TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One: Introduction
Background to the Study
Statement of the Problem
Purpose of the Study
Research Questions
Research Hypotheses
Significance of the Study
Scope and Limitation of the Study
Operational Definition of Terms
Chapter Two: Literature Review
The Concept of Supervision
Supervisory Skills needed by the Principals in Teachers’ Supervision
Principals’ Supervisory Activities
The Principal’s Role in Coordination of Teachers’ School Activities
Checking of Teachers’ Professional Records
Challenges faced by Supervisory Role of Principals in Enhancing
Teachers’ Academic Performance
Lack of Adequate Knowledge and Experience
Multi-tasks Role of the Principal
Teachers’ Attitudes and Supervisor’s Approach to Supervision
Inadequate Basic Instructional Materials
Possible solutions to the challenges faced by principals in enhancing teachers’
job performance
Appraisal of Reviewed Literature
Chapter Three: Research Methodology
Research Design
Population of the Study
Sample and Sampling Techniques
Research Instrument
Validity of Instrument
Reliability of Instrument
Method of Data Collection
Method of Data Analysis
Chapter Four: Data Analysis and Presentation of Results
Analysis of Respondents’ Demographic Data
Analysis of Research Questions
Test of Hypotheses
Chapter Five: Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation
Summary of Findings
Recommendations
Areas Recommended for Further Research
REFERENCES
APPENDIX I
APPENDIX II
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Internal supervision is the activities of a superior person in school to oversee the day to day functions of the personnel in school to exert control of the environment and direct the general administration. The superior cannot do this alone but often supported by a supervisory team. The main thrust of this study is the internal supervision in the school system where instructional tasks takes place, at the centre of activities is the role of the principals in secondary schools, a position that is saddled with the responsibility of the system management mainly supported by the supervisory team that is made up of the principals, vice principals and the unit heads. Internal supervision is headed by principals who provide leadership to the team of supervisors to coordinate curricular, co-curricular programmes and is responsible for the general administration of the secondary school. Adeolu (2011) views supervisory roles as the teaching and training experiences provided not only within teacher institutions but also outside them, with the basic aim of preparing and grooming potential teachers for instructional activities. Adeolu went on to assert that in Nigeria, teacher’ survey carried out by the Education Resource Centre indicated that a minute percentage of teachers participated in professional development, in such areas as new methods of teaching and students’ assessment. Others are cooperative learning, use of education technology for instruction, classroom management and in-depth study in their subject fields to helps improve their professional competencies in instructional tasks. However, for this study, internal supervision is seen as support given by the supervisory team to teachers so as to fill the gaps in teachers’ preparation programmes and as a means of improving teachers’ job performance.
Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004) in the National Policy on Education asserts that no education system can grow beyond the quality of its teachers. To this effect, principals ensure effective supervision by interacting academically and socially at a regular basis with teacher and students within and outside the classroom. The primary aim of this is to monitor the implementation of curricular and ensure desirable increase in teacher capabilities, upgrade their conceptual knowledge and teaching skills, give them support in their work to facilitate better performance in teachers’ methodological practices and students learning outcomes in the school setting.
In order to achieve these purposes, the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004) in her National Policy on Education, stated that the goals of teacher education shall be to: Provide teachers with the intellectual background; encourage further spirit of enquiry and creativity; enhance teachers’ commitment to the teaching profession. Provide highly motivated, conscientious and efficient class room teachers for all level of Educational system. Help teachers to fit into the life of the community and the society at large and enhance teaching commitment to national goals (pp. 39).
The above goals cannot be achieved if the supervisory team headed by principals of secondary schools in the Education District II of Lagos State and the nation’s teacher training institutions; like the Colleges of Education, Education Resource Centre’s, National Teachers’ Institutes and Universities Faculties of Education fail to achieve quality assurance in their teacher preparation
programmes. Professional teacher training simply means teacher education and continued leaning programme. Any planned programme of leaning opportunities afforded staff members for the purpose of improving the performance of teachers is already conceived as professional development programme. For teachers’ continued learning programme, principals and teachers need to adopt a Continual Self-renewal strategy. In this strategic model, Nndowiseni (2012) argued that Continual Self-renewal for these facilitators is to ensure that they remain on the cutting edge of new development. This model is guided by a framework of five conditions focusing on; learning, shared power, experiences in the classroom, an interrelated set of personal (educational/social reference) and critical actions. The emphasis of this model is learning of methods in schools, workshops, and conferences amongst the instructional team.
Instructional supervision is an internal mechanism adopted by principals and the supervisory team for school self-evaluation, geared towards helping teachers and students to improve on their teaching learning activities for the purpose of achieving educational objectives (Adeolu, 2011). Recently, the definition of instructional leadership has been expanded towards deeper involvement in the core business of schooling, which is teaching and learning. The National Association of Elementary School Principals (2001) defines instructional leadership as “leading learning communities”. In learning communities, staff members meet on regular basis to discuss their work, work together to solve problems, reflect on their jobs, and take responsibility for what students learn. They operate in a network of shared and complementary expertise rather than in isolation. Instructional leader also makes teachers’ learning a priority, set high expectations for performance, create a culture of continual learning for teachers and get the community’s support for school success. Blasé (2000) expressed instructional leadership in specific behavior such as making suggestions, giving feedback, modeling effective instruction, soliciting opinions, supporting collaborations, providing professional development opportunities and giving praise for effective teaching. Dowian (2013) sees instructional leadership as classroom activities engaged in by one or more persons, or group of people. At the secondary school level, the principal is usually involved in a variety of situations that call for leadership, planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, controlling and decision making. The role of a principal is often seen as strong and directive, culture builder, goal-oriented manager and person who combine expertise with charisma, all these qualities are the competencies a principal used with the supervisory team.
The supervisory teams and the principals leading instructional activities is the driving force behind the school programme, they need to proactively mobilize all members of staff, teaching and non-teaching, the governing board, parent and the community towards identifying the school strengths and weaknesses and take appropriate decisions on type of follow up action required to improve teacher inputs and students learning outcomes in the school. This role of the Principal as Adetula (2005) posited, is that, the principal is an instructional supervision provider working with a team, they form the vehicle and structure which allow school, departments, as well as individuals to respond effectively to curriculum and instruction. For this study, instructional leadership is seen as the guide by the principals and his/her supervisory teams to promote effective teaching and learning in the secondary school. In order to achieve the stated purposes, principals need to strengthen and handle with utmost attention supervision in order to possess the capacities for managing human and material resources. In pursuit of these goals, Nwankwo,
Nwachukwu, and Anichukwu (2010) identifying the school principals as making use of supervisory models such as: Classroom observation, teacher conference and demonstration technique. Others include clinical supervision, micro-teaching/group supervision, Directive and non-directive styles all geared towards improving the conceptual knowledge, Skills/competencies of teachers, and Students’ learning. The supervision models by Nwankwo et al are commonly used by principals; these include classroom visitation and observation, a check to advice, guide, direct and stimulate teachers/students towards improving teaching/learning so as to achieve the desired educational objectives. The main advantage of this process is that the teacher is given opportunity to plan his work, organize learners and arrange classroom neatly. During observation, the supervisors takes note of the teachers’ knowledge of the subject being taught, evidence of adequate planning and preparation for the lesson, lesson presentation, teacher’s personality and the extent of students’ participation or interaction with the teacher. These form the bases for providing constructive advice on how to improve the quality of classroom instruction. The visit may be repeated until the required improvement is achieved.
Supervision of instruction has become very necessary in recent times because of the importance attached to education and the desire to improve the quality of education. According to Osakwe (2010), supervision is concerned with the provision of professional assistance and guidance to teachers and students geared towards the achievement of effective teaching and learning in the school. The principal as a supervisor provides a professional guidance to teachers in order to improve their competencies for effective teaching process to enhance the learning and growth of the students. The school principal in carrying out their duties assist the teachers to perform effectively in the areas of preparation of lesson plan and lesson notes before lesson delivery, good use of instructional methods and teaching aids, keeping and maintaining of school records, classroom management, among others. Through supervision the principal can provide meaningful feedback and direction to teachers that can have profound effect in the learning that occurs in the classroom.
Based on these, it has become vital that principals’ supervisory techniques be properly directed for effective/efficient job performance of teachers. This can only be possible through effective supervisory techniques. Fritz and Miller (2001) opined that, the responsibility of ensuring that effective teaching and learning take place and the extent to which instructional supervisors carry out their duties is by employing various techniques to enhance teachers’ job performance. Accordingly, Obi (2004) has outlined many strategies available for supervisors to help teachers improve on the job; and also to facilitate effective instruction in schools. Some of the strategies include self-appraisal method, micro-teaching, classroom visitation, clinical supervision, workshop, demonstration method among others. These methods provide feedback to the teacher on the various learning outcomes of the educational system, and also help to realize the goals of teaching and learning. This study is carried out to examine the relationship between principal use of workshop techniques, classroom visitation and teachers’ job performance
Another model adopted by principals and the team is clinical supervision which involves the following five-stage process: (i) a pre-observation conference between supervisors and teachers concerning elements of the lesson to be observed; (ii) classroom observation; (iii) a supervisors’ analysis of notes from the observation conference between supervisors and teachers;(iv) a post-observation conference between supervisors and teachers; and (v) a supervisors’ analysis of the post-observation conference. Despite the obvious advantages of clinical supervision in its various forms, it has been criticized by researchers that, it is time consuming and labour-intensive, rendering it impossible to use on any regular basis given the large number of teachers that supervisors are expected to oversee in addition to their other administrative responsibilities. Adeolu (2012) therefore advocated the use of research approach to stimulate effective teaching and improvement in students’ learning outcomes. The approach called the supervisor to engage teachers individually or in team work to find solutions to problems of teaching/learning that confronts them instead of dictating solutions to problems relating to pedagogy.
Statement of the Problem
There is growing concern of the society about the realization of secondary school objectives due to doubt that there have been steady decline in principals’ supervisory roles which