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SCHOOL BASED INSTRUCTIONAL SUPERVISION PROCESS: ISSUES ENCOUNTERED BY SUPERVISORS AND

TEACHERS

October 2017

Authors:

Sunil Weerakoon

The Open University of Sri Lanka

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SCHOOL BASED INSTRUCTIONAL SUPERVISION PROCESS: ISSUES ENCOUNTERED BY SUPERVISORS AND

TEACHERS. W.M.S.Weerakoon1 1Department of Secondary &Tertiary Education, Faculty of Education,
The Open University of Sri Lanka, Nawala, Nugegoda. INTRODUCTION Schools in Sri Lanka face
significant problems related to the twin concepts of poor classroom instruction and low student
achievement. As an example, when we considered student achievement in our national
examinations, it provides us important proof. As mentioned by the Examinations Department of Sri
Lanka a considerably higher number of students do not reach the expected mastery level at the GCE O/L
examination. In 2011, a higher percentage of students had failed even compulsory subjects like
Mathematics (47.29%) Science (40.21%), Sinhala (15.17%) and English (57.23%) in the GCE (O/L)
examination. Therefore, in order to ensure the effectiveness of the classroom teaching-learning process
and the quality of education in our general education system more attention should be paid to these
aspects. In this particular context, instructional supervision process has become an integral component
and process in the functioning of every school (Sergiovanni & Starratt, 1998). Various authors have
defined instructional supervision in different ways. Glickman (1992) views instructional supervision
as the actions that enable teachers to improve the quality instructions for students and as an act that
improves relationships and meets both personal and organizational needs. Sergiovanni and Starratt
(2002:6) describe instructional supervision as the opportunities provided for teachers to develop their
capacities to contribute for students’ academic success. Therefore, instructional supervision process
is important because, the merits of a proper instructional supervision process could influence the
improvement of the pupils’ performance and ultimately, the teacher’s professional development.
According to Glanz (2010), school teachers have a common challenge in providing high quality
education to their students. Those challenges can be linked to instructional supervision, teaching
behavior and low learner performance of students. Therefore, it has been identified that the primary
purpose of instructional supervision process is to support and sustain all teachers in their goal of
professional development, which ultimately results in quality instruction. Such growth and
development rely on a system that is built on trust and is supportive of teachers’ efforts to be more
effective in their classrooms (Beach & Reinhartz, 2000). Contemporary educational research studies
have identified instructional supervision as completion of paper work and a fault finding mechanism
rather than a process which will improve teacher performances. According to that, many researchers
have identified various issues encountered by those who are engaged in the instructional
supervision process. Accordingly, this study focused on the issues encountered by supervisors and
teachers in the instructional supervision process of the schools. The following specific research
questions were formulated in line with the main objective of the research study. 1 Correspondence
should be addressed to W.M.S.Weerakoon, Department of Secondary and Tertiary Education, Open
University of Sri Lanka (email: wmwee@ou.ac.lk)

1. What are the problems faced by principals in conducting the instructional supervision process of the
school? 2. What are the problems faced by other supervisors who take part in the instructional
supervision process of the school? 3. What are the problems faced by teachers in line with the
instructional supervision process of the school? METHODOLOGY The survey research design and the
descriptive research approach were selected to carry out this study. Both qualitative and quantitative
techniques have been used for data collection which included questionnaires and interviews. Simple
statistical methods were used for data analysis. The school population of this study includes all (46) the
1AB, 1C, Type ii & Type iii schools in the Dehiattakandiya Educational Zone of the Ampara District.
Accordingly, 10 schools were selected in order to maintain a meaningful representation of the
school population. Thus the total sample included 10 principals, 18 vice–principals, 28 section heads, 24
subject heads and 120 teachers. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 1. The problems faced by Principals in
conducting the instructional supervision process of the school. Table 1: Principals’ responses on the
problems No Statements Number Respon- ded Percenta- -ge (%) Number not Responded Percen tage
(%) Total Num- -ber Percen -tage (%) 1 Lack of experienced and competent supervisors in the school
08 80.0 02 20.0 10 100.0 2 Negative attitudes and unhappiness concerning supervision of teachers 05
50.0 05 50.0 10 100.0 3 Lack of pedagogical knowledge concerning instructional supervision. 04 40.0 06
60.0 10 100.0 4 Lack of formal training opportunities concerning instructional supervision. 04 40.0 06
60.0 10 100.0 5 Time allocation problem for instructional supervision process. 06 60.0 04 40.0 10 100.0
6 Obstacles to establishing of sound supervisory culture in the school 03 30.0 07 70.0 10 100.0
According to Table 1, the majority (80%) of principals faced the problem of lack of experienced
and competent supervisors in the school as a highly important issue regarding the instructional
supervision process. On the other hand, during the interviews they pointed out that due to lack of
experienced senior teachers they were unable to establish an effective supervisory team in the
school. It has been identified that nearly 60% of principals had difficulty in allocating time for
instructional supervision process as a second important issue. Table 1, further revealed that negative
attitudes and unhappiness of teachers concerning instructional supervision was a another important
issue faced by principals (50%).

2. Supervision process of the school. According to the Table 2, nearly 46.1 % of Vice Principals and
30.4% of section heads faced the problem of other administrative workloads, lack of formal training
for supervisors, negative attitudes concerning supervision of teachers and absenteeism of teachers
during supervision. Nearly 47.0 % of subject heads had faced problems such as absence of teachers at
the point of supervision, lack of resources (learning materials, classroom facility, etc….), not given
sufficient time for the instructional supervision process (40.7%) and lack of pedagogical knowledge
on instructional supervision (41.2%) in line with the instructional supervision process. Table 2:
Supervisors’ responses about issues faced in the instructional supervision process (Vice Principals,
Section Heads & Subject Heads) Statement Vice Principals Section Heads Subject Heads Total Num ber
% Num ber % Nu mbe r % Nu mbe r % 1. Not having sufficient time for the Instructional
Supervision process. 04 30.8 06 26.1 08 40.7 18 34.0 2. Other administrative workloads. 06 46.1 07 30.4
05 29.4 18 34.0 3. Lack of pedagogical knowledge concerning instructional supervision. 04 30.8 06
26.1 07 41.2 17 32.0 4. Lack of formal training for supervisors 06 46.1 07 30.4 06 35.3 19 35.8 5.
Negative attitudes concerning supervision of teachers. 06 46.1 07 30.4 06 35.3 19 35.8 6. Not
allocating supervision responsibilities in writing. 03 23.1 03 13.0 06 35.3 12 22.6 7. Absence of
teachers on the date of supervision. 06 46.1 10 43.4 08 47.0 24 45.2 8. Barriers for our own teaching–
learning process. 0 0.0 05 21.7 07 41.1 12 22.6 9. Lack of resources (learning materials, classroom
facility, etc….) 02 15.4 06 26.1 08 47.0 16 30.1 Not responded 05 38.5 05 21.7 07 41.2 17 32.0

The Open University of Sri Lanka Page 20 3 . The problems faced by teachers in line with the
instructional supervision process of the school (Table 3 based on responses given by teachers for
open ended questions of the teachers’ questionnaire) Table 3: Teachers’ responses on issues
encountered in the instructional supervision process Statement Teachers Responses Number % Not
appointing subject specialists for instructional supervision process. 67/120 55.8 Lack of pedagogical
knowledge of supervisors concerning instructional supervision. 73/120 60.8 Supervision process had
not been planned, implemented and supervised properly. 57/120 47.5 Not maintaining supervisory
work plan. 37/120 30.8 Not maintaining supervision reports systematically. 39/120 32.5 Some
supervisors are the authoritarian type and unable to maintain a friendly relationship with teachers
when supervising teaching- learning process 29/120 24.1 According to Table 3, nearly 61. % of teachers
faced problems relating to lack of pedagogical knowledge of supervisor and nearly 55.8. % of teachers
faced problems with the fact of not appointing subject specialists for instructional supervision process.
CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS The effectiveness of the class room teaching-learning process
depends on many factors. In order to ensure an optimum teaching-learning environment in the
classroom, the instructional supervision process should be implemented regularly and systematically. In
this context, it is very important to identify issues encountered by supervisors and teachers in line
with the school based instructional supervision process. It has been identified that instructional
supervision process is a good mechanism to up-grade the performance of teaching-learning process
and promote teachers’ professional development. The study revealed that the majority of principals
faced lack of experienced and competent supervisors in the school, time allocation problems for
the supervision process and negative attitudes and unhappiness of teachers concerning supervision as
problems in the instructional supervision process. It can be concluded that, the majority of other
supervisors (vice principals, section heads and subject heads) have major issues, the administrative
workloads, deficiencies in formal training of supervisors, negative attitudes concerning supervision of
teachers, absenteeism of teachers and lack of pedagogical knowledge concerning instructional
supervision, with regard to the instructional supervision process. The fact that the planning,
implementing and monitoring stages of the supervision process were not carried out according to
schedule also became a major issue for the teachers. Accordingly, some recommendations could be
made as follows: 1. Principals should give priority to improve instructional supervision process and
instructional supervision should be carried out continuously in the school. 2. All the supervisors should
use effective methods of instructional supervision and be committed to the long term process of staff
development. 3. Supervisors’ administrative workload should be reduced or decentralized to provide
sufficient time to participate effectively in their instructional supervisory roles. 4. Supervisors should
have high professional qualifications and a superior knowledge about curriculum and instructional
supervision so as to be better role models and to provide expert leadership in all areas of the school
programme to their teachers and pupils.

5. All the supervisory staff must be constantly refreshed with quality & appropriate supervision
training. 6. All supervisors require conceptual skills in supervision in its broadest sense in order to
ensure that they fully understand what their roles and tasks as supervisors of schools are.to
promote effective instructional supervision, in making the supervisory process more effective. 7. All the
supervisory staff should develop positive attitudes towards supervision of teachers. 8. All the
supervisory staff should maintain and use instructional supervision reports to improve the teaching-
learning process and professional development of teachers. 9. Supervisors should create a conducive
and facilitating environment for instructional supervision process in the school. 10. The government
should provide more funds to schools to expand physical facilities and human resources which will in
turn improve supervision. REFERENCES Beach, D. M. & Reinhartz, J. (2000). Supervisory leadership:
Focus on instruction. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Glanz, J. (2010). Paradigm debates in curriculum and
supervision. Modern and postmodern perspectives. Westport, C.T:Bergin and Carvey. Glickman, C.D.
(1992). Supervision in transition. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. GCE(O/L) Examination-2011 Evaluation
Report(2012),Research and development Branch, National Evaluation and Testing Service,
Department of Examination, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka. Sergiovanni, T. J., & Starratt, R. J. (1998).
Supervision: A redefinition (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Sergiovanni, T. J., & Starratt, R. J. (2002).
Supervision: A redefinition.Boston, MA: McGraw- Hill. Retrieved 24th July 2013 from curriculum and
testing .files.wordpress.com /2012/02/ supervision. pdf.

Citations (5)

References (4)

... It is understood that the key concern of instructional supervision support practices is to improve
schools and pupils' achievements (Ampofo, Onyango & Ogola, 2019;Weerakoon, 2017). School-based
supervision support provides an opportunity for teachers to collaborate, set goals and understand how
their pupils learn (Kalule & Bouchamma, 2014). ...

... School-based supervision has been acknowledged to play a significant role towards the promotion of
pupils' academic performance (Hovde, 2010;Alkrdem, 2011;Adewale, 2014;Ampofo et al.,
2019;Weerakoon, 2017;Antonio, 2019). However, previous works have been mostly carried out in
countries outside Tanzania. ...
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... However, research reveals that although all school principals have educational background or
experience as teachers, principal's supervision may not be as effective as it was hoped to be in gathering
data and information of real classroom activities. Therefore, the monitoring should be done regularly
and systematically (Weerakoon, 2017), and teachers must feel that the supervisor is there to serve them
and to help them become more effective teachers (Panigrahi, 2012). ...

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