Chapter 1 - Supervision and School Renewal

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INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the world of supervising instruction

I trust that you will learn a great deal about the many aspects of supervision during this course. I will always try to make the materials and discussions surrounding supervision as "practical" as possible. Because this is a practitioner oriented course, I will emphasize many situations from my personal experiences as a school principal and superintendent of schools (see http://www2.andrews.edu/~jimjeff/Biosketch.htm)

I will also be emphasizing the Internet as a learning and information gathering tool throughout this class. As you will note all of the course materials are found at my website. So, welcome. Let's explore and learn all that we can about the exciting world of education

The first few pages of our textbook set the tone for the remainder for Sergiovanni and Starrat's excellent book on Supervision. I very much appreciate the author's emphasis on schools as communities and on supervision as a "moral action". We will spend some time examining these significant 21st Century topics.

It is extremely important to read about the 4 Supervisors found in pages 11-13. These are must read pages, because they cover 4 different conceptions or theories of what supervision is, of how schools work, and what is important to teachers. They set the tone for the rest of the course readings.

Try to pose these questions as you read:

  • How do you view supervision after reading about these 4 supervisors?
  • What is your personal view of how supervision should be "done"?

First, however, let's try to grasp the meaning of the word "supervision", show how it is different from "evaluation" and finally review some history of work supervision theory.

There are many problems with supervision ....as perceived by teachers.

  • Supervision is often equated with evaluation (hiring, firing) and evaluations make people nervous.
  • Supervision is seen as something "done" to teachers and something needed by a supervisor, not a teacher.
  • The unpleasantness of a supervisory visit is seen as actually decreasing the amount of positive interaction between a teacher and a supervisor - when what is desired is increased trust and positive interaction.
  • Is a supervisor an inspector?

Wiles & Bondi (1986) observe that the definitions of supervision has evolved over time. They note that at least six major conceptions of supervision are found in the modern literature.

  1. Supervision as an act of administration
  2. Supervision as an act of curriculum work
  3. Supervision as an instructional function
  4. Supervision as an act of human relations
  5. Supervision as management
  6. Supervision as a generic leadership role