Abstract
This study investigated the influence of internal and external supervision on teachers’ classroom performance in Obio/Akpor Local Government area. The population of the study comprised all 852 teachers in the 18 public junior and senior secondary schools in Obio/Akpor local Government area. The sample was made up of 155 female teachers and 100 male teachers from 7 secondary schools drawn through stratified random sampling technique. The study was an Ex-post Facto design. The instrument for data collection was Influence of Supervision of Instruction on Classroom Teachers’ Performance Questionnaire (ISICTPQ). Three research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The major findings showed that interaction between teachers and external supervisors influences to a great extent teachers’ classroom performance. The use of instructional materials suggested by internal supervisors influences to a great extent teachers’ classroom performance. Also, conferences and seminars organized by external supervisors influence teachers’ classroom performance to a great extent. The opinions of secondary school teachers with more teaching experience and teachers with less teaching experience did not differ significantly with regard to their influence of supervision of instruction on their classroom performance. Also the opinions of male and female teachers did not differ significantly with regard to their influence of supervision of instruction on their classroom performance. Based on the findings, it was recommended that external supervisors should always make themselves available and approachable to teachers, the state government should always make provisions of suggested instructional materials by external supervisors to teachers to aid class instruction, and there should be adequate funding of conferences and seminars by the state ministry of education for teachers’ improvement.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Instructional supervision is a constant process that aims at improving teaching by providing needed services to teachers. Improving teaching is a complex process in which many elements should interact. Teachers are at the center of this improvement process. Their acceptance of instructional supervision and interaction with internal supervisors provide the catalyst for any supervisory success. The way teachers view the supervision that they are undergoing and think about it is very important in the outcomes of the supervision process.
Supervision has its origin from the Latin word “Super video” meaning “to oversee” (Adenaike and Adebanjo, 2000:151). Therefore, “Supervision can be seen as a way of advising, guiding, refreshing, encouraging, stimulating, improving and overseeing certain groups with the hope of persuading people to desist from applying wrong procedures in carrying out certain functions on their jobs and at the same time try to emphasize the importance of good human relations in an organization” (Akilaiya, 2001:251). Supervision as a concept has diverse meanings and definitions on the individual’s needs, purposes and experience. Whereas the school supervisor would perceive it as an indispensable force for improved productivity, the teacher and or the taught being supervised might view same as an attempt to harass, threaten and curse because of the use of traditional approach of supervision by supervisors, or as a source of assistance and support needed in realizing the educational goals and objectives. The traditional approach of supervision is a fault-finding approach, the supervisor goes to school to criticize and condemn teachers, not seeing anything good in them (Adenokun, 2000). Educational supervision is the process or act of seeing to it that the policies, principles and methods established for achieving the objectives of education are properly and successfully carried out (Akilaiya, 2001). This process involves using expert knowledge and experience to oversee, evaluate and cooperatively improve the conditions and methods of doing things connected with the teaching-learning problems in schools.
The need to supervise the instructional process cannot be over emphasized; hence Ezeocha (1985) is of the view that most of the schools activities and all the school programmes require supervision. Supervision of instruction is a process of assisting the teachers to improve himself and his instructional abilities so as to enhance effective teaching and learning (Afianmagbon, 2007). It is a service rendered to teachers which is directed towards controlling the quality of their classroom instruction. Supervision of instruction aims at identifying areas of work that need to be improved upon. Oraemesi (1997:195) is of the opinion that supervision of instruction is important for a number of reasons. To him; “the supervisee learns during supervision, since the supervisor is more knowledgeable, he corrects and advises the supervisee. This is done through friendly interaction. It also enhances personal professional growth of the teacher since interaction and greater knowledge gained at supervision promote personal growth”.
Education has been known to be the antidote to poverty and ignorance and the key for unlocking natural resources (Obaji, 2006). Since education is accepted to be an instrument of change; teachers serve as the main operators of the instrument while the students are referred to as the raw materials to be processed on which the change would be manifested over a period of time (Adenaike and Adebanjo, 2000). In an attempt to ensure that the value of education is being derived at all levels, some officials are charged with the responsibility to monitor the performances of all those who run education especially those in schools in order to find out or assess the extent of achievement of the goals of education. These officials are the ones officially designated as supervisors.
Consequently, due to high cost of education, stakeholders are becoming increasingly interested in the school system. They monitor the teachers and their wards’ activities critically to ensure that adequate teaching and learning activities take place. Thus Parents Teachers Association monitors the activities within the school and constitutes part of the team involved directly in supervision. In the process of teaching and learning, some variables sometimes interfere with the plans and patterns of operation within the school that can be harmful to the attainment of set goals. Such variables include: teacher’s personality, his attitude to work, motivation, discipline, student’s background and environment which will have either positive or negative influence on the school system and education at large. The school is an organization where the generality of the citizens have input and support. As a result, the whole society and designated supervisors are in the position to help improve the system generally (Ijaduola, 2000).
Teachers have been accused of divided loyalty, nonchalant attitude and indiscipline among the teachers and students, which lowers the performance of both teachers and learners. Performance is seen as an act, process or manner of executing, performing or functioning. It can also be seen as an action seen, noticed or felt due to its effects on the people’s lives or way of thinking. Classroom Performance on the other hand is the act, process or manner of executing teaching functions in the classroom by the teacher either through discipline, teaching instruction, punctuality in class and so on. Parents now complain about their wards’ inability to communicate effectively in other language (English) from their mother tongue, also their wards’ academic performances have greatly and drastically reduced. They now see the school system fast losing its glamour and orientation which is affecting the attainment of National aims of education. To restore this, the need for instructional supervision process cannot be over emphasized (Ezeocha, 1985).
Instructional Supervision can be done either through internal supervisors who are Heads of schools, their assistants, and the Heads of departments, or through External supervisors who are resource persons and consultants like University professors, education researchers, curriculum consultants and designated officials from the Post Primary School Management Board (PPSMB) (Chiagha, 2008). If there is effective instructional supervision there is a greater possibility of achieving the set goals, on the other hand a defective instructional supervision or poor instructional supervision will impede a successful implementation of the school programme. Instructional supervision is a great determinant of a school’s quality; it can affect it either positively or negatively.
Effective instructional supervision of schools ensures proper functioning and mutual interaction of all persons and materials involved in the processing of a child and harmonizes the efforts of all designated school personnel. When all resources (human, physical and material) are in place, the need to monitor the operations within the school system by all interested groups would be an effective way of getting the best out of the school system. Teaching and learning are the major activities going on within the school; there is therefore the need to supervise these major activities for efficiency and effectiveness.
In line with the above, the State Post Primary School Management Board (SPPSMB) whose responsibility it is to control secondary education in the country emphasizes greatly on supervision of instruction in the secondary schools. It is on this ground that the board found it more necessary to offer great assistance to the classroom teachers through the designated school officials. These people have important roles to play in helping teachers to achieve the objectives of the secondary school as was stated in the national policy on education (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004). And how teachers perceive the help given by these officials will determine if these objectives will be achieved or not.
The positive perception of teachers towards the influence of internal and external supervision will bring about the actualization of the objectives of supervision of instruction and a negative perception will stampede it. The rational for this study is to see the perception of teachers on the influence of internal and external supervision towards the realization of the objectives and goals of supervision which is to improve classroom instruction. This study will be concerned with the perception of teachers on the influence of internal and external supervision as it affects interaction between supervisor and teachers, availability of teaching materials as suggested by internal supervisors, and conferences and seminars organized by external supervisors.
1.2 Statement of the problem
In the attempt to improve the quality of education, more focus should be put on teachers. This focus is based on the assumption that understanding the perception of teachers on the influence of internal and external supervision on their performances will increase our knowledge about how to go about instructional supervision (Wu and Short, 1996).
In Obio/Akpor Local Government area of Rivers State, there are designated external supervisors charged with the responsibility to supervise instructions. The supervisors supply teaching materials to schools for teachers to work with in order to improve classroom instructions. The supervisors are always ready to assist the teachers and the interaction is quite cordial. Also, workshops, conferences and seminars are organized more often both within the local Government area and at the state level to help find solutions to teachers’ unanswered questions.
The problem investigated in this study was whether the perception of teachers as regards the influence of internal and external supervision on their class performance is negative or positive and the extent of their perception, since these will determine the impact and success of instructional supervision of schools in Obio/Akpor Local Government area. It focused on three aspects of instructional supervision. These are: interaction between teachers and supervisors, availability of teaching materials as directed by external supervisors and attendance to conferences and seminars organized by external supervisors.
1.3 Purpose of the study
The main purpose of this study was to determine the influence of internal and external supervision on teachers’ classroom performance.
Specifically, this study investigated the extent to which:
• The influence of interaction with internal supervisors after their classroom performance.
• The influence of use of instructional materials as suggested by internal supervisors on their classroom performance.
• The influence of conferences and seminars organized by external supervisors on their classroom performance.
1.4 Research questions
The following research questions were posed to collect data for the study:
• What is the perception of teachers on the influence of interaction with internal supervisors on their classroom performance?
• What is the perception of teachers on the influence of instructional materials suggested by internal supervisors on their classroom performance?
• What is the perception of teachers on the influence of conferences and seminars organized by external supervisors on their classroom performance?
1.5 Hypotheses
The following hypotheses were formulated to guide the study and were tested at
• level of significance:
• There is no significant difference between the mean ratings of teachers with less teaching experience and teachers with more teaching experience with regards to influence of instructional supervision on teachers’ classroom performance.
• There is no significant difference between the mean ratings of male and female teachers as regards influence of instructional supervision on teachers’ classroom performance.
1.6 Significance of the study
Examining the perception of teachers on the influence of internal and external supervision is significant, in that it will help improve the supervision process in schools. This study will help the following groups: Teachers, Schools’ management, Education board, the Parents Teachers Associations (PTAs), and other researchers interested in supervision of instruction.
The findings of this study will help teachers to understand and appreciate the importance of supervision of instruction on effective classroom performance as regards instruction. It will help them understand that external supervisors are there to assist them and not to harass them. It will also make them know that the way they perceive supervision of instruction can make or mar their classroom performances.
This study will help the schools’ management to have understanding about the teachers’ perception on the influence of instructional supervision on class performance. And this understanding will help them realize that the perception of teachers towards supervision of instruction can make or mar the school activities. Since classroom instruction is one of the major school activities in the school and the school is like a factory that processes the students into finished products. Also, it will help the school management to know the extent to which attendance to conference and seminars improve teachers’ classroom performance. This will make them encourage teachers to participate more in conferences and seminars
The findings will also help other researchers to understand better supervision of instruction and help in their researches. It will also assist them in their review of empirical studies. As it will contribute to the existing theories and works on supervision of instruction.
1.7 Scope of the study
The scope of this study covered Obio/Akpor Local Government area of Rivers State involving all the secondary schools (both Junior and Senior). The investigation centered on the influence of internal and external supervision on the classroom performance of teachers. It involved all teachers in Junior and senior secondary schools. The content scope of this study involved: influence of interaction of external supervisors and teachers, influence of availability of teaching materials as suggested by internal supervisors and the influence of attendance to conferences and seminars organized by external supervisors on teachers’ classroom performance.
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Item Type: Project Material | Size: 55 pages | Chapters: 1-5
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