Instructional supervision. (c2011)

Abstract

The field of instructional supervision faces an urgent need to help teachers thrive in the classroom. Both instructional supervision and professional development have been identified as vehicles to enhance the performance ofteachers. Based on a systematic process of instructional supervision at a private school in the south of Lebanon, this study describes how this process is conducted, elicits teachers and subject supervisors' perceptions of this process, and investigates how it contributes to the teachers' professional development. A case study methodology serves the study purpose and mixed research methods, qualitative and quantitative, are used to collect data that address the research questions. A questionnaire was developed and administered to elicit perceptions of all 80 teachers and 20 subject supervisors about their school's process of instructional supervision, semi structured interviews were conducted with a random sample of teachers and supervisors, school documents were analyzed, and observations were conducted during all the phases of the process. This helped achieve triangulation and increase the reliability of results. Questionnaire data were analyzed through the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), and interviews, documents and field observations data were analyzed qualitatively. Results indicate that although the process is well established and systematic, several misgivings were recorded and some recommendations were stated by participants.