MODULE 2

The Decentralization of Educational Administration and Supervision

OVERVIEW
This module on the decentralization of educational administration and supervision consists of two lessons: Lesson 1 The rationale of the Decentralization of Educational Administration Lesson 2 Institution Building and Development Lesson 1 lists the major activities involved in the enterprise of education and points out that they may be carried out on either a centralized or a decentralized basis. It is also pointed out that the term decentralization is used in a strict sense as well as in a loose sense, and these two senses are distinguished. Seven major reasons for the increasing trend towards the decentralization of educational administration are then enumerated and discussed. Lesson 2 deals with the different concepts of institution building for organizations renewal and up-grading. It will also explain the structural and process mechanism for Institution building, and resources and support systems management.

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Lesson 1
Rationale for Decentralization

Objectives:
The objectives of this lesson are to provide background information about the concepts, prevailing trends towards decentralization of educational administration; and be aware of the strategies and approaches in institution building and development.

Concepts of centralized and decentralized systems: (1982)19

From the Great Encyclopedic Dictionary, centralize means: (1) come, bring to a centre. (2) concentrate the administrative powers in a single center instead of distributing them among local departments. While decentralize means divide and distribute government functions, and/or organizations, etc., among local centers. In other words, centralization is the drawing together of various institutions and activities along the lines of centralized system: while decentralization lower about level making of is the process and of re-assigning educational revenues, responsibility . and corresponding decision-making authority for specific functions from higher to government units Educational training decentralization is a complex process that deals in a way school systems go policy, generating spending funds, teachers, designing curricula and managing local schools. Such changes imply fundamental shifts in the values that undergird public education values that concern the relationships of students and parents to schools, the

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relationships of communities to central government, and the very meaning and purpose of public education (Fiske, 1996)

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Nature and Characteristics of Centralization

1. Power and prestige are provided the chief executive. 2. Uniformity of policies, practices & decisions are fostered. 3. Full utilization of the main office specialist is promoted, due in a large part to the proximity to the top-management level. 4. Highly qualified specialists can be utilized because the scope & volume of work are sufficient to support and to challenge top-notch management. 5. Duplication of functions is maintained at a minimum. 6. The danger of action drifting and getting off course is minimized. 7. Elaborate and extensive controlling procedures & practices are not required. 8. A strong coordinated top management team is developed.

Nature and Characteristics of Decentralization

1. A decentralized organization stresses delegation of authority and relieves the top managers load. 2. The development of generalists rather than specialists is encouraged. 3. Intimate personal ties and relationships are promoted resulting in greater employee enthusiasm and coordination. 4. Familiarity with important aspects of special work is readily acquired. 5. Efficiency is increased since the structure can be viewed as a whole, so that trouble spots can be detected and remedied easily and immediately. 6. For the multi-unit enterprises keyed to geographical dispersion full advantage of respective local conditions can be obtained. 7. Plans can be tried out on experimental basis in one plant, locality or area, and modified and proven before being supplied to similar plants of a company.

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8. Risks involving possible losses of personnel, facilities, and plants are spread out.

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Philippine Experience on Centralized Administration

One of the survivals of the long colonial days in the Philippines has been a strong centralized government lodged in the Chief Executive. The central government is so strong and powerful that many small details of administration have to be approved by the Department Secretaries in Manila. The consequences of this strong centralized government have not been favorable to the growth of civic spirit, civic responsibility, and civic conscience among the people in the local areas where such a spirit really begins and reside. Too much centralization kills local and individual initiatives. No country has become great until its people were encouraged to use their initiative and resourcefulness to meet their own problems according to conditions existing locally. The socio-economic development of most rural areas had been neglected by a highly centralized government that, as it became increasingly isolated from the people, it grew less and less responsive to the needs of the rural populace. Policies and programs were dictated from the top. No matter how irrelevant or ill-conceived these programs were, local government officials raised little, if any, objections. Deprived of substantial authority to the administrations continuance in power, many of these local officials increasingly became dependent on the national government for direction and ideas. As a result, the countrys economy quickly deteriorated. Government failed to deliver even the most basic social services such as quality education and access to affordable health care to the majority of the

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population. Political leadership at the local government levels became weak and ineffective.

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The

Imperative

of

Change:

From

Centralization

to

Decentralization
DEVOLUTION: a First Step to Decentralization Since power and authority are now held at the center, what is the best way to achieve decentralization? A sudden demolition of the structure without the necessary preparation would not be only jolting but cataclysmic. A wild reverse swing of the pendulum would be counter-productive without the needed safeguards. The President herself has shown the way, and must take credit for the development of our communities the Devolution of decision-making to the local level. Thus presidential initiative must start a progressive and irreversible conferring of power and authority to the political subdivisions. Actually, devolution was started during the time of President Ramon Magsaysay when he favored giving local government more autonomy because he stressed the development of the rural areas. He spurred the vigorous movement for greater local autonomy. A series of legislative activities may be recalled to show the tendency to decentralize power: 1. R.A. 1062 -provide more budget autonomy to provincial and municipal government. 2. R.A. 1205- converted all specially organized provinces to regular provinces, which means the election of local officials instead of being appointed by the Chief Executive. 3. R.A. 1551- provides that all municipal employees whose salaries were paid from the Municipal general funds were to be appointed by the mayor.

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4. R.A. 2264- known as the local autonomy to municipal government Autonomy Act. 5. R.A. 2870- known as the Barrio Charter. 6. R.A. 1515- provide for more autonomous government for municipal districts. 7. R.A. 2368- classified municipalities, provided for the reorganization of the municipal Councils & increase municipal powers and activities. The various efforts of provincial executives, city mayors and leaders of congress culminated in the presentation of the Decentralization Bill in the regular sessions of Congress in 1964.

Deconcentration/Delocation:
What could be a sincere Presidential intention can be vitiated (or to make legally ineffective) in implementation. Often, what is passed for decentralization is more aptly termed as deconcentralization whereby the central government does not share power simply install in place in special services closer to the citizenry. Example would include token gestures of delegation of authority by the national government departments and agencies to their regional, district or field offices, such as the DPWH increasing the field officers authority to conduct bids by a few hundred thousand pesos, and the Department of Health or Agriculture providing extension services in the field. The relationship is administrative in nature and implies no transfer of final authority from the National to the field level or diminution of central office powers or responsibilities. Or at most, what is presented as decentralization in order to dignify it is delocalization which is marked by a displacement of activities (mostly mere tasks and chores) and not of powers to local governments. Since it is neither a sharing nor a transfer of power, the activities delegated can be taken back at any time. An example of this just happened over the last few months. The papers had

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headlined that city and municipal mayors re-assumed control of the police. A close reading, however, revealed that local officials would only direct, supervise, oversee and inspect police units, separate or transfer policemen. One can only exercise control if he can punish or reward. This power being absent, how can it be said that they now have control? Real Decentralization is administration by the administered. As a French author would define it, all powers come from the field or local communities. Each local government, totally responsible for its own affairs, delegates power to the next highest level only when and where it is deemed more efficient to look at the higher unit. These normally include national defense, foreign affairs, judiciary, and the postal services and the like. What is not delegated up remains in the field. Thus, bureaucracy in the national government is kept at the minimum. The popular will or demand today is Decentralization and Local autonomy; because it is enshrined in 1987 Constitution. Local autonomy is nothing else but a decentralized approach to national governance. The effectiveness of national government developmental programs and projects largely hinge on the cooperation and role that local governments play in their implementation. It is therefore, imperative that governmental powers should be optimally distributed in order to achieve a workable and effective system of governance. Thomas Jefferson once said that x x x it is not by the consolidation or concentration of powers but by their distribution-that good government is affected. Representatives Felicito C. Payumo of Bataan said that in order that the program of Decentralization is effective and successful in its implementation, local officials should be prepared to undergo training in public administration.

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There should be module for local elective officials, with emphasis on training public accountability, to include revenue sourcing, prioritization of use of resources, development of project management capability, and ecology. With these knowledge and skills acquired from their training, the local officials are expected to serve as a catalyst to remedy the malady of graft and corruption, poor delivery of basic services, misuse of resources, miscarriage of justice, which in turn, breed poverty, underdevelopment of rural areas, and unequal or inequitable sharing of the countrys wealth.

The

Decentralization

of

Educational

Administration:

Rationale (UNESCO) 20
The major activities involved in the enterprise of education are: 1. The determination of the overall goals of education; 2. The translation of the overall goals, as well as any other more particularistic goals of education into educational objectives; 3. The formulation of policies to achieve educational objectives; 4. The establishment of institutional and other mechanisms, and physical facilities, for the delivery of education; 5. The recruitment and training of personnel, for the planning and management, including delivery, of education; 6. The determination of appropriate curricula, and methods of teaching and learning; 7. 8. The preparation of teaching and learning materials; 9. The management of learning;

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10. The monitoring, assessment, and review of educational progress with a view to effecting needed changes in the above-mentioned components. All these activities can be carried out on either a centralized or a decentralized basis. Decentralization, in the strict sense of the term, should involve the creation of autonomous authorities, covering relatively small geographical, administrative or population units, to carry out the functions discharged by a central authority. Powers which the central authority exercised should be transferred to the autonomous bodies so created, and the latter should take action pertaining to their responsibilities and functions o their behalf and as a matter of legal right, and not as the agents, or representatives of the central authority. The term decentralization is, however, widely used in a somewhat loose sense than that indicated above to refer to arrangements by which a central authority delegates all or some of its powers to a number of duly constituted bodies or individuals, authorizing them to exercise these powers in the capacity of agents of the central authority. Directives may be sent down from time to time by the central authority regarding policies or other matters of importance; also, directions may be sought by the delegated bodies or individuals from the central authority, where such directions are deemed to be necessary. In the present module, decentralization is taken to include both senses in which the term is used. The country examples given in lesson 3 will clarify the extent to which educational decentralization conforms to the strict use of the loose use of the term. Many countries, which have centralized systems of education, are moving towards decentralization to some extent or other; certain countries, which have already decentralized their educational systems to some degree, are thinking of proceeding further with their efforts at decentralization. The

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more important reasons which seem to be responsible for the increasing trend towards decentralization are as follows: 1. The magnitude of the educational enterprise; 2. The heterogeneity of the clientele for education; 3. The complexity of the educational system; 4. Public expectations from education; 5. Problems of communication; 6. The financial burden on the central government; 7. The recognition of education as a component of regional development planning.

Each of them is discussed below: 1. The magnitude of the educational enterprise The educational enterprise, the main components of which are institutions, students, teachers, buildings and other facilities, has in almost every Third World Country recorded a phenomenal increase, especially during the past three decades. The magnitude of the increase can be best seen in student numbers. Let us group the countries of Asia and the Pacific into six categories: 1.1. 1.2. 1.3. 1.4. countries whose present population exceeds 500 million; countries whose present population lies between 100 million and 500 millions; countries whose present population lies between 50 million and 100 millions countries whose present population lies between 25 million and 50 millions;

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1.5. 1.6.

countries whose present population lies between 10 million and 25 millions; countries whose present population lies between one million and ten millions Each years total enrolment is for the first, second and third

levels of education, according to UNESCOs usual classification of levels. These enrolment figures and the percentage increases will provide an indication of the extent to which student numbers have increased in various countries. The growth in the student expansion is undoubtedly of enormous magnitude. The increases in the numbers of institutions, teachers, buildings and other facilities have undoubtedly been in proportion to the growth in the student numbers, with the result that the entire enterprise of education has taken on huge dimensions, so much so that serious doubts are expressed by educators as well as by those in public administration as to whether a centralized administration is really capable of an efficient delivery of educational services.

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2. The heterogeneity of the clientele for education Before the decade of the 1950s when the first increases in numbers began to make their appearance, not only were the educational systems small in size, but they also catered to a relatively homogenous clientele, drawn to a large extent from the economically better off sectors of the urban population, and the very affluent among the rural people who were few in number and generally used urban educational facilities for their children. To say this is not to imply that the urban poor and the not very rich rural population were completely denied education, but there is no gainsaying the fact that the provision for them was quite inadequate. The present clientele of the vastly expended education systems is broader based, geographically, socially, and economically, but one characteristic of a centralized education structure is that by and large it tends to give primacy to the privileged groups which have been its additional concern. In the process, the vast majority of the student population received less than a fair share of attention. The curriculum of the elite schools prepared the small numbers enrolled in them for the learned professions, and for vocations in which openings were few. Some achieved success, others did not. But as the failure could fall back on family wealth for their maintenance or had family property which they could develop, they did not become a social concern. The same curriculum continued to be offered even after the elitist system was thrown open to the masses. In that context, the curriculum ceased to be functional, and the quite large numbers failing to qualify or get the small number of jobs for which education fitted them became a serious social concern. Centralized systems of education have not been able to come up with effective solutions, and it is felt that the remedy would lie in decentralization. 3. The complexity of the educational system

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Arising partly from the pressures mentioned in 1 and 2 above, the educational systems of most countries have undergone a structural transformation during the past two decades or so. The earlier structure was a simple one consisting of an elementary school, a single tract secondary school, and a university. A much more complicated structure is in the process of being developed. Pre-schools are being increasingly added at the lower end. The single track secondary school is being replaced either by several secondary schools with diversified curricula or by a single comprehensive school within which a variety of curricular offerings is available. Higher education is available not only in universities but in polytechnics and other specialized institutions. In brief, the simple structure of formal education has been transformed into a much more complex one. Then, there is non-formal education which is increasingly offering a parallel education to the formal system. And finally, the concept of life-long education has abolished the idea of a terminal point for education. In short, the educational system has become one of immense complexity, giving rise to unprecedented managerial problems. It is the considered view of many educators that unless this gigantic monolithic structure, as administered centrally, is reduced to reasonable proportions through a programme of effective decentralization, it would defy all attempts at management and breakdown. 4. Public expectations from education As long as the education system was small, the public accepted education as a worthy end in itself and did not entertain any other expectations. However, as expenditure on education began to increase with growth in size of the system, educators were called upon to justify the expenditure, and they did so on the ground that education was a catalyst to economic development. The public has now come to demand hard evidence of the contribution of education to economic development.

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What began as claims and expectations expressed wholly in terms of economic development have now broadened to include other aspects of development as well, and the thrust now is on the role that education should play in national development in all its facets. The public is justifiably concerned with the existence of educated unemployment, which is seen as a running sore affecting the entire social system. The public is also visibly concerned with the lack of relevance, as generally imparted, of education to local needs, and the failure of education to contribute to the solution of local problems. Educators are called upon to meet these challenges, and in their endeavour to do so, they have begun to question the existing administrative system and to hold it responsible at least in part for the failure of education to deliver the goods. The hope is now seriously entertained that the decentralization of education may be a means of making it more relevant to local needs and also realizing its potential as a catalyst to national development. 5. Problems of communication The expansion of a centralized educational system involves a lengthening of lines of communication, both horizontally and vertically. It is, however, the latter which get lengthened manifold and are affected more. Communication becomes time consuming and exasperating. Communications from the top downward do ultimately reach those at the bottom with some intervening delay. Moreover, the message itself tends to get weakened and distorted in the process of transmission down a lengthy and often tortuous route. It also becomes more impersonal and less intimate with a consequent loss in its significance and impact. Communications from the bottom intended to go upwards usually encounter barriers, as the echelons through whom the communications are required to be channeled exercise discretionary powers as to whether the messages should really go up or not, since they run the risk of being

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accused by their superiors for giving them the extra work involved in receiving the communication or taking action about it. This is in regard to communication within the system, but in so far as communication outside the system to or from parents or the public at large goes is concerned, there is much less chance of its being received within a reasonable time, if it is received at all. 6. The financial burden on the central government The very heavy demands which education makes on the national budget, and the prospect of further escalations, have made the ministries of finance of some countries urge decentralization as a means of relieving part of the burden now placed on the central government. It holds that this will generate revenues from education to the regional or local government, community organizations, and/or parents. It is felt that if education were decentralized, the responsibility for raising part of the revenue required for financing educational expenditure could be placed on the decentralized structure, whatever its particular form may be. It is also assumes that more active involvement by more social institutions and groups will lead to an increase in resources available for education. Aside from any legal transfer of the financial burden to

decentralized educational authorities, it is also anticipated that a substantial amount of voluntary support could be mobilized from local communities, if education were decentralized. 7. The recognition of education as a component of regional

development planning Imbalances in development between different areas, and the arewise specificity of development problems and needs have made national development planners turn their attention to regional development

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planning. Where a country puts regional development planning into practice, education cannot stand outside but has to become an integral component of the strategies of regional development, which have of necessity to be carried out on a decentralized basis. Consequently, it may be stated that the trends towards regional development planning that are becoming increasingly popular in some countries are forcing the hands of educators to take action towards the decentralization of education.

Conclusion
Seven reasons for the trend towards the decentralization of education have been outlined above. A word of caution should be expressed that it would be unwise to think that the path of decentralization is strewn with roses or that decentralization is a panacea for all the ills with which education is now beset. It would be far wiser to think of decentralization as a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for meeting some of the challenges faced by education. Decentralization has its own set of problems, and some of them are considered to be institutional level, district level, division and up to the regional level.

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Test and Apply Your Knowledge

1. What reasons, other than those given in this lesson, can you adduce for the trend towards decentralization?

2.

State, with reasons, whether you advocate the decentralization of education in your country/region/division/district/institution.

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Lesson 2
Institution Building and Institutional Development

Objectives:
The objectives of this lesson are to provide information about institution building and development for organizations renewal and upgrading; and to be aware of the structural and process mechanism for resources and support systems management.

Introduction
It is important that educational organizations continuously grow and develop themselves to suit the changing environment as well as to bring about change in the environment. To do this requires good degree of selfrenewal capabilities to be built into the design and culture of the educational organizations. The experiences in most of the countries indicate educational organizations function well in the initial period and start stagnating after some time. Recent advances and experiences in Management Sciences have indicated that it is possible to design and re-design organization to maintain and improve self-renewing Development capabilities. (popularly Institution-Building OD) (IB) and such Organization known as are two

movements that have demonstrated good results in helping organizations renew themselves. This module is devoted to familiarize the reader with some of these concepts and includes the following sections: 1. The concept of Institution Building 2. Structural and process mechanisms for Institution Building 3. Supervision: The Basic Management System 4. Developing and managing the faculty

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5. Creating and managing institutional resources and support systems 6. Towards self-renewal of institutions The first section explains the concept of IB. The second section deals with structural and process mechanism for IB. The third section examines the issue developing participative culture which forms a back bone for any IB or OD activities. The fourth section is devoted to the important area of Faculty Development which is crucial for any educational Institution to play its change agentry role well. The fifth section spells out briefly the mechanisms of creating and managing institutional resources and support systems. The sixth section delineates the use of OD for self-renewal of institutions. Various OD techniques are also discussed. There are two case studies presented at the end of this module. The first case deals with the creation and location of resources in a community and the second case study describes a self-renewal (OD) effort carried out in a school system.

1.

The concept of Institution Building

An institution is concerned both with its internal development as well

as with external linkages, including making impact on a larger part of the society. An institution has been defined as an organization which embodies, fosters, and protects normative relationships and action patterns, and performs functions and services which are valued in the environment. An institution has the responsibility of influencing the environment. The term institution building has been used both for the process of internal development of an institution as well as for making external impact on the society. Institution building has been defined as the process of establishing or transforming and organization into an integrated and organic part of a community, in a way that will help the organization play a proactive role in

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projecting new values and become an agent of change in the community (Pareek, 1981). The management of an institution has to pay attention to both these aspects of institution building. The main function of management is to make institutions more effective. Effectiveness of institutions can be conceived in terms of five main aspects; achievement of goals, development of people, expansion, selfrenewal, and making impact on a larger community. Each institution has defined goals, and the management ensures that these goals are achieved most speedily and with minimum inputs. The goals may relate to providing education, doing research, preparing policies and strategies, evaluation programmes, supporting various projects, etc. Most of such goals can be measured quantitatively. Criteria can be evolved to test to what extent the goals have been achieved and with how much input of various kinds. Management should ensure both the qualitative aspects of achievement of goals as well as efficiency in terms of input-output ratio. In addition to the achievement of the goals and institution needs to pay attention to the development of its own people, working in different roles and at various levels. An educational institute particularly has to look after this important dimension. Development of people may involve both their continuous professional growth as well as undertaking new and higher responsibilities. An institution is also concerned with its own growth. Every institute is interested in its scope of work and expanding its activities. Even if the institute continues to serve a particular community, it needs to add new functions so that the people may have a sense of development and growth. One aspect which is often neglected is that of self-renewal. An institute needs to examine its processes of growth and possible decline and take steps so that a phase of decline may be averted and changed into one of

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continuous development. The process of self-renewal is important for institutions working in developing countries. Finally, an institution by definition is an organization which has the responsibility of influencing a larger section of the society on some values and norms. This aspect has recently attracted attention and has been termed as institution building. The linkages between institutions and the society have to be made stronger. Thus management has several functions to perform in an institution.

The Focus of Management: PEG

The effectiveness of institutions will depend to a great extent on how it is able to develop its own culture and traditions to meet various challenges and achieves results related to the five different aspects enumerated above. We suggest that the primary focus of management in an institution may be to create an orientation of pride, enjoyment and growth (PEG) amongst various personnel in the institute. If people are engaged in work which they find challenging and worthwhile (being relevant to social needs and critical to social development) they feel proud to be associated with such work. One function of management may be to create such a sense of challenge and worthwhileness in the work people are engaged in. Similarly, work should be regarded as a joy, and not drudgery. If people determine their own objectives, experience that what they do is seen as significant by concerned people, and have an opportunity to work in collaboration on difficult but significant tasks, they enjoy work. The feeling of growth comes when the work becomes increasingly more challenging and socially relevant, and people are required to stretch themselves to cope with such positive challenges. When people have opportunities to learn new techniques, acquire new skills, and revise their previous understanding, they may experience growth. If work ceases to give a sense of growth and

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development, the individuals commitment to work goes down. We therefore strongly suggest that the main focus of management in an institution should be to produce enough challenge, social relevance, autonomy, opportunities for learning and meeting challenges, and opportunities to jointly work on challenging tasks. The effectiveness of management of institutions may be evaluated in terms of the extent to which people feel proud and involved in their jobs and experience a sense of growth.

MODULE 3 Concepts and Process in Educational

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Administration and Supervision

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Overview
Module 3 deals with concepts and processes in Educational Administration and Supervision. It consists of three (3) lessons, namely: Lesson 1 Concepts of Educational Administration and Supervision Lesson 2 Functions and Principles of School Administration and Supervision Lesson 3 New Dimensions in supervision Lesson 4 Roles of School Supervisor

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Lesson 1
Concepts of Educational Administration and Supervision

Objectives
The objectives of this module are to develop a valid concept of the meaning of educational administration, supervision and scientific management; to distinguish its various types; and to understand the traditional and modern concepts of school administration.

Administration and Supervision Defined

Administration should not be confused with the supervision they are not synonymous terms. Each has an important role in achieving educational aims and objectives. The word administration connotes the machinery of an organization and its functions. It refers to the plan, direction, control, and operation of the school system to achieve the desired aims and objectives. It is a service activity, a tool by which the objectives of education maybe fully and efficiently realized. School Administration should consider the pupils, and its efficiency must be measured by the extent to which it contributes to the teaching and learning. It can contribute immensely by providing efficient teachers, physical plan and facilities, and adequate tools and environment for work. It covers (1) the teaching staff, (2) school finance, (3) curriculum development, (4) school plant and equipment, (5) guidance, and (6) discipline. School administration is concerned, not only with organization and procedure, but also with the process by which practices are adapted and instituted. The administrator is responsible for expediting a process which brings all the persons with legitimate interests in a program.

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For purposes of administration, Barr, Burton, and Brueckner (22.1947) give, as types of school organization, the following: extrinsic-dualistic and the line-and-staff. Both belong to the traditional or authoritarian organization. cooperation. In the extrinsic-dualistic type of organization there is no On the other hand, in the line-and-staff organization the

centralization of authority, no definition of lines, no mechanism for authority is placed on the line officers or administrators who issue orders. The staff officers or supervisors supply advice, information, and technical assistance to line officers. In a line-and-staff school organization, leadership is simply an expression of two principles namely: (1) the principle of authority; and (2) the principle of obedience to properly constituted authority. The keynote of this system is efficiency in meeting a socially assigned obligation of a democratically established institution. The school administrator considers the execution of policies as distinct and separate from the formulation of policies. separate from the formulation. The execution of policies as distinct and In a line-and-staff school organization the

officers final authority is actually derived from the power under the law. Areas of authority and responsibility are assigned to line officers who have a measure of executive authority Hopkins (23.1941) divided the conceptions of school administration into three groups: (1) the laissez-faire, (2) the authoritarian, and (3) the democratic. In the laissez-faire conception of In other words, administration, individual schools represent supreme authorities and function with little reference to any central unifying organization. there is no operating unity from which and through which the individual schools can obtain helpful leadership in improving their educational program. In the authoritarian conception of administration, efficiency of operation is the primary goal. The responsibility of education is centered by law in the chief executive who assumes the responsibility of formulating and executing educational policies. The policies formulated by the chief executive are transmitted through the line to the individuals who are to execute them. The

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final authority and responsibility are reviewed from time to time. level makes the decision.

When

disagreement, question, or conflict arises, the line officer on the next higher The democratic conception of administration is based on the principle of cooperation in which everyone participates on the extent of his ability. This conception is based on the belief that those who must abide by policies shall participate in formulating them. All matters that concern the group are referred to the group. In a democratic school organization the administrators position of leadership is derived from the authority but out of the group discussion and deliberation. In other words, authority is derived by persons from the situation and is shared by all who participate in the planning. Final responsibility, as well as the individual, is held responsible for its actions. freedom. Supervision ordinarily implies to the improvement of the teachinglearning situations and the conditions that affect them. supervision had many meanings. In the past, In the early years in this country, Effective responsibility becomes possible only through an optimum level of participation which is the requisite of

supervision consisted solely of inspection of some school officials of the community for the purpose of noting the condition and use of school facilities. There was a little or no specific and direct concern for the pupils or the teacher. Today all individuals connected with schools and school programs would not hesitate to state that such an inspection is not supervision in any sense of the word. For a modern definition of supervision, Barr, Burton, and Brueckner (24.1947) have this to say; Supervision is an expert technical service primarily concerned with studying and improving conditions that surround learning and pupils growth. This definition implies leadership on the part of the supervisor. To Melchor (25.1950), The words Supervisor, supervision, and supervisory program relate to the instructional phases

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of school plan and activities.

According to Crow and Crow (26.1947), to

supervise is to criticize, to evaluate, to appraise, or to praise. Supervision may also be defined as a process of bringing about the improvement of instruction by working with people who are working with pupils. themselves. It is a process of stimulating growth as a means of helping teachings to help Adequate supervision is concerned with making adequate provision for all the conditions which surround the learning of the pupils and the teachers. Supervision can also be defined in terms of functions or purpose for which it is used, purposes which lend meaning to the techniques employed. From the major division of his textbook, Wiles, (27.1951) discusses supervision as: (1) skill in leadership, (2) skills in human relations, (3) skill in group process, (4) skill in personnel administration, and (5) skill in evaluation. From these definitions we can definitely conclude that supervision refers to the process of coordinating group activity in such a way as to attain desirable goals. It can also be said that the fundamental purpose of any supervisory activity is toward whatever improvement in the attitude of the supervised may be considered desirable in terms of groups accepted standard. Teachers and pupils do the actual work, but the supervisor is expected to assist them through suggestions and advice, and through the kind of leadership that inspires them toward improvement, growth or development. It can be said, therefore, that supervision emphasizes the professional growth and stimulation of teachers, the development of cooperative planning, and the exercise of professional leadership in school improvement. Thus, supervision has become a program of in-service education and cooperative group development. The modern concept of democratic supervision is expressed by Barr, Burton, and Bruecker (1947) in the following statement: Supervision is leadership and the development of leadership within groups which are cooperatively evaluating the

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educational product in the light of accepted educational objectives; studying the teaching-learning situation to determine the antecedents of the satisfactory pupils growth and achievement; improving teaching-learning situation; evaluating the objectives, methods and outcomes of supervision. The purpose of modern supervision, therefore, is to supply the leadership which will help the staff members improve the instructional situation; and in doing that, to grow professionally themselves. Instead of showing or telling the teachers how to do their jobs better, the supervisor or principal works with them in the study and analysis of the total teachinglearning situation in order to improve it. In other words, the purpose the supervision is to improve instruction through the direction, guidance, and training of teachers. This view implies that instruction may be improved and that teaching efficiency may be increased. teaching will improve learning. In other words, improved Under these conditions, one authority

(29.1950) has noted that the improvement of teachers is not so much a supervisory function in which teachers participate as it is a teachers function in which teachers participate as it is a teachers function in which supervisors cooperate. In business and industry it is an accepted principle that supervision aims to improve the quality and quantity of production. In education, the purpose of supervision is to stimulate teachers and pupils toward the utilization of better teaching-learning procedures. The entire supervisory Supervision activity should be directed, therefore, toward the improvement of the total teaching-learning process and the total setting for learning. covers (1) the formulation of the aims, objectives, and purposes to be achieved, (2) the selection and organization of the subject matters to be taught, (3) the placement of the teachers who will teach them, (4) the selection of methods and techniques by which the subject matter is taught, and (5) the evaluation of the growth of the child and the improvement of the teacher.

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Barr, Burton, and Brueckner (30,1947) identified four excellent types of supervision namely: laissez-faire, coercive, training and guidance, and democratic leadership. The laissez-faire type of supervision uses inspectorial supervisory methods unaided by any objective control, in which the teachers are observed. But nothing is done to help them improve the work they are doing. In other words, teachers are left free; they are neither imposed upon nor directed. The supervisor observes the teacher but does nothing to improve the teaching. The coercive type of supervision is the opposite of the laissez-faire type; the principal visits the teacher in order to observe them. The teachers are required to follow the ready-made procedures or standards prescribed by the principal, supervisor, or superintendent. In the training and guidance type of supervision, emphasis is placed upon the improvement of the teacher, as well as of his technique through direction, guidance, and training. The democratic leadership type of supervision enlists the teachers cooperation in the formulation of policies, plans, and procedures. In this type of supervision the supervisor observes, with the aim to improve the teaching-learning situation, through cooperative process. The teachers, the principals, supervisors, and the superintendent are regarded as co-workers in a common task. All these types of supervision are practiced in our school system. Ayer, authoritative (31.1954) gives the following types of supervision: (3) (1)

supervision,

(2)

creative

supervision,

organismic

supervision, (4) democratic supervision, and (5) scientific supervision. Authoritative Supervision refers to supervision that is carried on with some degree of administrative authority. This type of supervision is based on a standard program of instruction carried on through guidance and direction. Creative supervision is based on the idea that supervision is an originating enterprise which aims to provide an environment an environment in which teachers of high professional ideals may live a wholesome and creative life, and to promote the potential powers of creativeness in pupils. Organismic

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supervision promotes the idea that the child develops as an organic whole; hence teaching and supervision should emphasize the unifying process and integrated outcome of instruction. outcomes. In this type of supervision emphasis is placed upon the whole child, correlated subject matter, and integrated Democratic supervision is based on the concept of planning, Scientific supervision based upon leadership, conduct, and evaluation of instructional improvement should be shared by the teaching personnel. measurable and controllable items. This type of supervision makes use of the scientific principles that the solution of a problem should be based on facts.

Relationship between Administration and Supervision:

The Educational Act No. 74 of the Philippine Commission failed to draw a demarcation line between school administration and supervision. According to this Educational Act, every administrator is a supervisor participates in administrative affair, In the Philippine school system, therefore, administration and supervision supplement and complement each other. They are both complementary and supplementary functions of our school system. From the preceding definitions of administration and supervision, one can conclude that the two terms are interrelated. Effective learning, which is the fundamental aim of supervision, cannot be accomplished under inefficient administration. It generally accepted that proper administration is one of the great factors to learning. The procedure or technique used by the administrator in determining the purpose of administration and the way it is to be effected becomes part of the learning process for everyone affected just as truly as methods of teaching in a classroom are a help to the learning of the pupils. Administration is intended solely to facilitate instruction; instruction must be so administered as to make it efficient and effective.

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The way the school plant is operated, the manner teachers are selected and assigned, the methods of preparing a school budget, the attitudes of administrators toward the problems of children, the requirements for promotion from year to year all these aspects of school administration become part of the ways of learning of all human beings connected with the system. The purpose of school administration, then, is to bring all phases of the total school enterprise into a harmonious working relationship around some central conception of unity inherent in the process to be desired in learning. Since administration is a means to learning which is the goal of supervision, it must exemplify in its practices those democratic, interactive, integrating processes basic to the successful functioning of the total school enterprise. Administration has a leading role in education and can serve as a powerful, constructive influence if it is centered on the ways and means of attaining the purposes of the educational program. Rorer (22.1942) in his remarkable analysis of the principles governing supervision believes that administration and supervision should be differentiated in their function of leadership. Administration requires more than mere knowledge of management or keeping the machinery operating smoothly. It demands a continuous study of goals to see how they can be best attained, and a constant appraisal and analysis of physical facilities, tools, equipment, materials, and personnel to determine how all these means can be utilized to utmost advantage. Administration requires specialized ability and a thorough-going knowledge of the science of administration, just as the planning and direction of the learning activities of boys and girls require specialized abilities on the part of the teachers. Supervision also plays major role in creating atmosphere in the school system stimulating to the growth of more admirable qualities among the personnel of the teaching staff. It is no longer regarded as a mere inspection

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of the work of the teachers, but as a form of democratic leadership a clearing house of the best ideas of the work in the field. work and to encourage them to grow professionally. Ever since supervision was added to school management, there has been a concerted attempt to draw a line of demarcation between administration and supervision, between the job of administering and that of supervising. This campaign for strict interpretation is still far short of its goal, especially in a highly centralized school system. Through administration and supervision are interrelated, differences in positions between the two can be briefly described as follows: 1. Administration represents the whole of the educational system, while supervision represents a portion of it that is related to the improvement of the teaching-learning situation. 2. Administration emphasizes authority, and service in case of supervision. Every act of the administrator is based upon authority, while supervision is based upon service. 3. Administration, for the most part, reflects more authority than supervision. Administration provides favorable conditions essential to good teaching and learning, and supervision carries out the better operation and improving of it. 4. Administration decides, directs, and orders execution of the educational program, while supervision assists, advises, guides and leads the operation and improving of the program. In other words, administration directs and supervision serves. Likewise, Rorer expresses the relationship between administration and supervision in terms of the following principles: It is within the scope of supervision to stimulate and inspire the teachers to do creative

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1. Supervision is a function of administration and subordinate to the former. 2. Supervision and administration are two separate and distinct functions. 3. Supervision and administration are correlative, coordinate, and complementary functions of education.

Scope of School Administration and Supervision

In order to have a clear conception of the scope of the scope of school administration and supervision, we may present here examples of administrative and supervisory activities. their respective definitions. administration. 1. The Selection of the Teaching Staff 2. The Organization of the Administrative and Teaching Staff 3. Department Organization 4. The Present Need for the Improving Physical Facilities, Site, Grounds, and Size of Building 5. Space Devoted for the Administration of Facilities 6. Space Devoted to Instruction, for Services, and Equipment 7. Increasing Office Efficiency 8. System Records and Reports 9. Office Rotation and Personnel 10. 11. 12. 13. Widening Participation in Planning the Budget Accounting Procedures Accounting of Supply and Equipment Making Schedules We have to determine the

activities rightfully belonging to administration and supervision as limited by Edmonson, Roemer, and Bacon (1948) give the following as a summary statement of the activities rightfully falling under

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14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

Importance and Functions of Discipline Guidance Program School Assembly Student Organization and Activities Clubs, Dramatics,

Publications, Handwork The Curriculum Selection of Instructional Materials The School Library Appraising and Reporting Progress of Students The Public Relations Program Secondary Schools and College Relations Faculty Meeting

Barr, Burton, Brueckner (1938) give the following as a summary statement of the activities belonging to supervision: 1. Survey of the School System 2. The Direct Improvement of Classroom Teaching 3. The General Improvement of Teachers-in-Service 4. Organizing Programs of Cooperative Activity 5. The Development and Maintenance of Morale, or Esprit de Corps 6. The Selection and Organization of the Materials of Instruction 7. Experimental Study of the Problems of Teaching 8. Determining the Desirable Physical Conditions of Learning 9. Performance of Professional and Semi-Administrative Duties

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Author Gist (33.1951) gives the techniques of supervision under the following headings: 1. Teacher Diagnosis 2. Pupil Diagnosis 3. Diagnosis of Curricular Offerings 4. Survey of Methods in Instruction 5. Budgeting of Time in Supervision 6. Classroom Visitation 7. Teachers Meeting and Conference 8. Demonstration Teaching 9. Professional Growth 10. 11. Teacher-Pupil Relationship Evaluation of Supervision

The Traditional and Modern Concepts of Administration and Supervision

To have a vivid picture of the modern trend in school administration and supervision, it is necessary to discuss briefly its traditional concept. The traditional concept of administration and supervision is based on the philosophy that the teacher is the center of the administration and supervisory activities. The old concept puts more emphasis upon imposed improvement of the teachers through teacher-training and rigid discipline. Traditional administration and supervision place more emphasis upon techniques and the use of subjective devices and autocratic procedures. The traditional concept of school administration and supervision practices leadership through compulsion, coercion, and imposition or through pressure in the use of ready-made solutions or procedures. Traditional administrators

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and supervisors consider themselves as experts and work outside of the group under their control and supervision. They also regard classroom visitation as isolated from other school activities and projects. Early in the history of school administration and supervision, Men were

operations were largely in a personal and practical basis.

selected, not because of their special technical training, but rather because of their success in dealing with the public, the teachers and the students. The conception of administration and supervision during the period reflected the existing practices in business and industry whereby the manager, with the approval of the board of directors, determined the policy and directed the operation of the company and the work of its employees. reference to education was gradually recognized. The modern concept of school administration and supervision, on the other hand, recognizes the child and his growth and development as the center of administrative and supervisory activities. In other words, the concept of administration and supervision has gradually moved from the improvement of instruction to the improvement of the learning process. Modern administration and supervision see education as a whole all factors, principles and techniques in improving the teaching-learning situation. The modern concept of school administration and supervision is more than mere inspection of the work of the teachers; it is a friendly help and counsel a clearing house of the best ideas acquired in the field. Instead of directing attention solely to the improvement of individual teachers, it enlists the cooperative efforts of the entire staff in the study of the educational problems of the school. The inadequacy of the traditional concept of administration and supervision in

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The most recent special concept of school administration and supervision treats it from the point of view of human relations. The change from individual improvement to group improvement through cooperative efforts has also changed the relationships of the educational personnel. This change is the result of enlightened understanding of democracy and increased knowledge of psychology as is apparent even in the titles of positions. This change in the concept of positions has created psychological insecurities in the administrator or supervisor himself and blocks his relationship with teachers. Both the administrators and the supervisors no longer direct or guide but rather suggest changes, provide materials and resources to the teachers. Administrators and supervisors now are more But frequently called consultant role of the administrator and supervisor.

unless this consultant role of the administrator and supervisor is properly supported by the executive school officials, it is ineffective and even threatening to the teacher. This change in personnel relationships is the result of an enlightened understanding of democracy as a way of life. The modern concept of school administration and supervision must be based on human dignity and human worth and must give priority to human factor. The traditional and modern concepts of school administration and supervision can be summarized as follows: 1. The traditional concept of school administration and supervision is based on the philosophy that the teacher is the center of administrative and supervisory activities, while the modern concept recognizes the child and its growth. 2. The traditional concept of school administration and supervision is subjective, while the modern concept is more objective and scientific. Modern administration and supervision are based on facts and utilize scientific and modern devices and procedures.

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3. The traditional concept of school administration and supervision is individualistic and regimented, while the modern concept is socialistic or cooperative. In the traditional concept, administrators and supervisors are considered as experts who know nothing wrong. 4. The traditional concept of school administration and supervision puts more emphasis on techniques, while the modern concept is based on principles. techniques. 5. The traditional concept of school administration and supervision practices leadership through compulsion, coercion, and imposition, while modern administration and supervision practices democratic leadership through stimulation, direction and guidance. 6. The traditional concept of school administration and supervision regards classroom visitation as isolated activity from other projects, while under the new concept it covers the whole teaching-learning factors which are resident in the pupils, in the teachers, in the administrators and supervisors, and in the school environment. While both techniques and principles are necessary, principles are fundamental and serve as the basis of

The Development of Concepts in School Administration and Supervision Philippines

in

the

The history of school administration and supervision reveals that the role of the administrator and supervisor changes in accordance with the needs and available knowledge and conditions of the times. The concept of school administration and supervision has undergone changes in the Philippines as to the functions and philosophy controlling administration in

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general and supervision in particular. In the early days, administration and supervision were inspectorial in character, and the methods used were dictatorial and coercive. They inspected the buildings and grounds and equipment. They even checked the attendance and enrollment of the pupils. Later on, emphasis was placed on the improvement of the curriculum and the improvement of instruction through the training and guidance of the teachers. At present, administration and supervision are conceived as an expert technical service primarily concerned with studying, improving, and evaluating teaching-learning situations, and the conditions that affect them. It becomes synonymous with democratic leadership which stresses the dignity and worth of the individual, promotes the general welfare, and proceeds through the method of intelligence through cooperative action. With the placing of emphasis on democratic and creative supervisory procedures and better understanding of the new concept of administration and supervision as the improvement of the total teaching-learning situation, the relationships between administrators, supervisors, and teachers improved. Thus, the administrators and supervisors assumed an additional role, that of consultants. The development of the concepts of administration and supervision in this country is presented below.

Scientific Management
Up to the early 1900s, work was organized in a haphazard fashion. The supervisor gave elementary instructions to the worker on what was to be done. The how and how much were largely determined by the worker, Frederick Taylor changes all this.

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While Taylor was progressing from factory worker to operating manager at a steel plant, he earned an engineering degree by attending night school. His work experience, education, and sharp powers of observation combined to give him keen insights into the efficiencies and shortcomings of how management functioned. Taylor was bothered by the conditions that he found in the factories. Soldiering that is, workers restricting their output was commonplace. He saw that workers were selected in a haphazard manner and given no formal job training. The same was true of management. They were expected to learn their duties through on-the-job experience of trial and error. Workers, not management, established the work methods and performance standards. These conditions resulted in an inefficient factory with little cooperation between management and labor. Taylor believed that these conditions could be changed and both parties would benefit. Soldiering could be overcome if workers understood the production rates were based on facts and not set arbitrarily. If management did the job of planning, then workers could concentrate on doing the work. Rule-of-thumb management would be replaced by scientific management. Taylor took the position that there is always one best method and one best tool to do the job. It is up to management to determine this through scientific study and analysis. Taking the concept further, Taylor set forth the following principles of scientific management (see table 2.1 also). 1. Determine the basic element of every job. This would include the rules of motion and time, standardizing the work tools, and providing proper working conditions.

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2. Select the workers with the right abilities and train them for their tasks. 3. Cooperate with the workers so that they do the work together with management in line with the principles that have been developed. 4. Provide for a division of labor that has the management doing the thinking and planning and the worker performing the labor. As Taylor said, It is no single element, but rather this whole combination, that constitutes scientific management, which may be summarized as follows:

Science, not Rule-of-the-thumb. Harmony, not discord. Cooperation, not individualism. Maximum output, in place of restricted output. The development of each man to his greatest efficiency and prosperity.

Specialization also allows workers to gain greater efficiency because it is easier to master simple and repetitive tasks. Likewise, supervision is made easier. Supervisors can easily spot when the worker is not performing. Finally, individual task can be meshed with one another and with machines. These give a steadier and more efficient use of people and equipment. The logic of scientific management is overwhelming. It is no wonder that it is embraced by management everywhere. Scientific management has evolved and endured. Today its disciples are found everywhere. All one has to do is to look at our banks, hospitals, or fast-food restaurants to see modern evidence of the work principles as set down by Taylor (see table 3)

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Table 3 Scientific Management 1990s

Standardization of tools and methods. Division of labor: breakdown jobs into small tasks. Specialization: let employees do simple and repetitive tasks; management does the thinking employees

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Second Thoughts on Scientific Management

he shall be so stupid and phlegmatic that he more nearly resembles in his mental makeup the ox than any other type. The man who is mentally alert and intelligent is for this very reason entirely unsuited to what would, for him, be the grinding monotony of work o this character. Therefore, the workman who is best suited to handling pig iron is unable to understand the real science of doing this class of work and he must consequently be trained by a man more intelligent than him the habit of working in accordance with the laws of this science before he can be successful. Management believed that by offering workers adequate pay, they would be willing to accept the way work was structured. The workers economic insecurity would keep them inline. But, are the workers staying in line? Are we not now seeing some evidence of performance decline in the workplace and can some of this attributed to the principles and assumptions of scientific management? American industries experienced quality, cost, and productivity

problems in the 1970s and 1980s.

Further, competition was tougher,

especially from the Japanese. In the publics mind, the Japanese seemed to be on the right track. They had the product quality. They had motivated work force. Why? What social science research and the Japanese experience seemed to be pointing to is that conditions have changed and our assumptions have to be updated. Scientific Management by itself may not be enough to get job done today. It may be that the average worker needs more than a wellengineered small task to perform. The principles of scientific management do not need to be abandoned. Rather, we need to take what is useful from that philosophy and merge it with what are the appropriate present-day circumstances and the developments along with our history that helps to

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round out our understanding of the environment in which the supervisor must function. To help the supervisor to function effectively, we can build on this history by, first, recognizing the number of pressures pushing and pulling on supervisors (how well supervisors respond affects their chances of success) and, second, reviewing the major trends and developments taking place in society (our world is changing, and unless we realized the significance of these changes, we will not be prepared to deal with the new circumstances.)

PRESENT-DAY CIRCUMSTANCES
Management Pressures
MANAGEMENT CONTROLS AND SEEKS CONFORMITY. Let us consider what we mean by management pressures. An effective organization cannot allow conditions to exist that are not in harmony with the overall plan of the company. Because of this, management exerts pressures to control all the individual elements of its business. These controls take many forms product specifications, schedules, quality levels, performance standards, work rules, and wage and salary policies, to name a few. Effective controls help to assure that there will be predictable behavior and successful results. Profit objectives are met in large part because the product or service is delivered as designed. Take a simple item such as a fast-food hamburger. The product specifications call for two pickle slices would improve the product, one small pickle slice is not important. However, to the corporation that sells millions of hamburgers a year, it could be significant extra cost and have considerable impact on profitability.

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An extra item, an upgraded component, or extra services such as unauthorized product improvement could wreck the profitability of a company even though the product would have a longer life, better taste, more functions, or improved appearance. marketplace. On the other hand, management does not want the customer shortchanged, It would not want employees to leave out all pickles or cheapen the product in any way. The trick is to deliver the product or This idea carries through to service as specified no more no less. other control elements used. What is controlled and how it is controlled will reflect the strength of managements feeling toward these items. Top management values profits, quality, customers, and its employees. But, does it value some of these over the others, and if so, which are the most valued? For example, supervisors read in a policy book or hear in a training session that people are our most important asset. What does this really mean? The company may really be saying that productive people who are committed to the company are our most important asset. Appreciation of this value hierarchy is of great help to supervisors when they are functioning as members of the management of the organization. As you can see, understanding the real intent of management is not always easy. Remember, top management determines the policies and But priorities of the company and tries to keep these up to date. If it had all these features, it probably could not be priced competitively, and it would be undersold in the

maintaining a schedule, worker-hours required to do the job, and all the

circumstances change (see Table 4), and this may cause the company to

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shift directions. A new product is rushed to the market. A fading product gets dropped or new ways of operating. These shifts are not always communicated to everyone on a timely basis. Too many levels of management can slow or distort any directives. Sometimes it is assumed that everyone got the word. Unfortunately, supervisions are usually farthest from top management, yet they are expected to carry out its wishes precisely. Perhaps the best way to read the company is by observing what the organizations actually do. a great deal about organizations by observing their actions.
Table 4 Trends and Developments Affecting Supervisors

Just as we

can tell much about individuals by observing their actions, we can also learn

Employees want a say on what affects them in the job. The government is more involved in workplace issues. Unions are losing their influence. More women have joined the work force. More part-time employee exists.

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Employee Pressures
Just as supervisors experience pressures from management, they also experience pressures from employees. Part of the transition process includes learning how to cope with these pressures. Employees are isolated from the decision makers in the organization. Their contact with the powers that be is through supervisors. For the most part, supervisors are their only real contact and hope for an airing of their concerns. It is natural that supervisors will get pressures from the workers. heard and perhaps resolved. If

they can influence the supervisor, there is hope that their concerns will get Supervisors will hear I need more money. We could do better work if we had The production rates are too high. you do this for us? Some of the requests are legitimate; others are frivolous. Still, the

decent tools and materials. Why cant we do it my way? and Why wont

employers want answers and action fast. What the workers are seeking is justice and dignity in the workplace, meaningful participation on decisions that affect them, protection from unfairness from the boos and from unsafe conditions in the workplace in other words, a chance to be heard and to be treated with respect. As we will see later in the book, failure to listen and respond to employee concerns is the primary cause of grievances and unionization. It will fall to supervisors to fulfill the role of the person in the middle, the buffer between the workers and management. employee concerns cannot be solved. However, supervisors must realize that they cannot solve all the problems of the employees. Many A change made to satisfy one employee may distress another worker. What is too cold for one person may be the correct temperature for another individual, and so on.

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Supervisors need to make two important distinctions: (1) to distinguish between legitimate concerns and concerns that are designed to exploit or gain an unfair advantage and (2) to distinguish between items over which they have little or no control and those over which they do have some control. It is doubtful that supervisors can effect improvements in the pension plan, add more holidays, or change the production rates. Supervisors can, however, see the training and development of the employee, maintain safe and clean working conditions, and treat each individual with respect. Employees have concerns that only supervisors can handle. means that effective supervisors are in touch with the employees. slights, and respond appropriately. This They

listen and look for problem areas, separate the real from the imagined Supervisors realize the need to communicate upward to management. They filter but do not block upward communications. It is okay to filter out the frivolous complaint or suggestion. It is also helpful, even necessary, to management that concerns get forward so top management knows what employees are feeling. Of course, do not allow employees to use you. When they are offbase, let them know it. By dealing directly with factors under your control, you will have a proper orientation to these various pressures.

Outside Pressures
GOVERNMENT. supervisors. Besides being influenced by pressures from

management and employees, a number of other pressures come to bear on One of these forces is the government. It is a strong and sometimes unpopular third party to the supervisor-employee relationship. It makes the company do things that may seem unreasonable, it causes

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inefficiencies, and it adds to costs. It makes supervisors function as police to ensure that employees obey the regulations. The government places the If burden on management and not on the workers for obeying the laws. workers make mistakes, the penalties fall heavily on management. The workers are not as accountable for their actions as management is. Workers also resist any restrictions that are placed on them. Employees wish to work free of any limitations, yet the government compels them to follow certain regulations or procedures. Popular or not, the government has an increasingly important part to play. process. Non discrimination is the law. The government also has a stake in pay practices. Workers must receive the minimum wage for their job and Equal pay is called for when and women and overtime when applicable. It has a stake in the employment

minorities do essentially the same work. Safety and health hazards are also of concern. The government

requires a workplace free of known and recognized hazards. Providing and requiring safety glasses or machine guards for certain jobs add expense and may even slow production. Workers may say that the glasses give them a headache and obstruct their vision. The safety devices may interfere with their productivity and they would rather be free of these restraints. the years I have been working. Supervisors are positioned between a requirement to enforce the laws and workers and management who resent and resist complying. Although there are conflicting interests, the supervisors course of action is clear. Obey the law even though it is often unpopular and an uphill struggle. The compelling argument is put forth, Besides I have never had a job injury in all

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UNIONS. organization

Another force acting on supervisors is the union.

If the

is unionized, the supervisor encounters another set of

pressures. The contract spells out the terms and conditions of the employeremployee relationship. When the contract is violated, employees can point to the contract and seek a remedy. They may go directly to a shop steward or other union representative who will act in their behalf. A union contract presses for conformity. Employees are to be treated in a like manner. Supervisors of the employees covered by the collective bargaining agreement are required to abide by its terms. stick. In union-management relations, a concept has evolved called past practice. In effect, past practice is what you do, not what you say you will do. And the past practice has the effect of overriding the written intent of the collective bargaining agreement. For example, suppose that the company and union agree the employees working under the influence of drugs or alcohol will be disciplined either by a suspension or discharge. If one supervisor decides to make an exception by sending home a good employee to sleep it off and no further action taken, on such an infraction, the possibility of a reversal of the decision would be very likely. JOB SPECIALISTS. Another factor that helps to shape the supervisors job is the many job specialists that companies employ. relations, wage and salary, safety and health, These specialists training, and cover a wide range of interests, covering such areas as personnel (labor nondiscrimination), efficiency experts (industrial engineers), quality control, and the like. They must enforce its provisions or run the risk of being unable to make a contractual provision

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In a real sense, these specialists make valuable contribution to the organization, they can do much to help supervisors reach their objectives. They offer expertise to supervisors. They can point out possible solutions to problems or better ways to reach performance objectives. Efficiency is important to the supervisor. It is the total focus for the methods engineer. Supervisors must deal with all these job demands, each and every day. Striking a balance among the needs of the specialists, the employees, and the performance objectives of the department can be difficult, if not impossible to do.

TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

A New Orientation to Work: Jobs Must Be Meaningful
The number and variety of pressures working on supervisors are impressive. Besides coping with these supervisors must also be tuned into the changes that are taking place around them. And it is not enough to realize the change is taking place. Supervisors must understand the impact that these developments have on the successful performance of the job. There continues to be a great deal of debate over the degree of worker commitment and loyalty to the employer. On one side of the debate, pessimists will hold that workers aren't what they used to be. On the other side, there are individuals who maintain that workers are better than ever. Similar to our advertising slogans, they are individuals who maintain that workers are better than ever. Similar to our advertising slogans, they are a new and improved product. Both sides miss the central point. People still retain their capacity for commitment to work. But it is no longer a commitment to any work. We are finding that a significant segment of the work force is rejecting jobs that are,

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to them, dull or dead-end. On the other hand, they are more actively seeking what they regard as desirable jobs. Financial security also comes from the various safety nets that are available. The unemployed can receive help from one more sources to hide them over, such as unemployment compensation, food stamps, termination pay, and supplemental unemployment benefits. The work ethic is still alive and well. People need to work, for it is work that gives us status and self-respect. We are people who are coming to exercise greater choice in all aspects of our life, and more and more of us are being as selective about our employment as we are about the rest of our activities. Therefore, we will choose jobs that make some concessions to our self-interest.

The Changing Work Force

MORE EDUCATED WORKERS. It has already been mentioned that the educational level of the work force has been steadily increasing. In 1940 the median level of education was 8.7 years of schooling. By 1980, that level had risen to 12.7 years. By 1980 two-thirds of the population had completed four years of high school and over half of all American workers had some college. And there is good reason to believe that the educational level will remain high and possibly increase. For one thing, unemployment levels are likely to remain high through the end of this century, 6 percent or greater. Since the young suffer the heaviest burden when jobs are scarce (recent employment figures show overall teenage unemployment staying near 20 percent while the overall unemployment rate is just over 7 percent), college or vocational training becomes a respectable alternative to unemployment, and the young will stay in school longer. Having this greater education, our youth become more critical and demanding of management. This additional schooling raises hopes of meaningful work, higher earnings, and promotions. If these expectations do not come to pass, the worker is likely to become frustrated, disillusioned, and discontented. And many of these workers are more educated than their

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supervisors. Their education is superior not only in years of schooling, but in the ability to adapt to the language and requirements of the new technology. The older worker is also returning to school. In some cases, this is due to workers being terminated because of a company shutdown or relocation. In other situations, workers see the need for retaining because they no longer possess the skills needed for new jobs. (Working skills can become as obsolete as old machinery.) Or the worker may wish to qualify for a new career. In any case, the need for more education is felt. The older worker is able to count on receiving financial help and support. Federal and state funding is available. Unions and companies will negotiate retraining agreement. And colleges, faced with declining enrollments, will actively go after this student body. Socialization aims to build a base of shared attitudes and values that foster cooperation and sense of belonging. Further, socialization helps people function better because they learn what is right and wrong. When considered against the principles of scientific management, the schools performed very well. Under scientific management principles, work in the factories and offices is repetitive, specialized, and time-oriented. Hence, employers seek workers who are obedient, are willing to perform routine and dull tasks, and are punctual and regular in attendance. So far our schools have performed in harmony with these needs. However, if predictions are correct about the nature of work changingtasks will become larger rather than smallersuch schooling may not be as relevant. If workers have to be adaptable to frequent changes in work assignments, and if they are asked to accept more and more responsibility, is education and socialization process adequate to these needs? Certainly, supervisors are affected by the various educational levels they are finding in the work force. The person who is a supervisor in an urban environment faces a special challenge. School in the cities have high dropout and the quality of education is questionable. All this seems to suggest that this supervisor is going to be faced with generation of few applicants with

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little work experience. Have few, if any, of the needed job skills, and lack discipline necessary to adapt to a much more disciplined environment that they have up to now faced. Industry is used in schools by socializing students to punctuality and regularity of attendance, obedience, and accepting the value of work as a worthy end in and of itself. This, plus teaching the student basic skills of reading, writing, and computering, prepare the youth for the world of work. Bu if the schools fail in any part of this mission, or if the student drops out, it would appear the basics must be handled by the company and supervisor. The overall result is an uneven quality in our work force. Highly educated workers may be less likely to accept authority. The workers want more involvement on their jobs. They demand more career development opportunities. The educationally disadvantaged, however, will need more remedial training to prepare them to be productive in the workplace.

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Conclusions
The role of the supervisor is changing dramatically. Effective supervisors are not going to control people the way they did it in the past. Supervisors will now coach the employees and help them with their planning. Supervisors will function as facilitators. Despite all the changes taking place, supervisors will become more, not less, important to the organization. The old-style supervisors may be in for hard times, but the role of the supervisor has a bright future. Achieving effectiveness is not an easy task. The theory is much easier to understand than it is to apply. Making the transition is difficult. Do not let the problems overwhelm you. Workers regularly make the successful transition from worker to supervisor. Even supervisors with poor skills are able to turn their careers around. It takes work. Supervisors, for the most part, are made and not born. The process of becoming an effective supervisor is relatively simpleunderstand the theory, apply it on the job, and learn from the experience of doing things right.

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Test and Apply Your Knowledge

1. Differentiate the following concepts: 1.1 1.2 Administration from supervision Traditional from modern concepts of administration and

supervision. 2. What skills do you consider as especially significant for administrative and supervisory success?

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Lesson 2
Functions and Principles of School Administration and Supervision Objectives
Lesson 2 will provide the students with adequate understanding of the functions and principles of school administration and supervision. Furthermore, it will develop an insight of the value of leadership in school administration and supervision.

Introduction
The term function as used in education may mean the purpose or activity to be accomplished by creative educative process. The term applies to education as a whole, to a unit of a school system, or to some activities carried on by the school. Functions are fulfilled by providing some ends or goals. The school can achieve the administrative and supervisory functions. The functions of the school are oftentimes determined by its organization and classroom practices. In a large school system, supervisory authority is usually delegated by the superintendent to an assistant superintendent, to principals, and to supervisors, of special educational fields, such as: health education, English, home economics, music, and the like. Within the local school themselves, there may be further divisions of administrative and supervisory responsibility. The principal of a large high school may have one or more administrative or supervisory assistants whose function is to supervise the activities of specified groups of teachers and pupils within the school. In a complicated and intricate school organization the chief supervisory officer may find of his time and energy devoted to the care of an administrative detail that gives him little opportunity for direct supervision. This is particularly true of a principal of a large school. On account of the pressure of administrative duties, the principal may be compelled to delegate to his associates the actual supervision of the instructional program.

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The Functions of Schools Administration

Although administration and supervision are interrelated, they have different ad specific aims and functions. Some of the major functions of administration are the following: 1. Planning for school programs or activities Planning is a fundamental function of school administration. It is the process of determining the nature of the educational enterprise. The multifarious school activities call for scientific planning on the part of the administrator. In planning school programs or activities, the administrator must take into consideration the general objectives to be achieved, a sequence of appropriate learning experiences, the procedures to be used in accomplishing them, and the criteria employed to determine the degree of success achieved by the program. In other words, the plan must show the objectives desired, the proposed instructional materials, and the procedures outlines. The general objectives must provide the guidelines. The learning experiences should not be chosen simply because they are available. They should be selected in order to accomplish the purposes of which the school is organized and maintained. The machinery for administration and the procedures to be used in directing the educational enterprise must be planned only in terms of our accepted goals for education. The school administrator must also make a survey and analyze all the factors and conditions requiring modification. It is his responsibility to encourage all the teaching staff to cooperate in planning the school program. The planning of all these complex activities needs the cooperation of all concerned. A test of a successful administrator is his capacity to lead all persons under him to a community of purpose and procedure. Group participation in administration can succeed only insofar as there is unity.

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2. Directing

school

work

and

formulating

and

executing

educational policies After plans have been made, they must be put into effect. Directing school work is another important function of school administration. It includes a myriad of tasks carried out daily by the school administrator. It involves decisions as to who shall carry out plans; determination of the subjects to be included in each course; provision for physical equipment necessary to carry out the work; and many similar acts involved in carrying out all the aspects of the educational program. It may necessitate issuing orders, holding conferences, and supervising activities. Direction is a major aspect of execution, and is particularly the province of school administration. To facilitate direction of the school work, policies should be formulated to regulate the control and operation of the school system. The administrator should work our definite policies, regulations and rules and embody them into a program. He should first study in a practical way the needs of his school, his teachers, his pupils, and those of the community, and evolve for them an administrative program to be followed. The administrator, more than anyone else, should endeavor constantly to bring the policies and the procedures of the school system into line with the best interests of students in their total living. The administrator should secure the assistance of others in formulating educational policies, rules and regulations. The formulation of school policies must be widely shared with the public. To make the school administration dynamic, the educational policies and regulations should be enforced, and the school administrator should be held responsible for the results 3. Coordinating administrative and supervisory activities It is the function of the school administration to coordinate all the activities of the school to make them contribute to the realization of the school's main objectives. Administration harmonizes all educational activities

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and makes them bring all phases of the total school enterprise to a harmonious working relationship around some central conception of unity inherent in the process to be desired in learning. Likewise, since administration is a means to learning which is the goal of supervision, it must exemplify in its practices those democratic, interactive, integrating processes basic to the successful functioning of the total enterprise.

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4. Providing the necessary leadership In the operations of the school system, the administrator or the chief executive of any school should be the professional leader of the teaching staff, working scientifically, administrator conscientiously, exercises the and democratically. authority An and efficient definite necessary

responsibility to ensure educational leadership. On him depends the success of the school organization clothed with the necessary authority and definite responsibility. The improvement of the total teaching-learning situation, of the classroom facilities, and the development of an efficient educational programall these require democratic leadership which is progressive and objective. Democratic leadership implies an understanding of the conditions under which one leads a consideration of individual differences, and sympathy with the persons who are led. The important duty of an administrator is to provide leadership in the improvement of the staff. Leadership must be substituted for authority. The authoritarian type of administration, where teachers are constantly told what to do and how to do it, should be abandoned and replaced by that type of involvement in the joint of development of a constructive program. Leadership gathers justification for its existence when it serves to emancipate teachers and pupils; when it enriches their personalities; when it gives them a feeling of security and belonging. 5. Evaluating the teaching personnel and the school program Evaluation, as an administrative function, includes teacher-rating and school survey. In the Philippines, rating teachers is a legal requirement. Regular teachers in public schools are rated annually, while the temporary are rated twice a year. A Rating Scale is often used by the administrator to discover the strengths and weaknesses of the teaching personnel. Administrators rate teachers for the following

115

reasons: (1) to eliminate incompetent teachers; (2) to improve teaching through in-service education; and (3) to identify those who merit promotion.

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School programs and conditions are evaluated through a school survey. A school survey as an administrative function is valuable if the staff of the school participates in making the appraisal. Survey and other evaluations are primarily spring boards to further work. They reveal the aspects of the program, in need of change, and indicate the probable direction in which the changes should be made. A school survey is an important function of school administration. 6. Keeping records and reporting results Recording and reporting are administrative functions to insure results with a maximum delegation of authority. School records should be kept for comparison and evaluation purposes. No content should go into records for which no real use is likely to arise. A well devised set of records requires the setting up of administrative objectives and provides for the gathering of information which enables the administrator to determine the extent to which these objectives are being achieved. The school administrator should be in a position to generalize from facts placed at his hands. As a student of education, such as retardation, elimination, costs of instructions, proportions of failures, and many other things that indicate the kind of products his system is producing. It is especially for such uses that well-organized records are invaluable. Reporting results to the public is an administrative function. Annual reports and school publicity help the public to understand what the schools can do and are doing, and are in themselves a democratic way of operating the school system. However, merely informing the public of what the schools are doing is not enough. The people must be given an opportunity to participate in the discussion of possible changes in policy.

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The Major Functions of Supervision

Supervision, like administration, has multifarious functions. The five major functions of supervision are the following: 1. Inspection The term refers to the study of existing school conditions. The first task of a supervisor is to survey the school system in order to discover problems or defects of the pupils, teachers, equipment, school curriculum, objectives, and methods of instruction, together with the conditions that surround them. Problems or defects may be discovered through actual observations, educational tests, conferences, questionnaires, and check lists. Once discovered they should be classified into major and minor problems. The major defects should be formulated into supervisory objectives to be attained for the semester or for the year or course of years. Inspection as a function must be based on actual facts. 2. Research The fundamental aim of this function is to formulate a plan to remedy the weakness or to solve the problem discovered. The supervisor should conduct research to discover means, methods, and procedures fundamental to the success of supervision. The solutions discovered through research should be passed on to the teachers and other personnel connected with the school system. Teachers in the field should also be encouraged to conduct their own research for selfimprovement. Research as a function should be practical and applicable to existing procedures and conditions. Spain (1928) outlines the steps in supervisory research as follows. (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) To discover existing defects in instruction. To seek improved methods of correcting defects. To formulate tentative plans to improve instruction To plan controlled experimental conditions To measure results of experiments To formulate tentative objectives and standards

118

(g) (h)

To formulate a plan for the general use of method To present a plan to district principals for criticism, suggestion, and approval.

3. Training Acquainting the teachers with the solutions discovered or formulated through research is within the training function of supervision. Training may take the form of demonstration teaching, workshops, seminars, directed observation, individual or group conference, inter visitation, professional classes, or the use of bulletins and circulars. Training function must be based on the democratic principle of supervision.--respect for rights and opinions of others. Supervision must endeavor to keep up with the best prevailing standard of improving the total teaching-learning situation. 4. Guidance The concept of guidance has found expression in the field of school supervision. Guidance involves personal help given by someone. It is the function of supervision to stimulate, direct, guide, and encourage the teachers to apply instructional procedures, techniques, principles, and devices. Assisting the teacher to accomplish his purpose, and to solve the problems that arise in his teaching are within the scope of guidance function. Guidance, like training, should be given in the spirit of democratic leadership. Guidance in supervision stimulates teachers to be creative. Under this concept, the supervisor uses methods which best develop the inner self-expression urges of teachers, and later on uses a variety of projects which stimulate creative and reflective thinking. The methods used may be either old or new to the supervisors; the primary objective is teacher creativity. Creative thinking is the type of teaching in which the teacher exhibits creative ability on her part. It is measured by the extent to which the teacher's display of energy results in

119

initiative, originality, individuality, self directed thinking, inventiveness, growth of personality, purposeful creativity, and variation from conventional practice. An abbreviated statement of Coxs principles of supervision for creative teaching are given by Ayer as follows: (a) Supervision for creative teaching helps teachers in setting up and achieving their own teaching objectives. (b)Supervision for creative teaching stimulates, guides, and rewards worthwhile activities. (c) The integration of the teachers personality is fundamental. (d)Minor innovations and successes deserve first consideration. (e) Self-supervision is an inherent quality of the creative artist. (f) Understanding and skill in creative teaching are achieved gradually and progressively. (g)The support and encouragement of creative teaching are potentially present among community groups and school officials. (h)The creative teacher receives personal satisfaction and should be given wide recognition for creative teaching.
5. Evaluation This can be considered the ultimate major function of

supervision. The purpose of evaluation is to appraise the outcomes and the factors conditioning the outcomes of instruction, and to improve the products and processes of instruction. This function calls for the use of educational tests and measurement. It is the duty of the supervisor to help develop an adequate instrument with which to measure the teaching-learning process and set up standards of attainment as are necessary for the appraisal of the teachers progress in teaching, and the

120

pupils in his learning.

Schoolwork should be evaluated in the light of The supervisor

desirable educational objectives and social standards.

should not prescribe specific means and methods of appraisal to be used in instruction but should assist the teacher to devise such, as new needs arise. Evaluation must be based on educational aims and objectives. Evaluation as a function of supervision serves many significant purposes such as the following: 1. Evaluation discovers the needs of the individuals being evaluated and familiarizes the teachers with the pupils needs and possibilities. 2. Evaluation serves as guides for the selection of supervisory techniques. 3. Evaluation appraises the educational growth of pupils which is the end-product of supervision. 4. Evaluation appraises the quality of supervisory processes and the supervisors competence. 5. Evaluation appraises the quality if the teaching processes and the teachers efficiency. 6. Evaluation aids pupil-teacher planning. 7. Evaluation serves as a means of improving school-community relations. 8. Evaluation improves the selection and the use of guiding principles in supervision. 9. Evaluation appraises the success of the instructional program in particular and of the supervisory program in general.

Other Functions of Supervision

121

Barr, Burton, and Bruekner give the following as the three major functions of supervision with the supervisory activities under each. 1. Studying the Teaching-Learning Situation: (a) Analyzing the objectives of education and supervision (b)Studying the products of teaching and learning (c) Studying the satisfactory and unsatisfactory growth and achievement (d)Studying the interests, abilities, and work habits of the pupils. (e) Studying the teacher at work and aiding her to study herself (f) Studying the curriculum in operation (g)Studying the materials of instruction and the socio-physical environment of learning 2. Improving the teaching-Learning Situation: (a) Improving the educational objectives and the curriculum (b)Improving the teacher and her methods (c) Improving the interests, application, and work habits of the pupils (d)Improving the materials of instruction and the socio-physical environment 3. Evaluating the Means, Methods, and Outcomes of Supervision: (a) Discovering and applying the techniques of evaluation (b)Evaluating the general work of supervision (c) Evaluating the results of supervising plans (d)Evaluating the factors limiting the instructional outcome (e) Evaluating and improving the personnel of supervision Crow and Crow (1947) give the following as important functions of supervision which pertain to teaching and learning: 1. The interpretation of educational objectives.

122

2. The study of improvement of the curriculum and materials of instruction. 3. The measurement of the individual pupils ability to learn. 4. The guidance of pupils toward improved study and work habits. 5. The improvement of teaching techniques. 6. The evaluation of educational outcomes. 7. The critical study and improvement of supervising techniques 8. The stimulating of whatever creative ability may be inherent among the supervised. Like other functions, Crow and Crow also recognize inspection, training, guidance, and evaluation as major functions of supervision.

Uses

of

Principles

in

School

Administration

and

Supervision
School administration or supervision, to be effective, must be based upon modern principles of education. The application of the principles of school administration and supervision may be stated as follows: 1. Principles are means by which the administrator and supervisor proceed from one situation to another. They are important in the exercise of administrative and supervisory activities. 2. Principles are instrumental in improving teaching and learning. Improvement of instruction and promotion of better learning are the fundamental aims of school administration and supervision. 3. Principles make for enormous economy of time and effort in choosing techniques to be used. Principles govern the operation of administrative and supervisory techniques.

123

4. Principles eliminate much of the blundering trail-and-error effort in a practical piece of work. They give direction or point of destination. 5. Principles greatly aid in discovery of new techniques. administration and supervision. 6. Principles are needed to guide the choice and sequence of the appropriate techniques at hand but in no way do they supplant the fundamental rule techniques in carrying on the process and activities which make up the work of administration and supervision. 7. Principles aid in the evaluation of techniques, for they furnish a broader basis by which to judge the techniques used in school administration and supervision. 8. Principles define the items which must be scrutinized in evaluating results. This implies an understanding of the fundamental principles and functions of school administration and supervision. 9. Principles are used to evaluate the success of administrative and supervisory programs. Administration and supervision are directed and evaluated I terms of principles. 10. Principles lead the administrators and supervisors to further Principles change activities for they are dynamic and not static. They are hypotheses that direct the search for new techniques in school

with the discovery of new facts, with changes in social and moral values, and with changes in teaching-learning situations.

General principles of Administration and Supervision

The following general principles summarize the implications of our philosophy for administration and supervision. They do not represent new ideas or concepts, but rather present-day thought and practices as guided by this philosophy.

124

1. School administration and supervision must be democratic.

If

school administration and supervision are to be democratic, some reconstruction in thinking and practice must be made. Democracy in education does not imply that the administrators and supervisors abdicate their positions topermit teachers, parents, and pupils to run the school system. It does not imply that administrators and supervisors must furnish a democratic type of leadership which is measured in terms of the amount and quality of leadership which they, in turn, foster in others. Democratic school administration and supervision recognize individual differences, respect personality, and extend consideration to all. It is the aim of democracy to give the fullest measure of freedom to the individual to develop his maximum capacities so long as this development does not interfere with the welfare and rights of others. Democratic administration and supervision make it possible for each individual to make distinctive contribution to the work of the school. Democratic socialization, as the controlling objective of education, challenges the administrator and supervisor for a total reconstruction of education.

125

Some of the characteristics or practices of an autocratic and a democratic administrator or supervisor are hereby presented by Koopman, Miel, and Minser (1943) for comparison: 10. Sacrifices everything teachers, students, progress to the end of a smooth-running system. 11. Is greedy for publicity

AUTOCRATIC 1. Thinks he can sit by himself and see all angles of a problem 2. Does not know how to use the experience of others. 3. Cannot bear to let any of the strings of management slip from his fingers. 4. Is so tied to routine details that he seldom tackles his larger job 5. Is jealous of ideas; reacts in one of several ways when someone else makes a proposal. 6. Makes decisions that should have been made by the group 7. Adopts a paternalistic attitude toward the groupI know best. 8. Expects hero-worship, giggles with delight at his attempts at humor, and so forth 9. Does not admit even to himself that he is autocratic

12. Gives others as few opportunities for leadership as possible. Makes committee assignments,

126

DEMOCRATIC 1. Is quick to recognize and praise an idea that comes from someone else. 2. Refers to the group all matters that concern the group 3. Maintains the position of friendly, helpful adviser both on personal and professional matters. 4. Wishes to be respected as a fair and just individual as he respects other. 5. Consciously practices democratic techniques 6. Is more concerned with the growth of individuals involved than with freedom from annoyances 7. Pushes others into the foreground so that they may taste success. 8. Believes that as many individuals as possible should have opportunities to take responsibility and exercises leadership. 9. Consciously practices democratic techniques 10. Is more concerned with the growth-of individuals involved than with freedom from annoyances. 11. Pushes others into the foreground so that they may taste success. 12. Believes that as many individuals as possible should have opportunities to take responsibility and exercises leadership.

127

Democratic school administration and supervision observe the following basic principles: a. Democratic school administration and supervision respect the authority if truth and happiness rather than that of autocratic leaders. These respect the authority derived from below rather than the one imposed from above. b. Democratic school administration and supervision call for the way of living within the school that is indicated by the concept of democracy. supervision. c. Democratic school administration and supervision demand that participation should not be limited to line-and-staff officers but should also be extended to the classroom teachers and the student body. d. Democratic Theoretically, the broader the participation, the administration and supervision involve better the administration and supervision. school leadership and consideration as well as general participation. This calls for dynamic leadership where both administrator and supervisor must be experts in social engineering. Their function is to point the way to the improvement of the schools in terms of changes necessary to meet demonstrated and felt needs. e. Democratic school administration and supervision call for continuous evaluation, rethinking, and redirection of effort. This principle emphasizes the fact that conditions are constantly changing, that thinking changes with changing conditions, and that, consequently, any organization set up today may need f. Democratic school administration and supervision demand that the execution of the major or minor policies should be in the hands of the administrator with such assistance from the staff personnel To improve mans ability to live and work with his fellowmen is still the most challenging goal in administration and

30

as is necessary. This is based on the principle that after the policies have been determined by pooling the best thinking of all concerned, their execution must be trusted to the administrative officer. g. Democratic school administration and supervision demand that the administrator or supervisors must have to forfeit the power and authority that are his by right of training and experiences and by endowment from the people. The power and authority must come from below.
2. School administration and supervision must be cooperative in

character. Cooperation is practically synonymous with group action. This principle is closely related to the democratic principle of administration and supervision. A democratic principle cannot function in an undemocratic set-up. Education must be an essentially cooperative process growing out of needs and aspirations of each member of the group; it must not apply only to the teachers but also to the pupils as well. As the democratic function of education is to improve learning for every individual, administration and supervision must be directed towards that end. The administrator or the supervisor is supposed to lead his personnel toward a certain definite goal. Results are accomplished when unity in action, coordination in movement, and harmony in thinking, prevail. The administrators or supervisors concern should be to eliminate misunderstanding which is not conducive to cooperation, and progress results from the combined efforts of all. The success of administration and supervision depends upon the cooperation among administrators, supervisors, teachers, parents, and pupils.

31

Barr and Burton* suggested that cooperative understanding between the teachers, principals, and supervisors can be accomplished by using the following basic principles: (1)Cooperative administration and supervision are highly socialized functions and imply willingness to work together. Much can be accomplished by cooperation than by being a single-handed worker. The experiences of all his co-workers whose opinions are considered and sought on all matters of vital importance to the group. Cooperation means bringing together diverse talents to work for common ends. (2)Cooperative administration and supervision stimulate initiative, self-reliance, and individual responsibility on the part of all persons in the discharge of their duties. This principle is based on the concept that educational workers are capable of growth. (3)Cooperative administration and supervision substitute leadership for authority. Democratic administration and supervision recognize that leadership is a function of every individual and that authority is to be derived from group planning, group execution and group evaluation. (4)Cooperative administration and supervision provide opportunity for growth and development. experiment and to discover Teachers are encouraged to for themselves the teaching

techniques and devices that may prove most effective in their particular teaching-learning situations. (5)Cooperative understanding administration between and supervision promote and administrators, supervisors,

classroom teachers. When administrators or supervisors, and both groups work together, both make greater and more effective efforts in the interests of the students.

32

(6)Cooperative administration and supervision observe a code of professional ethics that is real, practical, and vital. Cooperation can be easily established on ethical basis. It can be said that the whole trend in modern industry and business is toward more and more thinking, planning, and organization carried on by cooperating groups of self-directed workers and less and less through administrative dictum or fiat.
3. School administration and supervision, to be effective, must

be scientific. Scientific administration and supervision for the ideas that the improvement of instruction may be based upon measurable and controllable data. Both administration and supervision make use of the scientific principle that the solution of problems should be based on facts. Valid principles of administration and supervision are based upon scientific investigations directed toward the improvement of teaching and the promotion of better learning. administration and supervision are characterized by knowledge, ability, skills, and attitude. Scientific administration and supervision observe the following practices: a. Scientific administration and supervision are based upon Efficient scientific

observable facts. The best way to determine whether a thing is present or not is to look and see. The principle of look and see has been far-reaching in its consequence both in school administration and supervision. things we look for. fact-conscious. b. Scientific administration and supervision employ the method of analysis in the comprehension of complex administrative and As a rule, we see only those

Both administrator and supervisor must be

33

supervisory problems by breaking them into comprehensive units. The details of complex problems are brought into focus of attention and made understandable. c. Scientific administration and supervision employ hypothesis in guiding the thinking process. Administration and supervision have employed this natural tendency of the mind to generalize from the experiences at hand as a means for the systematic study of relationship of all factors effecting teaching and learning. d. Scientific administration and supervision are free from emotional bias. The minds of the administrator and supervisor are free from ordinary entanglements and flexible enough to entertain new ideas. Likes and dislikes which color facts are not allowed but facts contrary to a temporarily entertained point of view are entertained. e. Scientific administration and supervision employ objective measurement and quantitative methods in the treatment of data. Normative survey method, cooperative casual method, and ease method are scientific procedures of great value to the school administrator and supervisor.
4. School administration and supervision must be based on

accepted educational philosophy. A philosophy is a background of theory, knowledge and beliefs which explains and justifies a selected way of life. Educational philosophy affects the thinking and resultant actions of the leaders who control public school administration and supervision. The evolution of administrative and supervisory activities should be influenced by ones educational philosophy. Philosophy furnished direction and orientation to all educational efforts and criteria for sound educational practices. Deweys educational theory that education is life, growth, a social process, and a reconstruction of human experiences is the guiding

34

philosophy of education is the integration of personality the building of personality which has the maximum growth and which possesses a well-developed standard of values giving consistency and unity to all thinking, feeling, and acting. to their adequacy. The organization of leadership in any school system should be consistent with the educational philosophy achieved by the school system. In drawing up any program for improving instruction, administrators, supervisors, and teachers must constantly keep in mind the demands which democracy makes of education, which must be satisfied if the schools are to achieve true functions. The guiding philosophy of our educational system us well outlined in our Constitution in terms of objectives, namely: development of moral, personal discipline, civic conscience, vocational efficiency, and citizenship training.
5. School administration and supervision must be creative. The

Administration or supervision is

sensitive to ultimate aims, values, and policies with special reference

term creative means initiating, suggesting, devising, inventing, experimenting, or producing something new. Creative administration or supervision denoted and encourage growth. It brings new and When original ways of doing things on the part of the individual.

teachers are given freedom to use the methods they think best to modify these methods to suit their particular class, democratic thinking is present then. Only the free can create. For creative activity is the assertion of the human spirit against any and all odds, that is to say the very voice of freedom; and creative activity is essential component of democracy. A sense of personal freedom is itself, the chief end of democracy

35

It

can

be

concluded

that

creative

administration

and

supervision observe the following practices: a. Creative administration and supervision provide opportunity for the teachers and the pupils to grow through the exercise of their talents and abilities under expert professional guidance and encouragement. organize a To accomplish this, the superintendent must professional program which will cooperative

intelligently utilize the results of scientific research and the kind of experiences that will enable them to appreciate relationship. b. Creative administration and supervision are free from the control and tradition and actuated by the spirit of inquiry. To be creative, administrative and supervisory problems must be attacked democratically and scientifically. Creative administration and

supervision exercise democratic and scientific procedures and practices in observing teacher and pupils at work. c. Creative administration and supervision need scientificmindedness, social-mindedness, and recognition of the importance of human element. Teachers and pupils are individuals with varying abilities, interests, and needs. d. Creative administration and supervision provide opportunity for a conference or a meeting between the administrator, the supervisor, and the teacher. supervisor, friendliness. e. Creative administration and supervision recognize that every teacher and pupil have the capacity for some degree of creative achievement in one field or another. administrator and supervisor to It is the duty of the provide such learning will promote an Exchange of ideas between the attitude of cooperation and

teacher and supervisor, or between the administrator and the

36

opportunities that this power of creation may be given a chance to express itself.
6. Administration and supervision must be evaluated in the light

of their results. Just as teachers and pupils have profited directly and indirectly from the introduction of more accurate methods of evaluating educational growth, there is every reason to believe that administrators and supervisors too would profit by the introduction of similar means of evaluating their own work as school leaders. Every person with leadership responsibility should be expected to furnish tangible evidence of the effectiveness of the program for the improvement that he proposes to put into operation. of instruction can the processes of education be It has been improved. pointed out that only by knowing as accurately as possible the results Administrators, supervisors, and teachers naturally all want to use the most effective means and materials available. Administrative or supervisory leadership is decidedly hampered in many respects by the use of outmoded traditional practices instead of more effective means and methods of evaluation. The term evaluation implies a purpose to ascertain the values of an enterprise. To evaluate something, then, is to determine the adequacy of some parts or elements of the constituency with reference to some other parts or elements of the constituency with reference to some other parts of the inclusive whole. Evaluation is ordinarily a many-sided affair; one may consider the adequacy of a pupils control for a specified purpose under consideration, or one may consider the adequacy of a pupils control in relation to his maturity, his past training and experience, his interests, or his capacity. The evaluation may be made, too, whether in terms of results or in terms of criteria relating to important antecedents. The

37

effectiveness of administration and supervision, for example, may be determined either through application of criteria designed to judge the value of activities performed by administrators or supervisors, or through the measurement of the immediate and more remote outcomes of the administrative or supervisory program. The purpose for which effectiveness of administrative or supervisory leadership may be evaluated are the following: a. The ultimate purpose of school administration or supervision is to promote pupil-growth, hence, eventually the improvement of society. b. The second general purpose of administration or supervision is to formulate and carry out cooperatively educational policies and plans designed to achieve the ultimate goal.
c. The third general purpose of administration or supervision is to

supply

leadership

in

securing

continuity

and

constant

re-

adaptation of the educational program over a period of years from level to level within the system, and from one area of learning experiences and content to another. d. The immediate purpose of administration or supervision is to develop cooperatively favorable settings for teaching and learning. The results by which effectiveness of administration or

supervision may be evaluated in terms of the following: a. Results must be measured in terms of the childs total growth in knowledge, habits, skills, abilities, and attitudes or in terms of the desired educational objectives. b. Results must be measured in terms of the teachers growth or improvement in the selection of subject matters, formulation and

38

evaluation of aims, selection of methods and techniques, and appraisal of educational products. c. Results must be measured in terms of the administrators or supervisors growth in educational leadership. Educational leadership calls for the enrichment of individual lives. d. Results must be measured in terms of the physical improvement of the school buildings and grounds favorable to teaching and learning. e. Results may be measured in terms of community improvement and its relation to the school. The integration of the school and community is also fundamental in evaluating results.
7. Responsibility and control in matters of school administration

and supervision must run parallel throughout the system. This principle of parallelism of duties is the particular sphere to which the school administrator or supervisor is assigned and for which he is responsible. This principle is the foundation for any form of democratic practice. Democracy in its full meaning involves sharing of responsibility whenever authority is shared. If a person is given authority to act, or a teacher is given authority to act for a principal, there should be some way for him to share in the responsibility for success or for a failure. Holding an administrator or supervisor responsible for results without giving him the control necessary for their attainment is equally as bad as giving him powers and not demanding products. Demanding certain results from the teacher is practicable only when the teacher is permitted the necessary control or procedure for the attainment of those results.
8.

School meanings

administration and functions.

must and They

be are

distinguished have not synonymous

from terms.

supervision.

Administration

supervision

different

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Misconception regarding this difference undoubtedly causes more misunderstanding and possibly more neglect of duty than can be attributed to any other cause. When the duty is not clearly defined, it is easy to overlook it, or to realize only part of it, or even to deem it unimportant because it is not given clear and complete interpretation. Unquestioned responsibility induces adequate action; in its absence, what is everybodys business is nobodys business. Overlapping functions cannot be definite. jointly If two persons are Good

responsible for the same work, they cannot be held

responsible individually, nor can harmony be expected. small each may be.

teamwork divides each activity into distinct assignments, however

9. School administration and supervision must be preventive

and constructive. Any help that an administrator or supervisor can give to teachers so that they may avoid mistakes is commendable. The administrator or supervisor who is able to anticipate problems of this kind of assistance is especially valuable to the beginners in a new school or who are newcomers to the teaching profession. The skilled administrator or supervisor who anticipates the possible difficulties that may be experienced by his new teachers, and who starts early to direct and to guide their teaching activities, is practicing preventive school administration and supervision. As a well-trained and experienced administrator or supervisor works with his teachers, old or new, he builds self-confidence in them by recognizing and commending their capabilities and by helping them to discover their own weakness, for the improvement of which he suggests desirable changes of attitude or in procedures. The attitude of this kind of supervisor or administrator is always positive

40

and forward-looking, and a stimulation to teachers toward selfimprovement.

10. School administration and supervision must be centered on

child

growth

and

development.

The

main

purpose

of

administration and supervision is to provide conditions favorable to the growth and development of children. Administration and supervision must, therefore, be so organized and conducted that the growth of the whole personality of the child is possible. The teachers, supervisors, and administrators must always keep in mind the child and his needs, abilities, and interests in terms of his development. They must study children to determine their difficulties and potentialities, and the most suitable type of education which will make it possible for them to grow mentally, physically, morally, emotionally, and socially.
11. School administration and supervision must be flexible.

An

administrative and supervisory program must be flexible enough to adapt itself to the type of school organization and to the needs of each particular supervisory teaching-learning situation. Flexibility may be characterized by its being adaptable and readily adjustable to meet the requirement of changing conditions. Flexibility as used in school administration and supervision may cover the following: Flexibility of school building the adaptability of the school building to various uses as needs and conditions change. Flexibility of the curriculum the adaptability of the school subjects as to the needs and interest of the pupils and to the rapid changing conditions of the community and the country in general.

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Flexibility of objectives and teaching procedures the adaptability of aims and methods to meet the conditions of the different schools, teaching personnel, student population and communities.

Flexibility of instructional materials and devices the adaptability differences of the pupils and the varied training and experiences of the teaching personnel.

Flexibility of school requirements and standard norms the adaptability of procedures to fit the individualities of the pupils, teachers, supervisors, and administrators.

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The principle of flexibility in school administration and supervision observes the following practices: (1) Flexible school administration and supervision adapt activities to meet individual differences of teachers in training, experiences, and abilities. Because of these differences the administrator and supervisor should avoid over-emphasis of standard norms, goals, and prescriptive measures. (2)Flexible school administration and supervision adapt adjust the types and length of classroom visit to the particular purposes and needs of the teaching-learning situations. The administrator and supervisor should give special attention to the new and experienced teachers. (3)Flexible school administration and supervision encourage and assist teachers to use flexible assignments and methods must be modified to meet individual differences of the pupils and to meet the individualities of the teachers. (4)Flexible school administration and supervision adapt itself to the needs of each particular teaching-learning situation. School situations vary and personalities are unique. The administrator and supervisor need to understand that a supervisory arrangement in one situation will not fit another situation exactly.. (5)Flexible school administration and supervision encourage pupils to suggest ways they would like to work and to give them opportunity to plan, work, and evaluate their own activity. program. (6)Flexible school administration and supervision meet the needs and desires of teachers. A knowledge of individual needs and desires of teachers is basic to almost any type of school administration and supervision. Individual needs of teachers can be determined by the use of self-appraisal check list, rating scales, information tests, They should be encouraged to set up standards and to make records of their own

43

changes of pupils, evaluation of pupil progress, and analysis of teachers training and experiences. and desires. The school administrators and supervisors should be prepared to assist teachers to meet their needs

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Other Principles of Administration and Supervision

There are other definite principles of school administration that should be known to school administrators. Among the basic principles of good school administration suggested by Crow and Crow (1947) are the following: Teacher-participation should be stimulated in the kind of education that will provide good citizenship training. There should be developed and put into practice the kind of curriculum that guarantees continuous pupil-growth. The educational program of the school should embody the cooperative efforts of faculty and student alike. The building and equipment should be used to maximum capacity. All school facilities should be utilized that every child is given an opportunity to participate in the educational offerings of the school. The various members of the school personnel should be assigned in such a way that everyone can utilize his energies toward the achievement of maximum efficiency.

The formulation of school policies should follow democratic principles of faculty and pupils participation and cooperation. The authority that is delegated by the principal to the members of his staff should be used wisely. Authority granted to pupils should be supervised carefully lest, as a result of pupil immaturity and lack of experience, it be abused.

Well-trained teachers and other personnel should be secured and should be given the freedom of activity that is commensurate with their ability to use it effectively.

All educational responsibilities should be defined carefully and specifically, and should be understood by all concerned. limits of his individual authority. There should be no doubt in the mind of any school official concerning the

45

The best interests of the entire school should be basic to any decision that is made relative to the welfare of the pupils, the teachers, or the school in general.

The leadership of the principal should such as to inspire all pupils and teachers alike toward better and more complete accomplishment. There are likewise other definite principles which should be known to

the supervisor. Peckham (1948) selected ten major principles to cover the field of supervision as follows: 1. Cooperation 2. Leadership 3. Planning 4. Integration 5. Creativity 6. Flexibility 7. Considerateness 8. Community 9. Orientation 10. Evaluation

The success of any school system depends upon democratic administration and efficient supervision. The complexity of school organization arising from changing social conditions, increase in school population and teaching personnel (who are mostly non-professionally trained), changes in theories and methods of techniques brought about by recent scientific investigations and researches and changes in curricula because of the needs and demands of the time, call for a democratic administration and supervision which can be the only valid and perhaps, most efficient method of securing educational ends in a democracy. The school can become a powerful force in maintaining and improving democracy only when the administrative and supervisory personnel

46

become deeply concerned with developing technique of administration and supervision that is thoroughly democratic and consequently efficient; hence, administration and supervision must be established on a democratic basis.

47

Test and Apply your Knowledge

1. Discuss briefly the functions of school administration and supervision.

2. What are the principles of supervision? Explain briefly each principle.

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Lesson 3
New Dimensions of Supervision Objectives
The objectives of this lesson are to familiarize the graduate students about the challenges that the supervisors may encounter in the discharge of their functions; and to know the qualities that make for supervisory success.

Introduction
Its a dirty job, but somebodys got to do it. The person who coined that phrase may very well have been talking about the job of a supervisor. In many aspects, it is a dirty job, and, yes, somebody has to do it. In fact, a whole lot of somebodies have to do it because job is central to organizational effectiveness. Virtually every organization makes use of the first-level supervisor. First-level supervisor run the departments that achieve the goals that have been set for them. Supervisors further the objectives of the organization. All employees count, but supervisors are uniquely positioned between management and the worker to see the providing of a quality product or service. In short, supervisors make sure the job gets done. And quite a job that is, especially when performed to its fullest range. The job must be viewed in a context of interrelated elements: a

management system, worker expectations, competitive demands, and cultural changes. Further, the job has been under attack from a variety of directions. Government, management itself, and labor unions have chipped away at the duties and responsibilities of the supervisor, resulting in a job that is diminished in scope.

49

This text is designed to explain what supervision is all about and where it is headed. It will explore supervisory effectiveness and give a broader vision of the supervisors job than is now being described. Once the broader job definition is accepted and the supervisor is willing and allowed by management to take back the prerogative that has been lost over the years, the supervisor will be better able to fulfill his or her role in the organization. And it will become apparent that the supervisors role is challenging, dynamic, and rewarding.

Qualities That Make For Supervisory Success

1. Technical Competence The qualifications for the supervisors job are impressive (see Figure 2). Supervisors need to be technically competent, that is, knowing the product and its specifications, the machinery and its capabilities, the process employed, and the reasons why these processes are necessary. Further technical competency means knowing the competency means knowing the company rules or provisions of the collective bargaining agreement, if there is one. It means knowing the labor laws and other government regulations that apply to your business. This knowledge must not be superficial. Vague notions about product specifications or scheduling requirements will not do. The supervisors need an in-depth knowledge. Supervisors are the resource people for the workers, so it is necessary that they be a good resource. This can only be accomplished by developing a thorough technical competency. 2. Good People Skills Employees are selected to be supervisors because, among other things, they are good workers. New supervisors do not fail because they

50

lack technical know-how; rather, they fail because they are unable to get others to work effectively for them. They lack people skills. It is necessary to make a mental adjustment. The traits that qualify one for promotion have to do with ones individual effectiveness. attitude. This is where a transition is necessary. As a beginning employee, for example, you were productive. You had the right Your individual effort, productivity, and attitude is now less important to your success. Instead, now you must get the group to do what you were able to do so well. It is a plus if you can instill enthusiasm and commitment in people. words, you have leadership qualities. 3. A sense of Urgency Supervisors have a well-developed sense-of-urgency a balance between panic and apathy. The supervisor sets the tone for the work group, and a necessary part of this tone is that all the days primary objectives must be met. Not only are they to be met, they must be met in a certain way with a sense of urgency. The supervisor conveys the view that assignments are necessary, schedules are commitments, and budgets are legitimate and to be followed. If the assignments are made on the basis of convenience, then the supervisor and the department are wasting a precious resource time. In other

4. Controls
Company controls such as budgets, schedules, performance standards, and the like are all necessary to keep people on track and to get the desired results. Effective supervisors develop departmental controls that do for them what the larger controls for the company channel everyones effort in the desired direction to help reach the expected goals. Many of these departmental controls will be the same as the overall company controls. After all, your responsibility is to meet, on a reduced scale, these larger organizational objectives. personal. Other controls can be How do you want certain questions directed to you or to

others? If employees need equipment repaired, should they clear it though

51

you or go directly to the tool crib? the personnel department?

If employees have questions in

termination pay or benefits, should they clear this through you or through Will you allow you employees to make minor schedule changes, material substitutions, or procedure changes? Supervisors must appreciate that when controls are put in place, they have the effect of focusing attention on these areas. And, if supervisors constantly monitor these control points, then employees are not likely to stray from the desired path.

52

5. The Pygmalion Attitude Finally, an important personal quality for success in supervision is to have the right attitude toward ones employees in a very real sense; the expectations of the company and the supervisor go a long way toward shaping the attitudes and performance of the employees. It has been found that when the supervisor conveys to the employees high expectation for their performance, those employees try to perform up to the level of that expectation. When little is expected of employees, they behave accordingly; the trick is to help people reach their potential. by your example, showing that they can accomplish difficult tasks. 6. The New Dimensions Besides these traditional qualifications, some new dimensions to the job have to be added in response to the changing conditions in our society. These new dimensions include a need for the supervisor to an economic advocate, a conference leader, and a facilitator (see Table 5). Table 5 The New Dimensions of the Supervisors Job Economic Advocate Understands the importance of profits and the consequences of failure to be competitive in the marketplace. Communicates the economic realities to employees. Conference Leader Relies increasingly on group meetings Recognizes that employees want more information. Believes that employees need to educate the workers better. Facilitator helping. function. Believes that employees need less bossing, more Removes obstacles that hinder employees. Concentrates on making it easier for employees to Do this by giving them job training, setting high performance standards, and

53

ECONOMIC ADVOCATE. Let us consider these dimensions one at a time. As an economic advocate, the supervisor speaks for our economic system and serves to educate the workers to its harsh realities. With its ups and downs, the economy has changed drastically over the last 40 years. The period between 1950 and 1073 has been referred to as the golden age of industrialism. It may well have been the longest sustained period of prosperity and productivity in our history. Management enjoyed ever-higher profits and growth. of the marketplace. A nation we

became complacent and thought ourselves free of the competitive realities Because any economic downturn was seen as temporary, American business ignored the fact that there was a relationship between the performance of employees and the continued prosperity of employers. The oversight cost us dearly in terms of our ability to compete in local, national, and world markets. Between 1969 and 1976, the United States lost over 22 million jobs in manufacturing and nonmanufacturing. Plants were closed in New England, the Midwest, and even the South. Imports contributed greatly to the jobs loss. Consider these figures. In the early 1960s, imported cars took about 6 percent of the United States market. Twenty years later, imports accounted for 18 percent of our car sales. In roughly the same time period, imported steel rose from 9 percent of the market to around 26 percent. In the period 1975 1979, steel companies employed an average of 453,000 salaried and hourly paid workers. In 1984 that figured dropped below 250,000 people.

54

The United States was not doing any better in the export market. Our capital goods and high-tech industries lost export market shares during the 1970s. For the period, 1970 1980, our share of the worlds aircraft market dropped from 67 percent; machine tools, from 18 percent to 11 percent; semiconductors, from 40 percent to 23 percent; and chemicals, from 24 percent to 17 percent. Our consumer electronics industry is gone. These products may still be sold by American companies, but they are basically no longer made here in the United States. The economic education of the worker is going to grow in importance. The person most favorably positioned to the teacher is the supervisor. He or she must be the economic advocate. But, for supervisors to be effective advocates, they must themselves understand the importance of quality, costs, competition, productivity, and the other concepts that relate to profits and loss and job security. individual meetings, performance The supervisors must regularly review sessions, and any other communicate these issues to the workers. Take advantage of group and appropriate forum to drive the point home. Remember, by the large the American worker is not schooled in the importance of these issues. CONFERENCE LEADER. The second new dimension for supervisors Reliance on

involves a significant shift in their communication role.

communicating one on one is no longer enough. Supervisors have to learn how to manage group discussions. For one thing, it makes good business sense to use the total brainpower of the organization. Further, employees are demanding to hear and be heard on job issues that affect them. Employees want information; they demand participation. The supervisors communication must adjust to these new conditions. This shift in emphasis has a number of implications. First, employees are not used to sitting in on meeting and offering ideas. After years of being

55

told what to do and how to do it, it is not easy to get employees to open up participatory discussion sessions. Second, supervisors need training before they can hold effective group discussions. They need to learn techniques on how to get employee participation, use time wisely. Third, management has a legitimate concern that meetings might get out of hand, be time and money waster, and raise unreasonable expectations among employees. Beyond all this is the risk that having group meetings can undermine the authority and status of the supervisor. After all, the boss should be the boss, the supervisor may be seen as weak or inadequate. But is it reasonable to assume that the supervisor must know more about each and every job than every worker in the department? These are the questions that the supervisor has to ask. The supervisor has to recognize there is a risk associated with employee participation, but the risk is more than offset by the possible gains that come from harnessing the untapped potential of the work force. FACILITATOR. The third new dimension moves the supervisor away from being a boss to being a facilitator. emphasis. This is a pronounced shift in The new supervisor does less bossing looking over the

shoulder and calling on employees for more and better performance. Instead, the supervisor becomes the resource person for the department. Information, training, leading and standard setting are among the things supervisors should emphasis. These activities focus on helping workers to perform their tasks. The supervisor must act in ways that make it easier for workers to perform. Obstacles must be removed. Employees must be better trained and oriented. Materials must be available when needed and equipment kept in good repair. Doing this will result in a shift in responsibilities for both the supervisor and the employees.

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Supervisors

will

do

more

planning,

preparing,

and

guiding.

Employees will have the opportunity to exercise a degree of self-direction and initiative largely denied them until now.

Tips and Techniques for Supervisors

1. Effective supervisors have learned to pay attention to the little details of the job. It may be more interesting to look at the big picture, but it is the little details that trip you. A salesperson may be turning in impressive dollar amounts, but the effective supervisor looks beyond the total figure. Where is the business coming from a few accounts or from the total territory? Are new accounts being established? Is the total product line being sold or only a few items? Have certain customers stopped ordering? If so, does the sales person know why? 2. The daily newspaper is filled with items to discuss as an economic advocate, Strikes, plant closings, and relocations are powerful reminders of what can happen to a company and its employees. The monthly unemployment figures and inflation rate are important topics.
3. As a personal philosophy, supervisors should heed the advice of Peter

Drucker. He observed that people grow according to the demands they place on themselves. If they demand little of themselves, they will remain stunted. If they demand a good deal of themselves, they will growwithout any more effort than is expended by the nonachiever.

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4. Do not forget that you are a role model. The example you set is as important to your workers as the orders you give. You were selected to be a supervisor because you were an excellent worker. However, once you become a supervisor, being an excellent worker no longer matters much. In fact, continuing to work could be fatal. Now your job calls for you getting others to do the actual work. The inability to let go of the past can lead to supervisors eventual failure. It is important that you identify with the support management, though not at the expense of the employees. You need to available to them when they need you. Also, having a management perspective does not mean that you are insensitive to the concerns of employees. Listen to your works and be ready to support them when they are in need and in the right. Management has confidence in you; otherwise, you would not have been selected for a supervisors position. You probably have a number of new ideas you want to put into effect. You may want to rearrange the department. You may want to shape up the workers. Or you may wish to change procedures. Be careful. It is a wiser course of action to get your feet on the ground. Learn the job first. Gain an understanding of what is done and why. After you know the job, discuss them with your supervisor. Get the benefit of that persons expertise as well as consent for your proposed changes. Take seriously the warning, bosses do not like surprises. Although beginning supervisors should get adequate training and supervision while they are learning their new job, this support is often missing. Seek it from qualified sources. Try to identify especially

58

effective supervisors. Analyze those people and how they operate. Learn from them. What are the keys to their success? Can you use any of their techniques to improve your effectiveness? You will find that experienced and successful supervisors are excellent role models as well as good people to go for advice.

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Lesson 4
Roles of School Supervisor Objectives
The objective of this lesson is to be able to know the historical development of the field of supervision; formulate a working definition of supervision; describe a conceptual model of supervision; identify supervision in a school system; list common tasks of supervision; describe various roles of supervisors; state what you believe to be the minimal qualifications of a supervisor.

Supervision Defined
One of the best-kept secrets outside the education profession and, to a degree even within the profession, is the existence of a large shadow army of school personnel known by the collective title of supervisors. Parents and sometimes teachers profess not to know of the presence of these specialists in the school systems of the nation. Although laypersons may be aware that school systems employ a variety of personnel, such as custodians, secretaries, cafeteria workers, and counselors, the concept of school personnel held by a typical layperson is that of a teacher in every classroom and a principal in every school. Were members of the community asked to identify a school supervisor, they would probably indicate the principal, who may or may not be the sole supervisor. Or they might refer to the superintendent, who plays a relatively small part in the type of supervision discussed in this book, namely, instructional supervision. Considering the veritable army of supervisors on local and state levels of schooling throughout the country, it is surprising to find that the role of the supervisor in education remains rather ill defined. Business and

60

industry are not troubled by this same malady. The position of commercial or industrial supervisor is highly visible and well defined in the managerial structure of the organization. Educational supervisors may or may not be a part of the managerial structure of school systems. The question of whether they should be part of management is, as we will discover later, a storm center among specialists in supervision. Responsibilities of educational supervisors are not at all clear from locality to locality and from state to state. Even within localities, supervisory roles are often poorly delineated. To compound the problem, the titles of supervisors are almost as varied as their roles. Ben M. Harris attributed the variations in roles to differing theoretical perspectives: Supervision, like any complex part of an even more complex enterprise, can be viewed in various ways and inevitably is. The diversity of perceptions stems not only from organizational complexity but also from lack of information and absence of perspective. To provide perspective, at least, the total school operation must be the point of departure for analyzing instructional supervision as a major function. To varying degrees, many occupations outside education use the services of supervisors, whether as office boss, telephone supervisor, floor manager, construction supervisor, department-store head, or assembly-line supervisor. These individuals carry out the task of supervision in the original sense of the Latin word supervideo, to oversee. orders, They demonstrate techniques, offer suggestions, give evaluate

employees performance, and check on results (products).

Historical Approaches
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 a bit arbitrarily establish historical time frames for the evolution of instructional supervision. In analyzing the development of most aspects of

61

education, we should keep in mind what we might call axioms.2 Applied to curriculum development, these could include School curriculum not only reflects but is a product of its time and Curriculum changes made at an earlier period of time can exist concurrently with curriculum changes at a later period of time. The same axioms are valid if we substitute the word supervision for curriculum. Supervisory behaviors and practices are affected by political, social, religious, and industrial forces existent at the time. Furthermore, traces of supervisory behaviors and practices that existed in earlier days of our country can be found even today among highly divergent practices and behaviors. History is forever with us. However, supervision has come a long way since colonial days, as we can see in Table 6, which outlines the major periods in the historical development of supervision. Not until the establishment of organized schools did the need for specialized school supervisors materialize. When parents, dames, and tutors instructed youngsters in the home, these people were, in effect, both teacher and supervisor, but as the population grew, early colonists realized that they needed some formal structure for the education of their young. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed the famed Old Deluder Law of 1647, which required communities with 50 or more families to provide instruction in reading and writing and communities with 100 or more families to establish a grammar school. Thus, educated young people would not be led astray by the Old Deluder, Satan. Note the powerful effect of the church on early education in the colonies. Though church and state are more or less separated today, strong controversy still exists about the role of religion in the public schools. As schools became established, local school committeemen fulfilled the function of supervisors by giving directions, checking for compliance with teaching techniques, and

62

evaluating results of instruction by the teachers in their charge. In an authoritarian mode, early supervisors set strict requirements for their teachers and visited classrooms to observe how closely the teachers complied with stipulated instructions. Departure from these instructions was cause for dismissal.

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Table 6: Major Supervision

Periods

in

the

Historical

Development

of

Period
1620 1850 1850 1910 1910 1930 1930 1950 1950 1975

Type of Supervision
Inspection Inspection, Instructional improvement Scientific, bureaucratic Human relations, democratic Bureaucratic, scientific, clinical, human relations, human resources, democratic Scientific, clinical, human relations, human resources, collaborative/collegial, peer/coach/mentor, artistic, interpretive

Purpose
Monitoring rules, looking for deficiencies Monitoring rules, helping teachers improve Improving instruction and efficiency Improving instruction Improving Instruction Improving instruction, increasing teacher satisfaction, expanding students understanding of classroom events Improving instruction, increasing teacher satisfaction, creating, learning communities, expanding students classroom events, analyzing cultural and linguistic patterns in the classroom

Persons Responsible
Parents, clergymen, selectmen, citizens committees Superintendents, principal Supervising principals, principals, general and special central-office supervisors, superintendents Principals, central-office supervisors Principals, central office, supervisors, school-based supervisors Principals, central-office supervisors, school-based supervisors, peer/coach/mentor

1975 1985

Scientific, clinical, human relations, human relations, human resources, collaborative/collegial, peer/coach/mentor, artistic, interpretive, culturally responsive, ecological 1985 present

School-based supervisors, peer/coach/mentor/principals, central-office supervisors

Even in the eighteenth century, school people were anxious to appear at their best when visited by selectmen. Walter Herbert Small observed that as early as 1733 schools provided a dinner for schoolmasters, selectmen, and certain public officials on the occasion of the selectmens visit to their schools.4 Taking a cue from their eighteenthcentury predecessors, todays school faculty, administrators, and board

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members commonly extend the hospitality of an initial breakfast or dinner meeting to visiting teams from regional accrediting associations. Universal public education for boys and girls, poor and rich, was a phenomenon of the nineteenth century. The common elementary school grew rapidly in the first half of the nineteenth century, imitating Prussian and military models of graded organization. Horace Mann, secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education from 1837 to 1848, pushed the cause of public schools and created the first normal school in the United States for training teachers. He defined the states responsibility for public education. During the same period, Henry Barnard, first secretary of the Connecticut State Board of Education, was also promoting public education. The number of high schools in the country grew rapidly, spurred by political, social, and educational developments of the time. Among these developments were the creation of the first high school in Boston in 1821, the Massachusetts law of 1827 requiring a high school with a two-month program in towns of 500 or more families, and the famous Kalamazoo, Michigan, case of 1874 that affirmed the right of communities to levy taxes for secondary education. New institutions, new programs, expanded student bodies, and increased population called for new ways of supervising instruction. Selectmen, citizens committees, clergy, and parents gave way to trained educators. In the nineteenth century, local committees began looking to professionally trained persons to administer and supervise the schools. As early as 1837, Buffalo, New York, and Louisville, Kentucky, employed school superintendents. By 1870, some twenty-nine school systems were headed by superintendents.5 Superintendents in the early nineteenth century spent considerable time visiting and supervising schools, although their

65

focus changed from looking for deficiencies meriting dismissal of teachers to helping teachers overcome difficulties. Inspection, often derided as snoopervision, was the prevailing approach in the nineteenth century. The appeal to authority was very evident in the widely reproduced set of instructions to teachers in Harrison, South Dakota, in 1872, shown in Table 6. To some extent school supervisors, or inspectors as they are called in other countries, continue to fulfill their tasks with an authoritarian approach. The classic illustration of thisalthough not entirely accurateis France, of which it has often been said that the Minister of Education can tell on any day exactly where each teacher is in any textbook anywhere in the country. Such a situation implies a highly structured form of instruction and a very centralized system of supervision.

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FIGURE 1.1 1872 Instruction to the Teacher. Source: Board of Education, Harrison,

South Dakota, and Leo W. Anglin, Richard Goldman, and Joyce Shanahan Anglin, Teaching: What Its All About (New York: Harper and Row, 1982), p. 11. Reprinted by permission of Board of Education, Harrison, South Dakota.

Our system of education does not begin to approach foreign systems in degree of centralization, but during the 1970s and 1980s we saw pronounced centralization at the state and school district levels. Some states either recommended or mandated minimal competencies or standards that students were (and to an increased degree still are) expected to achieve in certain subjects at each grade level. Some school districts, engaging in a process called curriculum alignment, specified detailed objectives that students were expected to master during each marking period in each subject. Learning activities and test items based on the objectives were designed for each marking period. In states that conducted student-assessment programs, local curriculum guides were keyed into the objectives assessed on the states examinations. In the early 1990s, the movement toward centralization slackened somewhat, resulting in a degree of decentralization and empowerment of teachers and laypeople.6 At the beginning of the twenty-first century, however, we see a strong revival of centralization efforts, especially to be noted in the form of state and national standards and assessment programs. As the population grew and schools increased in number, the superintendent could no longer supervise individual schools closely. In the late nineteenth century, principals and central office supervisors shared a major part of the burden of everyday supervision. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution and the influence of people like Frederick W. Taylor and Max Weber in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, scientific and bureaucratic approaches to supervision replaced inspection. Scientific management and efficiency were buzzwords of the new approach. The assumption of these strategies was that if organizations

67

followed established principles for efficiency, production would presumably be high. Supervisors had only to ensure the rigorous application of the principles. While Taylor was expounding on scientific management, Weber was promoting the concept of bureaucratic management of organizations as the ideal model for achieving efficiency and productivity. The model provided for a hierarchy of authority and responsibilityfrom the chief executive officer at the top of the pinnacle to the lowliest worker at the bottom. The bureaucratic model became the pervasive organizational structure in all human institutionsbusiness, industry, government, social organizations, church, and schools. In fact, the bureaucratic model has become so entrenched in our lives that bureaucracy has become, under some circumstances, a derogatory term. Thus in the early part of the twentieth century, the bureaucratic model of organization became firmly rooted in our school systems with the superintendent at the top and the teacher at the bottom. In between came a whole echelon of generalist and specialist personnel. Although philosophies, attitudes, and operating procedures have changed since the early twentieth century, the bureaucratic model remains the dominant form of school organization despite predictions of an emerging, pluralistic, collegial concept of administrative organization7 and despite sporadic efforts by some organizations to apply principles of shared management as advocated by W. Edwards Deming. Describing the attitude of scientific managers during the early 1900s, William H. Lucio and John D. McNeil said that teachers were regarded as instruments that should be closely supervised to insure that they mechanically carried out the methods of procedure determined by administrative and special supervisors.9 Scientific supervisors look for

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fixed principles of teaching, drawn from research that can be prescribed for teachers. The teachers performances can then be judged on how well they follow the instructional principles in their teaching. To supervisors of this persuasion, teaching is a science rather than an art, and they believe that by following a prescribed set of rules, teachers are bound to be successful. Does this sound familiar to you in the new millennium? Following research on instruction carried out through the 1960s and 1970s, many educators still perceive teaching as a science whose component skillsgeneric competenciescan be identified, learned, and mastered. Under the influence of people like Elton Mayo, Mary Parker Follett, Kurt Lewin, Ronald Lippitt, Ralph K. White, Kenneth D. Benne, Paul Sheats, and Warren G. Bennis in the mid-twentieth century, supervision turned in the direction of human relations and group dynamics. Stress on the democratic process and the application of the behavioral sciences commanded the attention of supervisors. No longer did supervision constitute handing down methods to teachers and then monitoring their performances. Collaboration and partnership between supervisors and teachers became important. Supervisors began to realize that their success was dependent more on interpersonal skills than on technical skills and knowledge; they had to become sensitive to the behavior of groups and individuals within groups. They became more aware that they must respond to needs as determined by the people they servedthe teachers as opposed to satisfying their own needs based on their supposedly superior judgments. The prefix superof supervision declined in importance. The word supervision itself became modified by such words as collaborative, cooperative, democratic, and consultative. This change of focus has continued and intensified into the present.

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What we are seeing today is an amalgamation of practices and attitudes. True, we can find holdovers of the inspection mentality and we can still encounter the bossemployee mind-set, but we are experiencing more cases of cooperation and collaboration between supervisors and teachers than in the past. We find a definite acceptance of the idea that instructional supervisors are employed to help teachers build on their strengths, improve, and remain in the profession instead of probing teachers deficiencies and seeking their dismissal. We are finding principles of scientific supervision within a clinical yet supportive context. Even within a scientific framework, supervisors place heavy reliance on human relations. focuses of We also note that teachers themselves are acting as supervisionhuman resources, artistic, interpretive, and instructional supervisors to their peers. We are also experiencing newer ecological approaches. We will return to these later in the text. Before exploring the newer directions in instructional supervision, it is helpful to note that of the three older approaches mentioned, todays supervisors would reject the first two and minimize the third.

The

Authoritarian-Inspectorial

Approach.

Professional

supervisors realize that teachers, as professionals, can be persuaded but not coerced; many times, they have better answers to their own problems than do the supervisors.

Laissez-faire.

To

some,

supervision

is

laissez-faire

task.

Supervisors who are thus inclined agree with many teachers that in the case of supervision, less is better. Nondirective in their approach, they may visit the teachers classrooms or stop by the teachers lounge for a cup of coffee. They tend to consider a classroom visit and an appearance in the teachers lounge as equally important; some might rate the chat in the lounge as more important. They see their task as giving the teacher a benevolent pat on the back now and then.

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Group Dynamics. To others, supervision is a never-ending exercise in group process. They see improvement of instruction as a continuing exercise in human relations. Viewing themselves as resource persons to the group, they spend considerable time fostering a positive group climate, using social affairs to establish a happy, cooperative frame of mind among teachers. They hope that after a period of deliberation, groups will reach consensus on points under discussion.

Neither an authoritarian nor a laissez-faire approach is adequate or suitable for todays schools, nor is an exclusively group-process approach. Supervisors may favor group processes, but they will be called on to work with both groups and individuals. They must be mindful that many of the innovations in schools are products of experimentation by one or two individuals rather than groups.

Varying Interpretations
This discussion, however, still leaves us unsure of what supervision is or should be. To create a sharp, clear-cut definition of supervision is extremely difficult, as acknowledged by Ralph L. Mosher and David E. Purpel: The difficulty of defining supervision in relation to education also stems, in large part, from unsolved theoretical problems about teaching. Quite simply, we lack sufficient understanding of the process of teaching. Our theories of learning are inadequate, the criteria for measuring teaching effectiveness are imprecise, and deep disagreement exists about what knowledgethat is, what curriculum is most valuable to teach. . . .When we have achieved more understanding of what and how to teach, and with what special effects on students, we will be much less vague about the supervision of these processes.

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Looking at the way specialists in supervision have defined the term may help us in our quest for a viable definition. Lets sample some past and present definitions. William H. Burton and Leo J. Brueckner gave supervision a broad interpretation, viewing it as a technical service requiring expertise, the goal of which is improvement in the growth and development of the learner. Stressing the helping nature of supervision, Jane Franseth early on stated, Today supervision is generally seen as leadership that encourages a continuous involvement of all school personnel in a cooperative attempt to achieve the most effective school program. Ross L. Neagley and N. Dean Evans pointed to the democratic nature of modern supervision in their definition:

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Modern supervision is considered as any service for teachers that eventually results in improving instruction, learning, and the curriculum. It consists of positive, dynamic, democratic actions designed to improve instruction through the continued growth of all concerned individualsthe child, the teacher, the supervisor, the administrator, and the parent or other lay person. Contemporary definitions of supervision stress service, cooperation, and democracy. In this book, you will find the emphasis placed on instructional supervision. Harris wrote: Supervision of instruction is what school personnel do with adults and things to maintain or change the school operation in ways that directly influence the teaching process employed to promote pupil learning.14 Robert J. Alfonso, Gerald R. Firth, and Richard F. Neville offered a slightly different definition: Instructional supervision is herein defined as: Behavior officially designated by the organization that directly affects teacher behavior in such a way as to facilitate pupil learning and achieve the goals of the organization. John T. Lovell, in revising the earlier work of Kimball Wiles, looked at instructional supervisory behavior as behavior that is assumed to be an additional behavior system formally provided by the organization for the purpose of interacting with the teaching behavior system in such a way as to maintain, change, and improve the design and actualization of learning opportunities for students.16 Don M. Beach and Judy Reinhartz, rejecting the use of the word help in defining supervision, see supervision as a complex process that involves working with teachers and other educators in a collegial, collaborative relationship to enhance the quality of teaching and learning within schools and that promotes the career-long development of teachers. Note how many definitions focus on (1) the behavior of supervisors (2) in assisting teachers (3) for the ultimate benefit of the student. Robert

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D. Krey and Peter J. Burke offered a comprehensive definition of supervision: Supervision is instructional leadership that relates perspectives to behavior, clarifies purposes, contributes to and supports organizational actions, coordinates interactions, provides for maintenance and improvement of the instructional program, and assesses goal achievements. Advocating the replacement of supervision as it is now practiced by what they refer to as normative supervision, Thomas J. Sergiovanni and Robert J. Starratt saw supervision as taking place in schools that are true learning communities, where values, norms, and ideas are shared by supervisors, teachers, and students. John C. Daresh and Marsha A. Playko offered a concise definition, viewing supervision as the process of overseeing the ability of people to meet the goals of the organization in which they work. Jon Wiles and Joseph Bondi viewed supervision as a general leadership role and a coordinating role among all school activities concerned with learning. Emphasizing process and function of supervision rather than title or position for the purpose of improving student learning, Carl D. Glickman, Stephen P. Gordon, and Jovita M. Ross-Gordon pictured those in supervisory roles as applying certain knowledge, interpersonal skills, and technical skills to the tasks of direct assistance, group development, curriculum development, professional development, and action research that will enable teachers to teach in a collective, purposeful manner uniting organizational goals and teacher needs. You will note recurring themes, some similarities, and some differences in emphasis or perspective among the many definitions of supervision. Supervision, as presented in this text, is conceived as a service to teachers, both as individuals and in groups. To put it simply, supervision is

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a means of offering to teachers, in a collegial, collaborative, and professional setting, specialized help in improving instruction and thereby student achievement. The words service and help should be underscored, and they are used repeatedly in this text.

Problems That Complicate The Supervisory Role

Continuing Diversity of Conceptions of Supervision Realizing that the term supervision by itself is subject to many different interpretations, some specialists in the field have found it expedient to add modifiers. Thus in the literature we encounter administrative, clinical, consultative, collaborative, developmental,

differentiated, educational, general, instructional, and peer. Each of the adjectives offers a special interpretation of the term supervision. Administrative supervision covers the territory of managerial

responsibilities outside the fields of curriculum and instruction. General supervision is perceived by some as synonymous with educational supervision and by others as that type of supervision that takes place outside the classroom. Differentiated supervision allows teachers to choose the types of developmental activities in which they will engage. Whereas encompassing more limited educational many set of of aspects supervision of schooling, suggests including responsibilities administration, for the

curriculum, and instruction, instructional supervision narrows the focus to a responsibilities, Clinical, namely, supervision improvement supervision. instruction. consultative, collaborative,

developmental, and peer supervision are subsumed under instructional

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Whether the supervisor perceives teaching as a science or as an art further colors the supervisors role. The supervisor who follows a scientific approach believes that generic teaching skills can be identified and that all teachers at all levels should be able to demonstrate them. Such a supervisor believes that those skills can be described, observed, and analyzed. The supervisor who follows an artistic approach believes that teaching is a highly individualized activity that bears the stamp of the teachers unique personality. This type of supervisor believes that the entire setting for instruction, the persons involved in the teaching act, and the general atmosphere of the classroom must be considered. Some specialists would maintain that supervisors should devote all or most of their emphasis to a single approach or type of supervision. Others, including ourselves, see room for a more eclectic approach. We return to varying conceptions of supervision in later chapters of the book.

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Differing Conceptions of Effective Teaching Some specialists ascribe difficulty in defining supervision, as did Mosher and Purpel, to a lack of understanding of the teaching process, impreciseness of the criteria for assessing teacher performance, and lack of agreement on what should be taught.23 Those who follow an interpretive or hermeneutic approach to supervision look at the unique characteristics of a particular learning situation and, with the teacher, seek to interpret the events that have taken place during a lesson. Some supervisors look at process, that is, the demonstration of teaching skills. Some focus on product, such as test scores of students. Others include the teachers personal and professional attributes in their description of effective teaching. Certain supervisors are partial to particular models and styles of teaching. Some smile, for example, on discovery learning and frown on lecturing. Some favor direct instruction of entire groups, some champion cooperative learning, and others advocate individualized instructional techniques. These differing conceptions of what constitutes effective teaching make the supervisory process difficult for both the teacher and the supervisor. Many research studies on effective teaching have been conducted in recent years. These studies furnish partial answers to some of the pedagogical questions. They do not, however, provide answers to differing philosophical premises held by supervisors. Mandates from the State Level Over the past three decades, many state legislatures have passed laws calling for sweeping reforms in public education. They have raised teacher salaries, mandated state testing of teachers, instituted on-the-job

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assessment, established student-assessment programs, prescribed aspects of the curriculum, and ordered annual evaluations of all school personnel. State departments of education have implemented and administered the many reforms mandated by their legislatures and state boards of education. Although room has remained for some local decision making, increased direction from the state level has certainly reduced the flexibility of local school systems to make decisions based on their assessment of local needs and on their own philosophies of education. Local school systems have had to give priority to state mandates. After meeting state requirements, they may and often do go beyond the state directives. The supervisors role is heavily affected by state mandates: by state tests for both teachers and students, by state model instruments for evaluating teachers, by state-developed curriculum guides, and by state specification of teaching competencies. Supervisors who are in disagreement with state reforms are faced with intrarole conflicts. State assessments of student achievement, for example, are almost exclusively cognitive in nature. The supervisor who has a commitment to affective and psychomotor as well as cognitive learning will feel uncomfortable with testing restricted to only the cognitive domain. Nevertheless, the supervisor owes it to the teachers to help them produce high student test scores. State mandates have established priorities for local school personnel, including supervisors. For a brief period, state mandating peaked, and the responsibility for administration, supervision, curriculum, and instruction shifted more to the local schools. Movements toward decentralization, including site-based or school-based management, teacher empowerment, and parental participation in decision making, placed more responsibility and authority on the individual schools and less on the district and state levels. However, as the first decade of the twenty-

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first century unfolds, we are seeing renewed stress (in both its meanings of emphasis and tension) on setting standards and testing coming from the district and state levels, and, as is the case of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, the national level. Tensions between Teachers and Administrators/Supervisors The public and, to an increasing degree, the profession have expressed dissatisfaction with student achievement and with incompetent teaching. Increased emphases on student achievement, accountability of teachers, and teacher competence have brought about increased pressure for evaluation of teacher performance. Consequently, evaluation of teaching has loomed large in recent years. Teachers, especially through their organizations, have not wholeheartedly embraced current processes of evaluation. They have raised valid questions concerning the competencies on which they will be judged, who will do the evaluating, how the evaluation will be conducted, and what use will be made of the results. Teachers question the reliability of the data collected on their performances and the competence of the administrators or supervisors in making assessments. Furthermore, they want to be involved in the creation of the evaluation process. The inability to separate supervisory service from evaluation, adds to the tensions. Teachers, as a rule, welcome real supervisory help. Yet many of them view supervisors with contempt, feeling, sometimes rightly and sometimes wrongly, that teachers are more capable than supervisors or that supervisors have nothing of value to offer them. Many teachers simply ignore supervisors, choose not to ask for their help, and avoid opportunities to work with them. Many years ago, Arthur Blumberg pictured the tensions between supervisors and teachers as a private cold war.24 To some extent

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progress in empowerment of teachers, human relations skills, and principles of collegiality and collaboration have reduced conflicts between supervisors and teachers but have not completely eliminated them. Negative, fearful, or hostile attitudes are symptoms of the malaise brought on by uncertainties about the role, function, and effectiveness of the supervisory profession. Great needs exist to clarify duties and responsibilities of supervisors, to discover the most effective techniques and skills, and to identify who the supervisors are.

Who Are The Supervisors?

In the traditional meaning of supervision, anyone who oversees the work of another is a supervisor. Hence, every administrator is ipso facto a supervisor. If we limit the concept of supervision to management of resources and personnel, we are on firm ground in labeling the administrator a supervisor. But if we delimit supervision to the means of improving the curriculum and instruction, we may not conclude that every administrator is an instructional supervisor. Logically, it would seem that any school official who assists teachers in improving curriculum and instruction is a supervisor. In practice, however, some individuals in the school system are charged with the management of resources and personnel as their primary task, whereas others are assigned the improvement of curriculum and instruction as their major function. Many arguments are waged over whether the building principal, for example, is a supervisor. Although principals have responsibility for the curriculum and instruction of the school, supervision of those aspects is only one of their many tasks. Unfortunately, instructional supervision is

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often a secondary task for many school principals, who commonly lament that they do not have time to devote to curriculum and instructional leadership because they are too busy with the day-to-day operation of the school. We hasten to add that in those small schools throughout the country that employ several teachers and a principal with no one to assist him or her, the principals do, by necessity if not by desire, perform the function of instructional supervisor. We might more accurately refer to those principals by a title used in earlier days, supervising principals, to distinguish them from instructional supervisors. We are witnessing, however, a desire for change, if not change itself, in the role of the building principalfrom manager to instructional supervisor. The profession has begun to recognize the individual school as the locus of change, placing responsibility for instructional leadership squarely on the principal. Though some principals will continue to devote less time to instructional supervision than to other duties and may, if possible, delegate much of the task to others, more principals are accepting responsibility for the role of instructional supervisor. Developments, such as state-mandated curricula, evaluation systems, merit pay, and career ladder programs, further push the principal into fulfilling instructional supervisory responsibilities. By their fruits ye shall know them is more pertinent in the world of supervision than by their titles ye shall know them. Controversy swirls around the issue, concerning whether supervisors should assume administrative responsibilities. We should note at this point that the issue is not ordinarily reversedthat is, there is seldom discussion of whether administrators should assume supervisory responsibilities. For both legal and practical reasons, administrators already have these responsibilities.

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As we try to identify supervisors, it might be helpful to depict the degree to which administrators and supervisors take on the role of guiding instructional improvement. Figure below illustrates how we can chart varying degrees A full-time administrator (e.g., superintendent of schools; many principals, especially of large schools) is deep into budgeting, transportation, staffing, pupil personnel services, and public relations. He or she devotes little or no time to curricular and instructional supervision but delegates that duty to others. Some administrators, however, although preoccupied with managerial problems, expend some time and energy on instructional supervisory activities. They may visitand in many cases they are required by law to visitteachers in their classrooms, observe their teaching, make judgments, and offer advice. When they behave in this fashion, administrators become supervisors, if only for a portion of their time. Some school personnel who by job description are classified as supervisors When they are charged with or assume they on join their the own ranks initiative of the administrative duties such as annual assessments of teacher performance. accept managerial tasks, administrators. Finally, those personnel who spend all of their time and

efforts in helping teachers directly with the improvement of instruction may be called full-time instructional supervisors. Thus, with a nod to Izaak Walton, we have the Compleat Administrator on one side of the spectrum and the Compleat Supervisor on the other.

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Types of Supervisors
The American system of education is a confusing diversity of systems that confounds people from abroad who attempt to study it. In fact, at times our system even perplexes Americans. This confusion extends to the provision of special services like supervision.
Administrator s Who Supervise Part-time Supervisors Who Administrate Part-time

Full-time Administrator s

Full-time Supervisors

Figure 1.2 Continuum of Supervisory Responsibility.

In this module, we talk about a person whom we call the supervisor. Unless otherwise specified, we are talking about the instructional supervisor. In agreement with many specialists, we include curriculum supervision within the context of instructional supervision. Because of the great diversity in roles and duties of supervisors, we urge the reader to keep in mind the distinction between the supervisor, with supervisor emphasized, and the supervisor, with the emphasized. In discussing the supervisor we make the assumption that principles and practices of supervision may apply generally, to most but not all situations and not to all persons who wear the hat of supervisor. This book concentrates on the supervisor. Were we to talk about the supervisor, we would be conveying the erroneous notion that there is a single, accepted role that supervisors can, do, or should play. The effort to identify a single role applicable under all circumstances is akin to searching for that elusive will-o-the wisp, the best model of teaching. Supervisors are special service personnel to be found on the staffs of administrators at the state, district, and school levels. In administrative

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parlance these service personnel are staff employees, whereas the administrators, equipped with the mantles of status and authority, are line employees. Staff employees are hired by and responsible to the line employees. Line employees below the top position (e.g., superintendent) are hired by and responsible to other line employees higher up in the chain of command. Supervisors are often referred to as auxiliary personnel or staff. Although titles and responsibilities of these auxiliary personnel differ from state to state and from school district to school district, we can identify the major types of supervisors. Figure 1.3 shows some of the varieties of supervisors on different levels. Included among the types of supervisors are administrators who spend a portion of their time in supervising instruction as well as full-time supervisors. Figure 1.2 also distinguishes generalist supervisors, whose duties cut across disciplines and grade levels, from specialist supervisors, whose responsibilities fall within a subject or grade level. State Supervisors the chief supervisor on the state level is the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. Although this position may bear other titles, this persons responsibility is to supervise the entire curricular and instructional program of the public schools in the state, with the help of staff members. The assistant superintendent interprets state department of education and state legislative mandates concerning education and is directly responsible to the state superintendent of public instruction. The assistant superintendents office frequently directs teachers in the preparation of certain curricular materials and often supervises textbook adoptions. That office also provides consultant service to the schools, sponsors conferences on curriculum and instruction, and acts as liaison with the federal government in the preparation of proposals for grants for federal projects. This office

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encourages techniques.

experimentation

in

curriculum

design

and

instructional

The assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction is aided by a staff of specialists who may be designated supervisors, directors, consultants, or coordinators. Frequently these include specialists in curriculum and instruction, such as directors or supervisors of elementary, middle, and secondary education. These staff members aid in fulfilling the assistant superintendents tasks. They generally confine themselves, however, to providing leadership at their own levels.

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Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Director of Elementary Schools Director of Middle Schools Director of Junior High Schools Director of Senior High Schools Director of Community Colleges Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction General

GENERALI STS

Supervisors Director of Instruction Director of Elementary Schools Director of Middle Schools Director of Junior High Schools Director of Senior High Schools Director of Pupil Personnel Services Assistant Principal for Curriculum and Instruction Curriculum Coordinator Curriculum Assistant Lead Teacher Team Leaders Department Heads Grade Coordinators Curriculum Consultants Curriculum Coordinators Supervisors of Special Programs Supervisors of Subject Areas Curriculum Consultants Curriculum

SPECIALIS TS Coordinators Supervisors of Special Programs Supervisors of

Subject Areas

FIGURE 1.3

Types of Supervisors

Well-developed state departments of education provide a variety of specialists in particular areas or disciplines, such as exceptionalities, reading, mathematics, science, and social studies. These supervisors operate throughout the state in their own areas of specialization, assisting teachers, suggesting materials, giving advice, and demonstrating effective methods of teaching their specialties. They are generally responsible to the director of elementary education or director of middle schools, junior high schools, or senior high schools, depending on their level of responsibility. We sometimes find, for example, a supervisor of elementary language arts and a supervisor of secondary language arts on the assistant superintendents staff.

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Local Supervisors The presence and effectiveness of the supervisor is felt more keenly on the local than on the state level. The state supervisors areas are so large and responsibilities so many that they cannot possibly make the rounds of all the schools and teachers demanding services. Consequently, local supervisors become key people in the school system. District Level On the school-district level, supervisors are on the staff of the local school superintendent. They are referred to in the literature and in practice as central-office personnel, a designation that distinguishes them from school-based personnel employed to serve in particular schools. On the central-office staff, customarily an assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction or sometimes a director of instruction provides curricular and instructional leadership throughout the local district. This key local official aids teachers in developing materials, encourages experimentation and research, provides schools with up-todate materials and consultants, leads the district in the continuous task of curriculum development, and meets with teachers and administrators on problems of curriculum and instruction. Helping the assistant superintendent are personnel of various types. Often these include one or more general supervisors, responsible for supervision from kindergarten through twelfth grade. They are frequently in the schools assisting individual teachers and groups of teachers in a variety of fields. These persons are familiar with learning theory, adolescent psychology, methods of handling groups and individuals, and new ways to organize for instruction. Some of the smaller school districts limit their central-office personnel to positions of this type. Larger school systems employ supervisors or directors of elementary, middle, and secondary education. Whereas the general supervisor must be

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spread thin over the entire school system, these three specialists may concentrate on their individual levels. Large school districts often provide a variety of supervisors or consultants in special fields, such as reading, guidance, foreign languages, and vocational education. Some of the special-area supervisors divide their time between the elementary, middle, and secondary levels as, for example, in art, music, and physical education; others confine their work to one level. These specialists are in a strategic position for effecting change in individual classrooms. They have expertise in a particular field and may devote their full time and energies to the development of curriculum and instruction in their specialties. They can be knowledgeable about the latest content, materials, and methods in their fields. School Level Within the individual schools of a district are people who could be labeled supervisors. Often a school will employ an assistant principal whose main duty is the supervision of curriculum and instruction. This person devotes full energies to developing the curriculum of his or her own school and helping teachers improve instruction. Curriculum coordinators or lead teachers are sometimes found in the individual schools either as assistants to or replacements for the assistant principal for curriculum and instruction. Their task is to assist teachers with curricular and instructional problems and to give leadership to the development of the curriculum and the improvement of instruction. Team leaders, grade coordinators, and department heads in the individual schools can, should, and sometimes do serve as supervisors. With the team-staffing patterns followed by many schools, the person who heads instructional team plays a significant role as supervisor for that team. The department head in middle, junior high, and senior high schools fulfills for a department a supervisory function similar to that fulfilled by the team

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leader. Because elementary schools are ordinarily not departmentalized, the grade coordinators for all sections of a grade level and the team leaders for each section of a grade level serve as quasi-department heads who carry supervisory responsibilities. In middle, junior high, and senior high schools, we may find both team leaders and department heads, with team leaders within departments responsible to the department heads. School-based supervisors should lead in curriculum development, assist teachers in the production of instructional and curricular materials, arrange for staff development, and help teachers improve their teaching methods. Principals have the obligation of freeing their coordinators and leaders so that they will not become bogged down, as so often happens, with either administrative details of running their grades, teams, or departments or with full-time teaching schedules. These activities can prohibit them from giving adequate time to instructional and curricular leadership. Newer practices in supervision enlist the services of peers, coaches, and mentors in the process to help avoid this overload. Unlike state supervisors, whose interaction with district-based and school-based supervisors is infrequent, central-office supervisors work frequently and collaboratively with school-based supervisors and teachers to assist in achieving district goals. You may question whether those personnel shown in Figure 1.3 who hold line or administrative positions are truly supervisorsfor example, the assistant superintendents and directors on both state and district levels who often work only minimally with teachers. The assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction and frequently the directors on the local district level occupy line rather than staff positions. Depending on the school district, line personnel may or may not work directly with teachers. In Figure 1.3, however, these line officials are classified as supervisors because they devote at least part of their time to supervisory duties. Whereas some specialists in supervision restrict their

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concept of a supervisor to those staff persons who work full-time directly with teachers, others include within their concept line officers who have responsibilities for curriculum and instruction. Because many line administrators do engage in supervision, they should be trained in supervision as are those who pursue full-time careers in supervision. It is an unfortunate commentary on the licensing process in many states that the requirements for preparation of administrators and supervisors, which are often minimal, are identical. By taking a handful of college courses in educational administration and supervision, a person can become certified in both administration and supervision. However delightful such an arrangement is for prospective

administrators and supervisors, as one preparation program opens up two job markets, differentiation in training programs for administrators and supervisors remains a serious need of the profession. The training requirements of these two related careers are not identical.

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Tasks of Supervision
We can gain a clearer insight into the field of supervision by focusing our attention on what supervisors actually do. As long ago as 1922, William H. Burton listed the tasks he saw as pertinent to the supervisor. These tasks, which some might label arenas, are shown here: 1. The improvement of the teaching act. 2. The improvement of teachers in service. 3. The selection and organization of subject matter. 4. Testing and measuring. 5. The rating of teachers. Burtons listing has been viewed as the first modern statement and concept of supervision. This list looks surprisingly current when we examine the numerous tasks that todays supervisors actually perform. Writing a half century later, Harris enumerated ten tasks of supervision in the following rather detailed list: Task 1. Developing curriculum. Task 2. Organizing for instruction. Task 3. Providing staff. Task 4. Providing facilities. Task 5. Providing materials. Task 6. Arranging for in-service education. Task 7. Orienting staff members. Task 8. Relating special pupil services. Task 9. Developing public relations. Task 10. Evaluating instruction. Harris classified tasks 1, 3, and 4 as preliminary; 6 and 10 as developmental; and the others as operational.28 You will note both

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similarities and differences in the Burton and Harris listings. We can find supervision specialists who would be willing to accept either compilation of supervisory tasks. On the other hand, we can find experts in the field who would reject both lists. Those who view supervision as a one-to-one, clinical relationship between the teacher and supervisor would eliminate many of the tasks from both lists. Those who view supervision as a field distinct from administration would delegate administrative tasks like scheduling, staffing, and public relations to the administrator rather than to the instructional supervisor. Holding that traditional supervisory practices of helping and evaluating individual workers are no longer useful except with respect to contract decisions, Karolyn J. Snyder viewed the supervisors task in the following light: The primary supervisory task is to develop professional learning communities, in work teams, that not only acquire new knowledge and skills but also learn how to study and respond exceptionally well to their natural work and learning environments. Snyder perceived the new work of the supervisor as building the energy mass, school by school and team by team. What is more revealing about the roles and functions of supervisors are the statements of expectations as shown in job descriptions of various school personnel. Were we to compare job descriptions across school systems, we would inevitably discover differences in the duties assigned to personnel with the same titles. What is universally true throughout school systems, however, is that much is expected of all supervisors.

A Model of Supervision
The supervisor plays a variety of roles within certain domains, and the expertise demonstrated in the particular domains is derived from a

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number of bases or foundations. One way to explain the dimensions of supervisory behavior is in the form of a conceptual model. Figure 1.3 depicts the concept of supervision followed in this text. The model shows three large domains or territories within which supervisors work (instructional development, curriculum development, and staff development) and the four primary roles of the supervisor within those domains (coordinator, consultant, group leader, and evaluator). The domains and roles rest on a foundationthe supervisors knowledge and skills. The model conveys the notion that supervision is both serviceoriented and dynamic. The supervisor serves teachers dynamically by playing all or any of the roles within all or any of the domains. The twoheaded arrows connecting the three domains show that all are interrelated. For example, a supervisor who works as a group leader in curriculum development (say, in mathematics) may at the same time work in the domain of instructional development (e.g., by helping teachers try out new techniques of presenting geometric concepts) and/or the domain of staff development (e.g., by conducting seminars on new techniques). A conceptual model can clearly reveal the concepts held by the person who designs it. Thus one could take this same basic design but follow a different set of assumptions. Some people, for example, might take issue with the three domains, cut them into one or two, or expand them beyond three. They might eliminate supervisory duties in curriculum development, leaving only instructional development and staff development. They might restrict supervision to instructional development and limit it to clinical supervision. They might remove instructional development as well as curriculum development, allowing only staff development to remain (e.g., if they feel that staff development means

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assistance to teachers in improving both personal and professional qualities, then instructional development becomes a by-product or part of staff development). In restricting the domain of supervision to staff development alone, these people might perceive the roles of the supervisor as dual: consultant to individual teachers and consultant to groups of teachers. Some might go even further and restrict the supervisor to one role: consultant to individual teachers, or simply trusted colleague.

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DOMAINS OF SUPERVISION
Instruction al Developme nt Curriculum Developm ent Staff Developme nt

ROLES OF THE SUPERVISOR

Coordinator Consultant Group Leader
INSTRUCTIO NAL TECHNOLOG Y MANAGEMENT CURRICULU M THEORY LEARNING THEORY GROUP INTERACTIO N

Evaluator

COUNSELIN G

SOCIOLOGY

DISCIPLINE

EVALUATION PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

DOMAINS OF SUPERVISION

HOSTORY OF EDUCATION

COMMUNICATI ON THEORY

PERSONALITY THEORY

Figure 1.4 A Conceptual Model Supervision In presenting the model of supervision shown here, we have taken the position that supervisors do and should work in all three domains and carry out at least the four roles. This model can also accommodate the required administrative functions of supervisory personnel, through the four roles already charted. In contrast, whereas this text presents a generalized supervisory model, Bernadette Marczely offered a differentiated conception of supervision encompassing a number of models from which supervisors may choose on a case-by-case basis.

Domains of Supervision
As weve seen, the supervisor exercises various roles within each of three domains: instructional, curricular, and staff development. That is, the supervisor acts as coordinator, consultant, group leader, and evaluator to assist teachers in the improvement of instruction, curriculum planning, and

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personal and professional growth and development. In doing so, the supervisor must bring to bear a wide repertoire of knowledge and skills. Floyd C. Mann referred to the skills needed by supervisors as a skill-mix, consisting of technical, managerial, and human relations skills.32 Alfonso, Firth, and Neville have also given attention to the skill-mix necessary to instructional supervision. Edward Pajak headed a study on identification of supervisory proficiencies sponsored by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. By reviewing the literature on supervision and surveying instructional leaders, Pajak affirmed twelve domains, with relevant knowledge, attitudes, and skills in each domain. These domains and their definitions are as follows: Community RelationsEstablishing and maintaining open and productive relations between the school and its community; Staff DevelopmentDeveloping and facilitating meaningful opportunities for professional growth; Planning and ChangeInitiating and implementing collaboratively developed strategies for continuous improvement; CommunicationEnsuring open and clear communication among individuals and groups through the organization; CurriculumCoordinating and integrating the process of curriculum development and implementation; Instructional ProgramSupporting and coordinating efforts to improve the instructional program; Service to TeachersProviding materials, resources, and assistance to support teaching and learning; Observation and ConferencingProviding feedback to teachers based on classroom observation; Problem Solving and Decision MakingUsing a variety of strategies to clarify and analyze problems and to make decisions;

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Research and Program EvaluationEncouraging experimentation and assessing outcomes; Motivating and OrganizingHelping people to develop a shared vision and achieve collective aims;

Personal DevelopmentRecognizing and reflecting upon ones personal and professional beliefs, abilities, and action.

Eleven of these twelve domainsessentially ways of working with individuals and groups within the schoolsare discussed in this volume. The external aspects of the supervisors jobthat is, community relations, which is certainly an important domain not only for supervisors but also for administrators, teachers, and other school personnelfind less treatment here. For help in the domain of community relations, the reader should consult some of the literature on public relations, building community support, and power structure. Building positive community relations is extremely important for every school person. However, the designated administrator should assume the primary task of leadership in community relations and allow the instructional supervisor to concentrate on the task for which he or she is uniquely equipped: service to teachers.

Varying Roles
The roles supervisors play vary from locality to locality and from state to state. They are defined by the superintendents or principals to whom the supervisors are responsible and, as happens in most positions of leadership, by the supervisors themselves. Although some variation will be found in the roles supervisors may fulfill, more than likely the serviceoriented supervisor will perform at varying times each of the four roles shown in the model. Coordinator The supervisor serves as a coordinator of programs, groups, materials, and reports. It is the supervisor who acts as a link between

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programs and people. He or she knows the disparate pieces of the educational process and directs the actions of others to make the pieces blend. As a director of staff development, the supervisor plans, arranges, evaluates, and often conducts in-service programs with and for teachers. Consultant The supervisor serves in a consulting capacity as a specialist in curriculum, instructional methodology, and staff development. In this capacity, he or she renders service to both individual teachers and groups. At times, the supervisor may simply furnish necessary information and suggestions. At other times, he or she may help teachers define, set, and pursue goals. The supervisor should be a prime source of assistance to teachers wishing to improve either their generic or specialized teaching skills. Though some will disagree with us, we believe the supervisorconsultant should be able to demonstrate a repertoire of teaching strategies. Group Leader The supervisor as group leader works continuously to release the potential of groups seeking to improve the curriculum, instruction, or themselves. To perform this role the supervisor must be knowledgeable about group dynamics and must demonstrate leadership skills. The supervisor assists groups in consensus building, in moving toward group goals, and in perfecting the democratic process. As a group leader, the supervisor seeks, identifies, and fosters leadership from within the group. Evaluator As an evaluator, the supervisor provides assistance to teachers in evaluating instruction and curriculum. The supervisor helps teachers find answers to curricular and instructional problems identify research studies that may have a bearing on their problems, and conduct limited research projects. Additionally, the supervisor helps teachers evaluate their

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classroom performance, assess their own strengths and weaknesses, and select means of overcoming their deficiencies.

Foundations of Supervision
The foundations of supervision (see Figure 1.4) are areas of learning from which the supervisor derives expertise. The large number of areas from which a knowledgeable and skilled supervisor must draw suggests the need for a broad training program in preparation for work as a supervisor. When we study the conceptual model of supervision, with its domains, roles, and foundations, we can deduce competencies that supervisors should be able to demonstrate. Supervisors should possess (1) certain personal traits and (2) certain types of knowledge and skills. Personal Traits The literature on supervision is remarkably silent on what personal characteristics are necessary for successful supervisory behavior. Perhaps this silence can be attributed to one or more of the following reasons. 1. Personal characteristics can be inferred from the skills supervisors should possess. Thus, if supervisors are expected to demonstrate a high degree of skill in human or interpersonal relations, they should exhibit human and humane traits like empathy, warmth, and sincerity. 2. Educational research has been notably unsuccessful in identifying personal qualities common to all successful administrators and supervisors. The presence of generally valued personal traits in a leader does not guarantee success on the job, nor does the absence of these traits ensure failure. Because the search for universal traits has been unproductive, the experts have concentrated on the more certain requisite knowledge and skills.

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3. Personal traits necessary for success in positions of leadership appear so obvious that they need no elaboration. Some specialists in the field may feel that a compendium of supervisory traits is similar to the oath that Boy Scouts take, promising to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, and so on. 4. The search for personal traits is a somewhat dated activity at a time when researchers are attempting to identify competencies that school personnel should demonstrate. Nevertheless, despite these encumbrances, lets briefly consider the question of personal characteristics needed by supervisory personnel. The successful supervisor is in constant contact with people and should possess those personal traits of warmth, friendliness, patience, and a sense of humor that are essential not only to supervision but also to teaching. As a service-oriented agent for improvement, the supervisor must be imbued with the spirit counselors refer to as the helping relationship, the desire to give of oneself to be of assistance to others. Beyond this, the supervisor needs the kind of persuasiveness and infectious enthusiasm that inspires teachers to want to make changes for the better. The supervisor who is a helper to teachers is able to effect a democratic environment in which the contributions of each participating member are valued. Above all, the supervisor needs to possess a predisposition to change and must constantly promote improvement. If supervisors, whose chief responsibility is to bring about improvements, are satisfied with the status quo, they can be sure that the teachers will be, too. The supervisor must be able to live with change and help teachers adapt to the changing needs of society and of children and youth. To accomplish this mission, the supervisor should be able to work effectively in both one-to-one relationships and in groups.

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Knowledge and Skills Although personal traits of supervisors are not often discussed, we can find an abundance of statements about the knowledge and skills successful supervisors need. There is general agreement that supervisors should have A sound general education program.

A thorough pre-service professional education program. A major field of study. A solid graduate program in supervision. Three to five years of successful teaching at the elementary, middle, or secondary school level.

In pre-service and in-service training programs, supervisors should develop grounding in Learning theory and educational psychology. Philosophy of education. History of education, especially of curriculum and instructional development. The role of the school in society. Curriculum development. Instructional design and methods. Group dynamics. Conferencing and counseling. Assessment of teacher performance.

Lovell and Wiles pointed to necessary knowledge and skills when they wrote that supervision is Releasing human potential Leadership Communications

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Coordinating and facilitating change Curriculum development Facilitating human development. Alfonso, Firth, and Neville drew implications leadership, for instructional

supervisory

behavior

from

organization

communication,

decision making, and change theories. Read the table of contents of any textbook on supervision and you will see the broad knowledge and special skills demanded by the profession. To identify knowledge and skills required for effective supervision, we may also turn to Figure 1.4 and analyze the domains, roles, and foundations presented in the conceptual model. To perform effectively, the supervisor must possess broad knowledge of both a general and professional nature and be able to translate that knowledge into skillful practice. At appropriate points in this book, you will encounter further discussion of the knowledge and skills essential to instructional supervisors.

SUMMARY
The roles and titles of supervisory personnel vary among the school systems of the nation. Supervision is 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.

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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. Supervisors perform a wide variety of tasks, which may or may not include administrative duties. The focus of this book is on instructional supervision, which is an inclusive term to signify service to teachers in developing the curriculum, instruction, and themselves.

Questions for Discussion

1. Are there other domains of supervision besides those shown in Figure 1.4 or cited from the Pajak study? 2. Do supervisors have roles besides those shown in Figure 1.4? 3. Are there other foundations of supervision besides those shown in Figure 1.4? 4. How would you describe the current state of instructional supervision? 5. Are there too many supervisors in our school systems? Support your response.

Reflective
1. Cite at least four definitions of supervision to be found in the bibliography of this module, show their similarities and differences, state whether you agree or disagree with each definition, and give reasons for your position. 2. Formulate your own definition of supervision.
3. State your position on the following questions:

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Is the principal a supervisor? Why or why not? Would our system of education be better if the U.S. Department of Education employed inspectors to check on instruction throughout the country? Give reasons for your answer.

Would our system of education be better if state departments of education regularly sent out inspectors to check on instruction throughout their states? Why or why not?

How much teaching experience is essential for a person to be an effective supervisor?

4. Write a short paper, using references in the bibliography at the end of

this chapter, expanding on the list of qualifications of supervisors discussed in the chapter. 5. Write a short paper, using references in the bibliography at the end of this chapter, expanding on the functions, roles, or tasks of supervisors discussed in the chapter. See, for example, Beach and Reinhartz, 6. Following the concept of a skill-mix, list specific (a) technical, (b) managerial, and (c) human relations skills that you believe are needed by a supervisor. 7. Write an analysis of your own knowledge, skills, and personal traits as they bear on the role of the supervisor. Describe your strengths and indicate areas in which you feel you need improvement.

Application
1. Examine the staffing pattern of a school system you know well and

list as many different types of supervisors as you can discover. 2. Design your own conceptual model of supervision.

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3. Poll a sample of teachers and inquire (a) whether they know what supervisory help is available to them and (b) how they perceive the functions of each supervisor. 4. Identify at least two improvements in curriculum and/or instruction that have been made in a particular school system in the last three years and determine what role, if any, a supervisor played. 5. Inquire of several teachers how often supervisors visited them in their classrooms during the past school year. Identify the supervisors by title, such as assistant principal for curriculum, supervisor of language arts, and so on. 6. Interview and obtain a job description, if available, for one or more of the following supervisors and write a brief description of their chief duties based on the interview: a. Assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction b. General supervisor c. Team leader d. Grade coordinator (grade chairperson) e. Lead teacher f. Department head g. Director of elementary, middle, junior, or senior high schools 7. Describe supervisory assistance available to teachers in your field from the following sources: a. State department of education b. Cooperative (regional) educational service agencies (intermediate school district level) c. School superintendents office 8. Outline a desirable university training program for supervisors and compare it with a training program with which you are familiar. 9. Tape an interview with a supervisor on the central-office staff and write a summary covering the following points: (a) How does the supervisor perceive his or her role? (b) What are major problems in

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supervision as he or she sees them? (c) What training is required for the job? 10. Outline the state requirements for certification as (a) a school principal and (b) a supervisor. Write a brief summary contrasting the differences, if any, and comparing the similarities.

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TEST

AND

APPLY YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Explain

1. What are the capabilities of a well-informed supervisor? each.

2. What

are the challenges that supervisory activities in schools?

affect

the

administrative

and

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