Functions of Educational/Instructional

Supervision
Presenter
Muhammad Abrar Khan
M.Phil Student

Under Guidance of
Prof: Dr. Umar Ali Khan
Presentation Objectives

• To understand the History of Supervision

• To understand Definitions of Supervision

• To understand Functions of Supervision

• To understand the Process of Change

• To understand the Role of Principal as

Change Leader
The History of Supervision
• In colonial New England, supervision of
instruction began as a process of external
inspection: one or more local citizens were
appointed to inspect both what the
teachers were teaching and what the
students were learning. The inspection
theme was to remain firmly embedded in
the practice of supervision.
• The history of supervision as a formal activity
exercised by educational administrators within a
system of schools did not begin until the
formation of the common school in the late
1830s.
• During the first half of the nineteenth century,
population growth in the major cities of the
United States necessitated the formation of city
school systems. While superintendents initially
inspected schools to see that teachers were
following the prescribed curriculum and that
students were able to recite their lessons, soon
the job was delegated to the school principal.
• In the early decades of the twentieth century,
the movement toward scientific management in
both industrial and public administration had an
influence on schools. At much the same time,
child-centered and experienced-based
curriculum theories of European educators
such as Friedrich Froebel, Johann Pestalozzi,
and Johann Herbart, as well as the prominent
American philosopher John Dewey, were also
affecting the schools. Thus, school supervisors
often found themselves caught between the
demand to evaluate teachers scientifically and
the simultaneous need to transform teaching
from a mechanistic repetition of teaching
protocols to a diverse repertory of instructional
responses to students' natural curiosity and
diverse levels of readiness
• In the second half of the century the field
of supervision became closely identified
with various forms of clinical supervision.
Initially developed by Harvard professors
Morris Cogan and Robert Anderson and
their graduate students, many of whom
subsequently became professors of
supervision in other universities, clinical
supervision blended elements of
"objective" and "scientific" classroom
observation with aspects of collegial
coaching, rational planning, and a flexible,
inquiry-based concern with student
learning.
 In 1969 Robert Goldhammer proposed the following
five-stage process in clinical supervision:
(1) a pre-observation conference between supervisor
and teacher concerning elements of the lesson to
be observed;
(2) classroom observation;
(3) a supervisor's analysis of notes from the
observation, and planning for the post-observation
conference;
(4) a post-observation conference between supervisor
and teacher; and
(5) a supervisor's analysis of the post-observation
conference.
For many practitioners, these stages were
reduced to three: the pre-observation
conference, the observation, and the post-
observation conference. Cogan insisted on a
collegial relationship focused on the teacher's
interest in improving student learning, and on a
nonjudgmental observation and inquiry
process.
 Definitions

“A cluster of functions -- administrative, educational

and supportive -- performed within the context of a
positive relationship by a person (supervisor) to
whom authority has been delegated to direct,
coordinate, enhance and evaluate the on-the-job
performance of the supervisee(s) for whose work
s/he is held accountable.”

Detail

Kadushin, A.E. (1992). Supervision in Social Work. New York: Columbia University
Press.
 “It is a planned activity that aims at
qualitative aspect of the schools by
helping teachers through support and
evaluation”.

Detail
In education, Academic Supervision is defined
as:
“It is the process of bringing about
improvement in instruction by working with
people who are helping the pupils. It is a
process of stimulating growth and a means
of helping teachers to help themselves. The
supervisory program is one of instructional
improvement.”
(Spears)
 Administrative Functions
• Staff recruitment and selection Definition
• Staff orientation and placement
• Work planning
• Work assignment
• Work delegation
• Monitoring, reviewing and evaluating work
• Coordination of work
• Communication
• Administrative buffer (Defense, Shield)
• Community liaison
Kadushin, A.E. (1992). Supervision in Social Work. New York: Columbia University Press
 Educational Functions

• Identification of knowledge and skills necessary

to do the work
• Provision of teaching/training/learning resources
• Socialization to professional values and identity

• Kadushin, A.E. (1992). Supervision in Social Work. New York: Columbia University
Press
 Supportive Functions
Provides psychological and interpersonal "supplies“
that strengthen capacity of worker to deal with
• Job demands
• Job stresses
• Workplace tensions
These include:
• Encouragement
• Recognition
• Approval
• Opportunity to "vent“ (Expression of ideas)
• Perspective
• Flexibility

Kadushin, A.E. (1992). Supervision in Social Work. New York:

Columbia University Press
Functions of Educational Supervision
The functions can be categorized into seven as listed below
(Wiles & Loveel, 1975):
1. Goal development 2. Program development

3. Control and coordination

4. Motivation 5. Problem solving

6. Professional development

7. Evaluation of educational outcomes.

1. Lovell, J.T (1967). “A perspective for viewing instructional supervisory

behavior” in supervision. Perspectives and propositions ed. W.H Lucio
Washington, D.C Association for supervision and curriculum development.

2. Lucio, W.H (1979) .”Supervision: a synthesis of thought and action”. New

York: McGraw-Hill.
 Goal Development
The most important function of supervision is to
ensure that teachers and supervision work
together cooperatively in developing the goals of
the school organization. It should be noted that the
school goals are generated from the goals of
society. Goal development as a function of
supervision is a continuous process which requires
regular examination, evaluate, modification and
changing (if need be) of the goals of the
teaching/learning process through the cooperative
efforts of both the teachers and the supervisors.
The regularity of concern for goal development is a
measure of the sensitivity and responsiveness of
the supervision scheme to the dynamism of the
societal goals as well as clear indicator of the
degree of effectiveness of the supervision system.
 Program Development
The development of curricula and co-curricula
activities is a primary responsibility of the teachers.
The role of supervision in the matter is to provide
appropriate complementary technical and
professional services and support. The number and
types of programs developed for the
teaching/learning process at the level of either an
educational sub-system or individual school or
classroom are determined by the earlier developed
for the teaching/learning process. So changes in
these goals are expected to lead appropriate.
Changes, facilitated by the supervisory system, in
the programs developed.
 Control and Coordination

Education is a system made up of many inter-

related, interdependent and interacting units. Each
unit has its own goals to achieve and at the same
time contribute to the realization of the overall
goals of the system or sub-system. It is a basic
function of supervision to facilitate the proper
coordination of the various units. Effective
coordination requires the establishment of a
comprehensive system of communication among
the units in order to strengthen the system of
supervision and improve the quality of instruction
for the learner.
 Problem Solving
Teachers and learners are always confronted with
a variety of problem of varying degree of difficulty.
These problems may be related to inputs into the
educational organization, anticipated learning
outcomes, curricula and co-curricula programs and
actual learning. It may be possible for the teacher
to solve some of these problems immediately by
himself, many other problems may take days or
weeks to resolve and require the assistance of the
supervisor. In all cases, the supervisory system put
in place should be that readily facilitates the
resolution of emerging problems.
 Professional Development
Teachers are professionals. They are trained, but
the needs, problems and aspirations of the society
which owns the education system as well as the
society’s expectations from the teachers keep
changing. Teachers as custodians of the education
of the society must also change and reflect these
changes in technology, the development of goals,
learning engagements and learning environment of
educational organization.
For this to happen, teachers must be
exposed to a continuous, comprehensive
and systematic program of in-service
training to enable them cope with these
change of course, it is the function of
supervision to initiate , support coordinate
and facilitate the realization of the program
of professional development for teachers
and supervisors.
• As an enterprise, educational management is
responsible for producing a service – i.e. Education
of which there are three domains i.e. Knowledge,
Attitudes and Skills. Since education is a complex,
intricate and extending endeavor, thus needs
constant and regular technical assistance and
professional growth for coordinating and unifying
efforts to ensure the best delivery.
• In education there are two types of
supervision. (i) Administrative supervision.
(ii) Academic supervision.
• The first one deals with internal efficiency of the
system ---- quantitative aspect, giving answer to
the question that how the educational
institutions are running in a disciplined manner,
and making wide use of available resources,
Communication and Information are the two
major functions of this type of supervision. This
type of supervision is carried by upper level
management to lower management, however,
the degree and emphasis may differ. This
includes all the physical facilities like buildings,
furniture, equipment, power, water etc., etc.
• The other is Instructional or Academic
Supervision which deals with external
effectiveness ---- qualitative aspect, giving
answer to the question that how pupils can
learn more and better. Support and
Evaluation are the two major functions of
this type of supervision. This type of
supervision is exclusively carried out by
the field supervisory staff for evaluating the
work of the teacher.
Support.
• Function of support is to provide professional
guidance and technical assistance to the teacher
to improve the teaching process. To teach better
means to help the pupils :
• To learn more.
• To learn faster.
• To learn more easily.
• To have more pleasure while learning, and
• To use/apply what they learn more effectively

Go to Definition
 Five Tasks of Supervision that Impact Instructional Improvement
Prerequisites Function Tasks Unification Product

Direct
Assistance

Knowledge
Group
Development Organizational
Goals

Interpersonal Professional Student

Skills Supervision Development Achievement
As
Developmental
Teacher
Curriculum Needs
Development
Technical
Skills
Action Research

Glickman et al., 2001, p. 443

Qualities of a Supervisor
• However, to accomplish items of this
nature the supervisor himself must have
the qualities of :
• listening patiently.
• demonstrating skills clearly.
• offering incentives appropriately.
• judging reactions and understanding
accurately.
• explaining, stimulating and praising
sympathetically
• increasing his own knowledge constantly
Evaluation.
• Support stands nowhere if actual ‘need’ is
perceived before hand. No effective
guidance can be provided with out
evaluation. Evaluation is an act of
examining the worth, quality, significance,
amount, degree, emphasis or condition of
some comparison of situations under
evaluation to some similar situation used
as a standard of comparison whose quality
is well-known. The following definition
makes the concept more clear
• “Evaluation is the process of ascertaining
the decision area of concern, selecting
appropriate information, collecting and
analyzing that information in order to
report summary data useful to decision
makers in selecting among alternatives
(Alkin).
Characteristics of Evaluation
• The characteristics of evaluation are:
• identification of the aspects to be
evaluated.
• facilitating judgment.
• providing useful information (scientific,
reliable, valid & timely).
• reporting deviations/weaknesses for taking
remedial measures in time.
• In an education system the quality of teaching vary from
excellent to good, adequate, poor and hopeless. This
determination is the evaluative function of the Academic
supervisors either the head of the school or field staff in
the district. Providing support is the next function of
academic supervision. Before ‘support’ it is necessary to
assess actual need and type of support for which the
teachers stands for --- this type of evaluation is called
Formative Evaluation. After having provided support it is
necessary to judge the effectiveness of the same. This is
called Summative Evaluation. This indicates that
‘evaluation and support’ are the cyclical function with no
end --- Evaluation --- Support --- Evaluation.
 Support

Supervision

Evaluation Evaluation
• Monte, S. N (1960) “ Are classroom visits worthwhile” .
The clearing house xxv. 41.
• Edwin, H.R (1963). Supervision in the Elementary Schoo
• Bostin Hougton Mifflin , L. K. (1961) Supervision in Action
Washington , D.C .
• Association for supervision and Curriculum Development
pp 56.
• Harold Spears (1963) . Improving the supervision of
Instruction Englewood Cliffs,
• New Jersey: Prentice – hall Inc. pp 62.
School Principal As Change Leader
Understanding the Change Process
Every change leader knows that effecting
change in a School, college or university is
an art, not a science. Complexities arise from
The traditions and history of the institution,
external and internal pressures, competing
constituencies, the loose connections among
units, and pressing questions with no
immediately clear answers.
Institutions struggle with two different issues
related to change. The first issue concerns where
the change has originated, whether by the
institution’s positional leaders, a small innovative
group of school stakeholders, or some
combination of the two Change directed from the
top generally happens more quickly than that
Which percolates up from the bottom,
The second issue, which arises after a
change initiative is identified, concerns who
involved and how. These kinds of complexity
make change in higher education an exciting,
unpredictable, and difficult undertaking.
The Challenge/characteristics of Change

It is important for institutional leaders to be

aware of these common
characteristics/challenges and to take
them into account as they proceed.
2. While often exciting, change may provoke fear
and anxiety.

This simple statement masks great complexity, for it

deals with the unpredictable reactions of human
beings to new situations. Fear can be a major issue
for people whose professional and personal lives
may be altered by change. They may fear ambiguity
or the unknown future; they may fear that they will be
incompetent or that their skills and knowledge will not
be valued in the changed organization. Because they
see the world differently from those who are trying to
initiate and implement change, they may have a
different assessment of the worthiness of a particular
change.
(Kotter and Schlessinger, 1979).
 Managing Fear and Anxiety
The following strategies can help manage fear associated
with institutional change.
• Reduce the stress of change by providing clear reasons for
it, by outlining the direction of the change, by framing the
debate, and by offering feedback (Heifetz, 1994).
• Encourage discussion and reflection of the change through
town meetings, discussion groups, seminars, and listserv
conversations.
• Moderate the pace of change so that people have time to
understand it and to incorporate it into their thinking and
their actions, and to be less overwhelmed by the prospect
of doing things a different way.
• Support change by providing the training needed by
people to do things differently and to feel competent in the
new environment.
• For people who experience change as loss, an
important component of transition to a new way
of doing things is the ritual of mourning (Bolman
and Deal, 1991).Leaders should encourage
people to acknowledge their loss openly so they
can constructively move into the future.
• Reframe the change so it highlights
opportunities that stakeholders—such as faculty,
staff, students, alumni, legislators, boards, and
parents—might view as beneficial.
2. The change is anchored in the institution’s
mission and values.

• Changes that are not a good “fit” with the

• institution’s mission and values are likely
not to succeed.
3. Stakeholders participate in developing and
implementing the agenda for change.

Participatory decision making is an integral part of

academic life. Although participation can slow the
decision-making process, a change effort will
generally be more successful if many people with
different perspectives contribute to its formulation
and implementation. For example, improved
learning will occur because of the experience and
insights that faculty, administrators, students,
student affairs staff, learning specialists, and many
others bring to this complex issue.
(Continued….)
No single individual or group has the breadth
or the wisdom to formulate a comprehensive
change. But more importantly, if people
involved in formulating the change feel
ownership, they are more likely to be willing
participants in the process.
4. Change begins with an exploration of why a
particular change is necessary or important.

A thorough exploration of why a change is

important and how it contributes to continuing
excellence is a vital first step in the process.
That exploration begins with a set of questions
rather than with answers.
• What is the problem?
• How might the institution be improved?
• In what ways will students benefit?
• Is the change necessary to the institution’s
survival? Well-being? Competitiveness?
Pervasiveness means Occurrence, frequency, popularity and depth means
deepness, intensity, strength
Adjustments include a change or a series
of changes that are modifications in a particular
area. As Henderson and Clark (1990) suggest,
changes of this nature occur when current
designs or procedures are improved or extended,
but they neither alter the basic ways of doing
business nor have deep or far-reaching effects.
An example is the incorporation of computer
simulations into introductory biology labs.
The second quadrant is isolated change,
which is deep but limited to one unit or
particular area and is not pervasive.
• The third quadrant is far-reaching change;
it is pervasive but does not affect the
organization very deeply. An example
might be the development of online
submissions of reading lists to the
bookstore. The change affects all faculty
but not in profound ways.
• The final quadrant is transformational
change, which occurs when a change
exhibits dimensions of both depth and
pervasiveness.
Principals can Improve Schools by

• Feeling a genuine commitment to school projects

• Being an advocate who promotes and defends school
improvement projects
• Being one who links the school improvement project
with other parts of the system
• By acquiring resources
• Careful selection of staff
• Supplying initiative, energy, and direction
• Providing problem-solving assistance and support
• Delegating and moving to the back when teachers
assume leadership
• Providing words of encouragement and acts of
assistance
• Giving feedback and providing two-way
communication
Resisters of School Improvement

• Positive—person who agrees with all the new program

but never does anything about them
• Unique—change may be good for others, but not this
department
• Let me be the last—does not say change is not wrong,
but wants to be last in case the change dies out
• We need more time to study— “the person who insists
upon seeing with perfect clearness before deciding
about change never changes” Amiel
• They don’t know what it is like—any new program
from central office can’t work because only those at
the school know effective programs
• Cost—don’t have enough money
• Incremental—only tries something new if every old
way is tried
Resistance can be minimized by
• Making participants feel the project is their own
• Making sure of central office support
• Showing how change can reduce burden, not
increase
• Making sure the project is in accord with existing
values
• Making sure the program is of interest to teachers
• Showing that autonomy and security is not
threatened
• Involving teachers in diagnosing problems and
developing solutions
• Communicating and relieving fears
• Developing internal support of the project
• Developing trust among teachers
• Staying open to revision and reconsideration
Nine Components of School Reform
Role of Principal In promoting Change
for instructional Improvement
• The administrator can act as the change
agent by facilitating the changes needed in
the beliefs, attitudes, and practices of the
teachers (Dooley, 1999).
 Rogers (1995) identifies five categories relevant to how
open individuals are to an innovation and change:
• Innovators tend to be risk-takers, able to deal with
uncertainty, and have access to financial resources.
• Early adopters tend to serve as role models for their
colleagues and are often influential based on respect
from their colleagues.
• Early majority tend to interact frequently with peers and
are willing to adopt new ideas but within their own time
frame.
• Late majority tend to approach new ideas with some
skepticism and don't tend to adopt new ideas until there
is some pressure from peers.
• Resisters tend to be more isolated and reluctant to try
something new unless they are sure they won't fail.
 Principal can Support to Develop and Implement
Change. Hargreaves el al. (2001) state that a
change leader has three fundamental tasks:
• To support teachers, and, where necessary, push
them to be able to implement appropriate changes
that matter.
• To ensure that the changes teachers make can be
sustained over time.
• To ensure that changes can be generalized
beyond a few enthusiastic teachers or specifically
supported pilot schools...to affect whole systems
(p. 157).
Checklist of Suggested Actions to
Support Change
• Six distinct categories of interventions
have been identified and are called game
plan components (GPC):
Each category identifies varies actions that
a change facilitator can take. (Hord et al.,
1987, p. 75)
GPC 1: Developing Supportive
Organizational Arrangements
• developing innovation-related policies
• establishing global rules
• making decisions
• planning
• preparing
• scheduling
• staffing
• restructuring roles
• seeking or providing materials
• providing space
• seeking/acquiring funds
• providing equipment
GPC 2: Training
• developing positive attitudes
• increasing knowledge
• teaching innovation-related skills
• reviewing information
• holding workshops
• modeling/demonstrating innovation use
• observing innovation use
• providing feedback on innovation use
• clarifying innovation misconceptions
GPC 3: Consultation and
Reinforcement
• encouraging people on a one-to-one basis
• promoting innovation use among small groups
• assisting individuals in solving problems
• coaching small groups in innovation use
• sharing tips informally
• providing personalized technical assistance
• holding brief conversations and applauding progress
• facilitating small groups in problem solving
• providing small “comfort and caring” sessions
• reinforcing individuals’ attempts to change
• providing practical assistance
• celebrating small successes (or large ones, too)
GPC 4: Monitoring
• gathering information
• collecting data
• assessing innovation knowledge or skills informally
• assessing innovation use or concerns formally
• analyzing/processing data
• interpreting information
• reporting/sharing data on outcomes
• providing feedback on information collected
• administering end-of-workshop questionnaires
• conferencing with teachers about progress in
innovation use
GPC 5: External
Communication
• describing what the innovation is
• informing others (than users)
• reporting to the Board of Education and
parent groups
• making presentations at conferences
• developing a public relations campaign
• gaining the support of constituent groups
GPC 6: Dissemination
• encouraging others (outside the
implementing site) to adopt the innovation
• broadcasting innovation information and
materials
• mailing descriptive brochures
• providing charge-free demonstration kits
• training innovation representatives
• making regional innovation presentations to
potential adopters
• marketing the innovation (Hord et al., 1987,
p. 75)