clarification, moral and character education, and multiethnic education.

• The Behavioral School of ThoughtBehaviorists are interested in finding out how external /environmental stimuli cause behavior and how behavior can be changed by modifying what happens in a learner’s environment

The Supervisory Bahavior Continuum

• From maximum teacher responsibility/minimum supervisory responsibility to minimum teacher responsibility/maximum supervisor responsibility

• Listening• Clarifying• Encouraging• Reflecting• Presenting• Problem solving• Negotiating• Directing• Standardizing• reinforcing

Relationship between Philosophy,control, and supervisory

• DirectiveEssentialismSupervisory high, teacher low

• CollaborativeExperimentalismSupervisory equal, teacher equal

• NondirectiveExistentialismSupervisory low, teacher high

Options for Supervision

• A differentiated system of supervision1. Clinical supervision2. Collegial supervision3. Self-directed supervision4. Informal supervision

Clinical Supervision

• The rationale and practice is designed to improve the teachers’ classroom performance. It takes its principal data from the events of the classroom. The analysis of these data and the relationships between teacher and supervisor form the basis of the program, procedures, and strategies designed to improve the students’ learning by improving teachers’ classroom behavior (Cogan, 1973)

• The supervisor job is to help the teacher select goals to be improved, teachers issues to be illuminated, and to understand better her/his practice

• The cycles of clinical supervision1. Preobservation conference2. Observation of teaching3. Analysis and strategy4. Postobservation conference5. Postobservation analysis

• Preobservation conferenceThe framework for observation is developedThe supervisor needs to become familiar with the class and how the teacher views his/her classThe teacher provides an overview of his/her intents, outcome likely possible to come, and problems to be encounteredThe teacher assuming major responsibility for setting the supervisory agendaThe teacher should have as complete as possible a picture of events to occur as the the process of supervision unfolds

•

• Observation of teachingIt is the actual and systematic observation of teachingWhat the teacher actually says and does?How students react?What actually occurs during a specific teaching episode?The supervisor should remain as unobtrusive as possibleNotes taken should be descriptive (free from inferences), the supervisor should leave the classroom as unobtrusive as possible

• Analysis and strategyThe analysis of teaching and building of a supervisory strategy (the first phase)The supervisor converts the raw data/information collected into manageable, meaningful, and sensible form

• The second phase is the building of a strategy for working with the teacher

• The postobservation conferenceThe supervisor uses the specific information gathered to help the teacher analyze the lessonThe emphasis should be on providing information to the teacher for fulfilling the contract that was the basis for the observation cycleThe emphasis is on providing descriptive informationThrough out this process, the supervisor’s role is not to condemn, or admonish but to provide information useful to the teacher in a supportive atmosphere

• Post conference analysisThis is a springboard to staff development for both teacher and supervisorThe supervisor evaluates the supervisory cycle for improving his/her own effortsThis phase is both the end of one cycle and the beginning of another

Is Clinical Supervision suitable for Everyone?

• Clinical supervision is time consuming• Participation requires much more training• Clinical supervision may be too much

supervision for some teachers

Collegial Supervision

• It is a moderately formalized process by which two or more teachers agreed to work together for their own professional growth, normally by observing each other’s classroom, giving each other feedback about the observation, and discussing shared professional concerns (Glatthorn, 1884)

• It is also called cooperative professional development (Glatthorn, 1984)

• It is nonevaluative strategy for teachers to help one another as equals and professional colleagues

Self-directed Supervision

• Teachers working alone assume responsibility for their own professional development

• Teachers develop a yearly plan and shared with their supervisor

• Supervisors should ensure that the plan and selected targets are both realistic and attainable

• The process:Target setting: teachers develop targets/goals that they would like to reach in improving their teaching, time frame should be provided for each target and shared with the supervisor

• Target-setting review• Target-setting conference: It would be a good

idea for the principal to provide a written summary of the conference for the teacher

• Appraisal process: This includes formal and informal observations, an analysis of classroom artifacts, video tapping, student evaluation, and other information

• All these can be presented in a portfolio• Summary appraisal: The principal comments

on each target, and together the teacher and principal plan for the next cycle of supervision

Informal Supervision

• It is a casual encounter by supervisors with teacher at work and is characterized by frequent but brief and informal observations of teachers

• Informal supervision is referred as management by wondering around

• This should not be the sole option, in addition to this, teachers should be involved in one additional approach such as clinical, collegial or individual supervision

The Contingency View of Supervision

• The contingency factors:• Cognitive complexity levels of teachers• Learning styles of teachers• Motives of teachers

• Cognitive complexity is concerned with both the structure and contentTeachers with higher level of cognitive complexity are able to give attention to a number of different concepts relating to a particular issue and able to see the interconnections among these conceptsThey are also to be more reflective in their practice

Cognitive complexity increases as teachers are exposed to more stimulating teaching environmentsWhen teachers are provided with intellectually stimulating, challenging, and supportive supervisory environment, levels of cognitive complexity increaseRefer to Figure 14-1 for illustrations

Teacher Learning Styles andSupervisory Styles

• The four learning styles:1. Concrete experience2. Reflective observation3. Abstract conceptualization4. Active experimentation• Concrete experience teachers are more

interested in knowing about and experiencing what works rather book knowledgeCollegial supervision is the recommended choice for teachers oriented toward concrete experience (don’t prefer to work alone)

• Reflective Observation: prefer to observe and makes sense of what is going on rather than taking a more active role

The better choice for the reflective observer would be assignment to collegial teams (preferably with action-oriented team members)

• Abstract-conceptualization-oriented teachers resemble reflective observation teachers but are more action-oriented

They like to see the data

They often profit from collegial supervision

• Active-experimenting teachers are doers and are interested in getting on with their workIndividual self-directed supervision is the most likely choice

Motive of Teachers and Supervisory styles

• The three types of motives are1. Achievement 2. Power influence3. Affiliation• The achievement motive is associated with

teachers wanting to take personal responsibility for their own success or failureSelf-directed supervision is ideally suited to them

• The affiliation motive is associated with people who have a high concern for warm and friendly relationships and for social interactionCollegial supervision is suitable for them

• Power influence-oriented teachers are interested in influencing other peopleThey respond very positively to collegial supervision and like to assume supervisory roles