Download - Balakrishna lutchmiah instructional supervision; a comparative analysis of rectors’ and educators’ perceptions and understandings

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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MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY MAURITIUS BRANCH CAMPUS

Research in Education Conference 2014

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



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



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



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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Download - Balakrishna lutchmiah instructional supervision; a comparative analysis of rectors’ and educators’ perceptions and understandings

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