Teacher Education and Supervision Med TESOL 2007/2008
Tutor: Rosemary Douglas
AN ESSAY ABOUT SUPERVISION
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An assignment submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in TESOL The University of Edinburgh 23rd April 2008
An Essay about supervision ,23rd April 2008
Assignment task: An Essay about Supervision. Tutor: Rosemary Douglas. Submission date: 23rd April 2008. Introduction One important topic in teacher education that deserves exploration is the topic of supervision. Supervision could be acknowledged as the duty of monitoring and improving the quality of teaching done by other colleagues in a given educational situation (Wallace, 1991). Therefore, this essay will highlight how different writers identified clinical supervision. Moreover, one major area of concern in this essay will be about the different kinds and modes of supervision. What is clinical supervision? Cogan (1937) has made a useful distinction between general supervision and clinical supervision. General supervision is more related to administrative and out of classroom matters. That is to say, it is more concerned with issues such as the curriculum and the overall management structure of education inside and outside the school. On the other hand, Clinical supervision refers to a particular mode of training in which there is a face to face interaction between a supervisor and a teacher. The aim of this interaction as indicated by Wallace (1991) is to discuss and analyse the teaching process in order to promote teachers professional development. That is to say, in contrast to general supervision, clinical supervision is more concerned with what goes inside the classroom. Sergiovanni and Starratt (1983: 292) argue that clinical supervision refers to the contact with teachers with the intent of improving instruction and increasing growth. In the same vein, Gaise and Bower (1990) identify clinical supervision as the process by which the teacher performance is observed, analyzed and evaluated in a systematic way. They also add that clinical supervision is a cyclical process that consists of three stages; pre-observation, observation and post-observation stage. While the pre-observation stage is merely a consultation between the teacher and the supervisor, the post-observation stage is concerned with examining the strengths and weaknesses that would appear in the observation and providing proposals to improve performance inside the classroom. The importance of using clinical supervision: Clinical supervision has a significant role in teacher education. That is to say, although other forms of inservice development such as seminars and workshops has an advantage of reaching large numbers of teachers; they do not take into consideration the needs of individual teachers. By contrast, the major aim of clinical supervision revolves around the needs and problems of individual teachers (Gaise and Bowers, 1990). Moreover, clinical supervision aims at promoting more effective teaching. Acheson and Gall (1980) argue that using clinical supervision can help teachers reduce the discrepancy between actual 1
An Essay about supervision ,23rd April 2008
teaching behaviour and ideal teaching behaviour. Furthermore, in the absence of alternative forms of inservice development, the role of the supervisor, through the supervision process, becomes crucial. To illustrate, it is the supervisor who can direct teachers to how to implement changes in their classrooms. In clinical supervision, a supervisor has two main roles as a trainer and an educator (Freeman,1989; Gaies and Bowers ,1990). As a trainer, the supervisor is concerned with technical improvement. That is to say, being a trainer, the supervisor focuses on showing teachers that what they are doing in the classroom can be done in a better way. However, as an educator, the supervisor is concerned with strategic change. In that case, the supervisor would provide teachers with alternatives and facilitate teachers self awareness. Styles of clinical supervision: Freeman (1982) suggested three different approaches to in-service teacher supervision: the supervisory approach, the alternative approach and the non-directive approach. However, Gebhard (1984) extended the number into six different approaches. The approaches advocated by Gebhard (1984) will be demonstrated in more details in the following lines. Directive supervision is the first model to be covered in clinical supervision. This model represents the kind of supervision that has traditionally been used by teacher educators. Adopting this approach, the supervisors role is to direct and inform good models of teaching. The supervisor also acts as an evaluator of the teachers mastery in teaching. One problem that might appear in using a directive approach in supervision is that teachers might feel inferior to the supervisor and this can lower their self-esteem. The supervisors attitude in directing teachers would cause teachers to become defensive toward the supervisors judgements. Rowe (1973) argues that if teachers lost their right to be wrong sometimes, they might lose interest in exploring new ideas inside their classrooms. Another weakness concerning this approach is that teachers might be forced to comply with the supervisors own point of view. Jarvis (1976) suggests that in such away the teacher would not have any responsibility in taking decisions. Moreover, supervisors definition of good teaching might be another problem in adopting a directive approach in supervision. That is to say, supervisors sometimes impose their own views about what good teaching should be. They ignore the fact that many years of process-product research have failed to identify specific teaching behaviour that can be linked to successful learning outcomes. On the other hand, in supporting directive supervision, Copeland (1982) argues that a number of novice teachers feel the need to be told what to do. Furthermore, He adds that teachers from a number of countries have stated that they would consider the supervisor to be unqualified if they were not given direct instructions from him or her. A second approach to be viewed in supervision is alternative supervision. In this model, the supervisor suggests a number of alternatives for the teacher to choose from. In contrast to the directive approach, this model of supervision gives the teacher some responsibility for decision making (Freeman, 1982). Freeman (1982) points out that the purpose of offering alternatives is to widen the teachers view 2
An Essay about supervision ,23rd April 2008
concerning using different ways of teaching. Another advantage in adopting the alternative approach in supervision is that it may contribute to teachers autonomy and may lead to further professional development. That is to say, providing teachers with different strategies in teaching would raise their understanding of the consequences of their own deeds inside the classroom. Consequently, teachers can take the responsibility for their decisions (Gebhard, cited in Richards and Nunan, 1990). Another significant approach in teacher supervision is the collaborative approach. In collaborative supervision, the supervisors role is to work with the teacher in equal bases. That is to say, the supervisor participates with the teacher in taking any decision in order to establish a sharing relationship. Advocating the collaborative model in supervision, Cogan (1973) believes that teaching in itself is a problem- solving process in which teachers and supervisors are encouraged to share their experience and ideas with each other. A main aim in collaborative supervision is to allow teachers to express their own reflections and self-evaluation (Wallace, 1991). However, although the ideals of equality and sharing of ideas might be appealing to a number of teachers, other teachers may not be willing to share in a collaborative decision-making process. Moreover, in few cases, some teachers may underestimate their supervisors if they were asked to be involved in true participation (Gebhard, cited in Richards and Nunan, 1990). Another approach to be concerned in this essay is the non-directive approach in supervision. In this model, the supervisor acts as a listener giving the teachers the chance to come up with their own solution to problems encountered inside the classroom (Randall and Thornton, 2001).In listening to what the teacher says, supervisors are providing an understanding response in which the supervisor restates how s/he understood the teachers comments (Gebhard, cited in Richards and Nunan, 1990). One of the advantages of adopting a non-directive approach in supervision as stated by Freeman (1982) is that teachers have the freedom to express and clarify their ideas. Moreover, it would create a supportive and trusting relationship between the teachers and their supervisors. Yet, Gebhard (cited in Richards and Nunan, 1990) indicates that using non-directive supervision might cause anxiety and confusion for inexperienced teachers. Creative supervision is another approach to take into consideration when tackling the different approaches in supervision. What is significant about this approach is that it encourages freedom and creativity in three different ways. Firstly, in this model, the supervisor is free to use a combination of models or a combination of supervisory behaviours from different models according to their teachers needs. Freeman (1982) claims that using one model only in supervision, could be limiting in some cases. On the other hand, using a combination of different models might be more effective in satisfying the needs of different teachers. Secondly, this approach allows the supervisor to shift his or her responsibilities to any other source. Gebhard (cited in Richards and Nunan 1990) points out that one way to shift the responsibility away from the supervisor is to have peer supervision in which a group of teachers observe each others classes. Thirdly, creative supervision encourages the use of application from other fields such as the 3
An Essay about supervision ,23rd April 2008
application of observation systems which is considered to be of substantial value for supervisors. To illustrate, via the application of observation system, supervisors will be capable of describing teaching more efficiently. Another area of concern in Gebhards stimulating overview of supervision is the self-help-explorative approach. This model is considered to be an extension of creative supervision. In this approach, the supervisor acts as a more experienced teacher who would like to exchange his or her experience with other teachers. Advocating this approach, Fanselow (1987) reflects that through self-explorative supervision, both teachers and supervisors develop their teaching via observation and exploration. The major aim of this approach is to help teachers and supervisors explore teaching through observing their own teaching and others as well. Doing that, teachers will gain awareness of teaching behaviours and their consequences (Gebhard, 1984). Through using the different techniques of observation such as note taking and video tapes, teachers become more capable of describing the teaching they see instead of judging it. From the previous demonstration of the different approaches in supervision, it is clear that the supervisor can adopt different styles of supervision according to circumstances. In other words, those styles can vary according to number of factors such as the age, personality and experience of the teacher (Randall and Thornton, 2001). Training supervisors: Many second-language teacher educators seem to limit their approach to supervision and their choice of supervisory behaviours. As a result, Preparation of supervisors should give sufficient attention to the dual roles of supervisors as trainers and educators in order to enhance teachers professional development. In addition, Training of supervisors should provide enough opportunities for them to practice alternative approaches to classroom teaching and learning (Gaies and Bowers, 1990). That is to say, it is really crucial for supervisors to be trained in all aspects of clinical supervision. The reason for that is if supervisors are unwilling to explore and use new behaviours in the supervision process, they will never know the consequences that these behaviours can have on the professional development of teachers. Conclusion To conclude, evaluating and directing teachers are not the only roles of supervisors. On the contrary, there is a wide choice of supervisory behaviours for teacher educators and supervisors to take into consideration in their attempt to meet the needs of their teachers. In exploring the topic of supervision, I tried to cover certain points in this essay concerning the definition and the importance of clinical supervision. Moreover, wide range of different approaches to supervision has been introduced highlighting the various views concerning supporting or criticising a certain approach. 4
An Essay about supervision ,23rd April 2008
The Bibliography: Acheson, K. and Gall, M. D. (1980) Techniques in the clinical supervision of teachers: Preservice and Inservice Applications. New York: Longman. Cogan, M. L. (1973) Clinical Supervision. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Copeland, W. D. ( 1982) Student Teachers Preference for Supervisory Approach. Journal of Teacher Education. Fanselow, J. (1987) Breaking Rules: Generating and Exploring Alternatives in Language Teaching. White Plains, N. Y.: Longman Freeman, D. (1982) Observing Teachers: Three Approaches to In-Service Training and Development. TESOL Quarterly 16: 21-8 Freeman, D. (1989) Teacher Training, Development and Decision-making. TESOL Quarterly 23(1): 2745. Gaies, S. and Bowers, R. (1990) Clinical Supervision of Language Teaching: The Supervisor as Trainer and Educator. In Richard, J. and D. Nunan ( eds), ( 1990), Second Language Teacher Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gebhard, J. (1990) Models of Supervision: Choices. In Richard, J. and D. Nunan ( eds), ( 1990), Second Language Teacher Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gebhard, J. C. (1984) Models of supervision: choices. TESOL Quarterly, 18, 3, 501-14. Jarvis, G. A. (1976) Teacher Education: Theyre Tearing up the Street where I was Born. In Fanselow, J. and Light, R. L. (eds.), Bilingual, ESOL and Foreign Language Teacher Preparation: Models, Practices and Issues. Washington, D. C.: TESOL. Randall, M. and Thornoto, B. (2001) Advising and Supporting Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge university press. Rawe, M. B. (1973) Teaching Science as Continuous Inquiry. New York: McGraw-Hill. Richard, J. and D. Nunan (eds), (1990), Second Language Teacher Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
An Essay about supervision ,23rd April 2008
Sergiovanni, T. J. and Starratt, R. J. (1983) Supervision: Human Perspectives (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Wallace, M. (1998) Training Foreign Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
