Balakrishna lutchmiah instructional supervision; a comparative analysis of rectors’ and...
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INSTRUCTIONAL SUPERVISION; A comparative analysis of rectors’ and educators’ perceptions and
understandings – a Case Study in Mauritius
by
Balakrishna LutchmiahQuality Assurance Officer, Ministry of Education and Human Resources, Mauritius.
email address: [email protected]
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Research Questions: The main research question:
Is there any similarity and/or difference between the rectors' and the educators' perceptions and understandings
of supervision of instruction in their respective schools?
The subsidiary questions:• How do educators understand the process of instructional
supervision in their schools?• How do educators perceive their rectors as instructional leaders?• What are the rectors' understandings of the process of supervision
of instruction?• How do rectors perceive themselves as instructional leaders?
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Findings of available research
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Research has provided
evidence that school leaders
strongly influence
student learning
….the responsibilities of
supervisors, if carried out
appropriately, will create a conducive teaching/learning environment…
Instructional leadership provided by the Principal is a contributing factor
to higher achievement
…teachers do not find instructional
supervision, … as a platform for the development of ownership and
professional growth
Novice teachers perceive
supervision as important for
their professional development
From Literature
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leadership of instruction should emanate from both rectors and educators, with the latter having content knowledge and delivering classroom instruction while rectors are responsible for creating the appropriate conducive climate in support of that instruction.
Hoy and Hoy (2009, p.2)
Strong leadership creates the climate in which effective teaching and student
achievement flourish. West-Burnham (in Brundrett 2013, p.23)
Instructional Leadership is in many ways a shared responsibility and engenders a common sense of commitment and collegiality among the staff'. (Ayeni, 2012, p.63)
INSTRUCTIONAL SUPERVISION
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CLINICAL SUPERVISION
MENTORING
COACHING
WALKTHROUGHS
MY ONTOLOGICAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL ASSUMPTIONS
• Belief that reality is constructed everyday through our perceptions and understandings of the world around us.
• Iam a pragmatist drawing on ‘positivism and interpretive epistemologies’.
• I adopt what Robson (2011, p28) refers to ‘fallibism’, that is current beliefs and research conclusions are rarely, if ever, viewed as perfect, certain or absolute’.
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ONTOLOGY• About the
nature of reality
EPISTEMOLOGY• About the theory of knowledge,
its nature and how it is gained or generated.
METHODOLOGY• Determine instrumentation and data collection
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
‘Mixed method approach works beyond quantitative and qualitative exclusivity or affiliation, and in a pragmatist paradigm’ (Onwuegbuzie and Leech 2005a; Johnson et al 2007; Teddie et al 2009 in Cohen et al , 2011, p23) 7
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MIXED METHOD APPROACH
Qualitative
Quantitative Qualitative
The Case Study… as an investigation into rectors’ and educators’ perspectives in instructional supervision and leadership in 6 State Secondary Schools in Mauritius
I find ‘relatability of a case study’ as more important than its ‘generalizability’ Bassey, 1981 in Bell (2010, p8-10)
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• (i) an in-depth study of • (ii) one or more instances of a phenomenon • (iii) in its real life context that • (iv) reflects the perspective of the participants
Gall, Gall and Borg (2007, p.447)
• The case or unit may not be representative of the population
• It would be most inappropriate to have generalisations
Verma and Mallick (1999)
DATA COLLECTION
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Surv
ey
Que
stion
naire • Collecting the same type of information from every
member of the sample• However people who choose the same response may not
mean the same thing and different answers to the same question do not reflect real differences between respondents
Inte
rvie
w • A flexible and adaptable way of finding things out• Follow up ideas, probe responses and investigate
motives and feelings
THE SAMPLING METHOD
Reasons for Convenience/Purposive sample• Temporal exigencies• Responds to the convenience in terms of availability,
ease of access• Because the individuals were volunteers to the
project• Schools where an ongoing process of supervision of
instruction exists – one of the assumptions of this study.
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SAMPLING
METHODSNON-PROBABILITY
CONVENIENCE
PURPOSIVE
MY ETHICAL CONCERN
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Access to educators in sample through rectors in the sample.
Interviews held at respondents convenience and either at neutral venues or at respondents’ residence.
Transcripts of interviews were sent back to respondents for any change they would wish to bring
Held good my commitment of confidentiality which I vow to keep at all times
Used ‘reflexivity’ as an introspective analysis of the research process
FINDINGS 1
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Rectors and Educators understand Instructional Supervision 'as the process of engaging teachers in instructional dialogue for the purpose of improving teaching and increasing student achievement‘ (Sullivan et al, 2009, p.4).
Educators do not share the view of Rectors when the latter understand Instructional Supervision as involving authority, control and accountability. 60% of educators are also in favor of 'Appraisal' as an approach to supervisionMentoring is viewed as the most important approach to supervision and consider walkthroughs as better options compared to lengthy lesson observation.
FINDINGS 2
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Both believe that Instructional Supervision should be meaningful, constructive, and collaborative.
For rectors, it should also be stimulating and Educators feel it has to lead to professional development
There is a mismatch between Rectors' desired time and the actual time spent on instructional supervision-- which meets the view of half the educators who believe that it is only carried out for administrative convenience.
% Time → ≤10
10- 25
26-
50
50-
70 ›70
Time desired 0 0 2 1 3
Actual time . 2 1 2 1 0
FINDINGS -3
The class observation is not accompanied by pre- and post- observation conferences. This perhaps explains educators’ satisfaction with Instructional Supervision in terms of quantity and of quality.
Rectors feel that most educators view supervision without any fear or threat except many senior ones.
Educators have apprehensions because Rectors do not give them feedback and hence view it as only for administrative convenience.
Moreover educators feel that it lacks the pedagogical support dimension and hence they question their Rectors’ abilities to deal with pedagogy and curriculum.
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Findings-4 Most Educators perceive their Rectors as Instructional Heads, an
opinion shared by all Rectors except one. They consider themselves an important instructional resource person as educators do believe.
Rectors refer to the Instructional Leader as a Pedagogical Leader-- a patient, supportive and visible person as well as an excellent communicator. -- who takes care of his/her own professional development by being a lifelong learner.
Educators talk about the Instructional Leader as a caring person who considers people as professionals, while being also highly visible. Above all, s/he should be an expert in teaching and learning.
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DISCUSSION ON IMPROVING INSRUCTIONAL SUPERVISION Rectors:
Lack of time for proper instructional supervision Resistance of Heads of Department to support Lack of culture for supervision Educator accountability
Educators: Development of latent capital in both rectors and educators Empowerment of Heads of Department Development of a system approach to supervision
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‘ Leadership aimed at instructional improvement signals the importance of creating and sustaining a school-wide focus on learning, not only for students, but also for teachers and staff’
(Robinson et al, 2008 in Barnett et al., p54)
Successful leaders ‘reshape the conditions for teaching and learning, restructure parts of the organisation, redesign leadership roles and responsibilities and build collaboration internally’. Day et al.,2010 in Brundrett, 3013,p11
Learning-Focused Leadership‘Professional Learning sits at the heart of leadership’
Knapp et al., in Barnett et al., 2012, p 189
RECOMMENDATIONS• Policy Makers:
o Include a module on ‘Quality Assurance and Supervision’ in all courses at the MIE with a view to develop a protocol for Ins. Sup.
o Reconsider the role and responsibilities of Heads of subject department and clarify the position of Senior Educators i.c.w pedagogy and leadership for supervision.
• Heads of schools:o Set up a QA mechanism at school for self-evaluationo SDP/SIP – a roadmap for continuous learning and prof.
developmento Use the Performance Management System as a tool to
empower all stakeholders for greater accountability. 18
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STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS-a self evaluation
Strengths:• Minimum visibility to respondents and keeping a high level
of confidentiality and anonymity.• The Choice of the Mixed Methods – using responses from the
questionnaires to mount the semi-structured interview phase.
Limitations:• Time as a limiting factor- could have had subsequent interview
sessions to probe further.• Analysis of records of classroom visitation carried out by rectors
to get a gist of the meaningfulness of the exercise.• Document analysis to justify or otherwise educators’ claim that
instructional supervision is being done for administrative convenience only. 19
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REFLECTION
The conclusions drawn from this research work were not meant for generalizations but were to serve the purpose of the ‘Unit Case’.
However, being given the outcomes, as these unfold, I find no reason for why these cannot apply, to different degrees, to other State Secondary Schools as I cannot see why the 6 schools chosen differ from the rest in any significant way.
This work leaves an avenue for further studies --- whether Quality Assurance can become the panacea for instructional supervision or vice versa?
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LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
THANK YOU
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