ABSTRACT
This study was designed to evaluate secondary schools supervisory programmes in Kogi East Education Zone of Kogi State. Four research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study.
A descriptive survey research design was adopted. No sampling was carried-out as the whole population was used for the study. A structured questionnaire with two parts was used as instrument for data collection. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was calculated to be 0.80 using cronbach alpha formula. Four research questions and two null hypotheses, tested at 0.05 level of significance were used for the study. Means and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while t. test statistics were employed to test the hypotheses.
The study reveals among others that; the major findings on the responses of the respondents on supervisory programmes used by supervisors in Kogi East shows classroom visitation. In agreement with the above findings, it is believed that supervisory task that involves classroom visitation are the skills and strategies which the school administrators employs to improve and sustain instruction and learning in the schools, supervisors influence on teacher’s instructional activities should include equipping teachers on what is required of them in teaching and learning, supervisors present performances improve teaching and learning implies that supervisors helps to advise teachers on maximum utilization of available scarce resources and also keeps teachers abreast of trends in the methodology of various subjects, supervision activities should be democratic and supervisors should attach more value to daily and weekly supervision since supervision is very crucial in the everyday activities of any organization. Based on the findings recommendations were made and suggestions for further studies were given.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The motive of helping teachers to improve instruction is generally recognized as an important function of supervision. Supervision is an essential part of any organizational set-up. In the secondary school system, effective supervision of instruction is imperative and crucial. According to Ndu, Ocho and Okeke (1997) supervision deals mainly with the improvement of learning and teaching and helps teachers to recognize and accept general aims, and work towards the achievement of the purpose to help them to see beyond their present performances. As supervision is to improve teaching and learning, the qualitative output of education can only be achieved through the supervisory programme.
Hence, supervisory programme as another unit of this research study has been described in a variety of ways. According to Wilhelm in Obi (1988) it is the nervous system of the school. It is the mechanism for adaptation, it represents that ability to adapt to new conditions which an organization-or-school-must have or die. He further stated that there are classroom visitation, seminars, conferences, demonstration and workshops, which implies that the success of any system of education is hinged on regular and continuous application of the various supervisory task.
It is believed that supervisory tasks are becoming rapidly complex. According to Mgodile (2004) supervisory task are the skills and strategies which the school administrator employs to improve and sustain instruction and learning in schools. It also includes all efforts of designated officials to help teachers improve the teaching function of school operation (Akubue 2007). According to him, this efforts or tasks can be categorized into preliminary, operational and developmental sequence. These terms refer to the sequence in which the tasks are often employed to facilitate teaching.
In his view, preliminary task include; developing curriculum, providing facilities and providing staff which are essential tasks prior to process of conducting any instructional activity. Operational task on the other hand are; organizing for instruction, orienting staff members, providing materials, relating special pupil services and developing public relations, are all part of the on going operation of the programme. Developmental tasks; this is the final task areas which include evaluation and in-service education that are uniquely developmental. It is these tasks that provide critical new inputs for changing the instructional programme. Regardless of the various tasks and their level of complexity, the main purpose of supervision is the improvement of teaching and learning in the classroom.
The Federal Government of Nigeria realized the importance of supervision and gave it a place in the National Policy on Education to ensure quality control. The aim of supervision is the improvement of the total teaching and learning processes to achieve instructional effectiveness at a specified quality level. Hence, many educational experts have variously defined supervision. According to Good’s Dictionary of education in Akubue (2007:3), supervision is described “as all efforts of designated officials towards stimulating their professional growth and evaluating instructions and curriculum. The designated officials are those who are officially appointed and delegated with full powers of supervisory control”. Supervision therefore tries to control what is taught, who is taught and the impact of what is taught on the learner. Pajak (1990) considers supervision as the primary process by which instructional excellence is achieved and maintained.
In other to understand the concept of supervision properly, it is better to know who is a supervisor. Ogunsaju (1983) sees a supervisor as one formally designated by the organization to interact with teachers in order to improve the quality of learning by students. He is an instructional leader who has his ultimate objective to ensure that teachers are performing the duties for which they are scheduled. The supervisory aspect of administration is responsible for maintaining punctuality and discipline as well as facilitating change from outdated patterns of work to modern techniques.
Ndu, et al (1997) saw supervision as the process of bringing about improvement in instruction by working with people who are working with pupils. Supervision is a process of stimulating growth and a means of helping teachers to help themselves.
From the above definitions by different authors, supervision can be viewed by the researcher as the process by which those who are designated as supervisors oversee and control the various schools in order to ensure that the aims and objectives of the school are properly achieved.
Supervision is designed to improve instruction. In doing so, there are many factors that influence the quality of the instructional programme. These factors include; teachers, supervisors, administrators, students and citizens. Effective supervision of instruction can improve the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom. From all these definitions, the main centre of focus of supervision is the classroom teacher who as a curriculum implementer tries to shape the destiny of class instruction. To this end, it is a service rendered to teachers, focusing on how to help them understand and accept themselves, their abilities, patterns of interest, emotional make-up and background preparation and helping them set realistic goals for themselves (Eneasator and Nduka, 1998).
In supervision generally, the school head undertake periodic supervision of the classes to ensure that meaningful teaching and learning are put in a good condition, but, in Kogi East Education Zone the reverse is the case. Their level of supervision is minimal and sometime not at all, as the researcher was informed during the annual Parent Teachers Association (PTA) general meeting held in march 12, 2008. Supervision is an exercise that needs to be handled with care by both the internal and external supervisors irrespective of sex. The idea of gender discrimination needs to be eradicated completely as supervisors carry-out their responsibilities. That is, both the male and female supervisors should instruct and supervise teachers equally in other to ensure effective and efficient teaching and learning. In other to understand the above statement properly, it will be better to know the meanings of internal and external supervision. According to Ikediugwu (1999), there are basically two ways supervision is being carried out in Nigerian schools. They are: internal and external supervision.
Internal Supervision is that which is being done by the principals or vice principal or any person the principal may appoint to do so. It is called internal because the resource person comes from within the organization. At times the principals carries out the supervision fully looking into all aspect of the school; the school time table, time book, lesson-note, teachers attendance to classes and teachers activities. In internal supervision, the principal may supervise the students records (register) scheme of work, staff duties, school discipline and health of student.
External Supervision is the type where a team of supervisors from ministry of education and education commissions visits school. Their visit may be announced and at a time may not be announced. They go straight to the principals’ office who now leads them to the staff room. Teachers’ lesson-notes are collected and marked by these supervisors. Little or no efforts are made by external supervisors to look into instructional materials like teaching aids, text books and even the teaching process. Emphasis is only made on lesson note, scheme of work and registers’ with extra-curricular activities are not touched at all.
An observation by the researcher shows that supervision in schools is being negatively perceived by the supervisees, this is as a result of how supervisors carry-out the supervisory exercise. Sometimes they use their position to humiliate and disgrace both the experienced and less-experienced teachers instead of helping or directing them. In some cases, the attitude of the so called supervisors makes the male and female teachers to abandon teaching job for other jobs. For example, some teachers abandon teaching for trading due to dishonor/disgrace been brought upon them by supervisors during teaching.
However, the researcher was informed according to the statement made by All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) that, the supervisory functions being carried-out by supervisors were to go to schools and watch evidence of supervision by the principals of schools, the climatic condition of the school compound, appearance of students and then score to find out the percentage score rating for the school without entering the classes to check teachers’ lesson notes and methods of delivery (Eneasator, et al, 1998). At this point supervision fails to achieve what it intends to achieve, that is assisting to improve instruction and learning on the teachers and students respectively.
Evaluation of supervisory programmes is very important in impacting knowledge to the students. It is believed that in daily activities people engage in one type of evaluation or the other. For instance, a mother exhorts her daughter to be of good behavior as the daughter of the next door neighbor, she uses some standards judged, albeit subjectively, to be of ideal standard in assessing her daughter’s behavior. Also in trying to purchase a dress, people make a value judgment when they select one dress in place of another. Value Judgment according to Mike and Schinzinger (2005) is a judgment of the rightness or wrongness of something or of the usefulness of something based on a personal view. As generalization, it refers to judgment based upon a particular set of value or a particular value system.
There is no doubt that our forefathers made some value judgments before they decided to settle where their descendants find themselves today, thus, the need for evaluation have come to play. According to Ali (2006:336), evaluation is the “qualitative value or judgment we make about something or someone based on quantitative data derived from testing, monitoring, measurement, appraisal and or assessment”. Aderounmu and Ehiametalor in Mgbodile (2004) saw evaluation as the appraisal of situations in order to determine their relationship with the stated goals of an organization. In a related development, odor (1995), view evaluation as an administrative process of appraising the quality of teachers, the accomplishment of school programmes, and the performance of the students and the effectiveness of the school administration. Ohaga (1990) stated that, evaluation denotes a process of ascertaining quality of something by comparison with a standard.
