Instructional Supervisory Practices of Zimbabwean School Heads

Tichaona Mapolisa,Thembinkosi Tshabalala

doi:10.15580/gjer.2013.7.070313700

Abstract

Schools in developing countries including Zimbabwe face a host of problems related to the twin concepts of poor classroom instruction and low student achievement. According to (Boaduo, 2011a, Glanz, 2010), developing countries face common problems in providing sufficient education of high quality to their learners. Typically these challenges breakdown to matters of instructional supervision, teaching behaviours and general low learner performance. Given this context, it becomes necessary to construct new frameworks in the following aspects: teacher effectiveness, progressive models of supervision and effective leadership styles (Pajak, 2008). According to Boaduo (2011b), the search for instructional supervisory strategies that can deal with the lesson delivery capacities of teachers and poor performance of students of developing countries should be intensified. This study was therefore principally directed at investigating the instructional practices of Zimbabwean school heads of schools. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. The target population comprised of all teachers in primary schools in three of Zimbabwe's educational provinces of the Midlands, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South. The random sample procedure was employed. A total of seven hundred and forty eight (748) respondents were used of which three hundred and ninety-two (392) were female and three hundred and fifty-six (356) were male. The main findings indicated that the majority of heads did not understand the concept of instructional supervision. The study, further, revealed that teachers had negative attitudes towards instructional supervision; that heads of schools engage in the most current and pressing issues like financial management, sporting and grounds development at the expense of instructional supervision. The recommendations are that heads should use effective models of instructional supervision and commitment to long term process of staff development including the prioritization of their operations so that the bulk of their time is taken up by instructional supervision related activities to improve the worth of their teachers.

Highlights

In the process of improving teacher instructional competencies, many educators have come to realize that the quality of instruction depends on teachers but on supervisory staff (Boaduo 2011a & 2011b)
Data reveals that heads have limited knowledge of models of supervision
60% of the heads indicated that they were aware of a variety of supervisory models, when asked to name these models of supervision in the openended question they cited clinical supervision and spot-checks

Summary

Introduction

In the process of improving teacher instructional competencies, many educators have come to realize that the quality of instruction depends on teachers but on supervisory staff (Boaduo 2011a & 2011b). Harber and Davies (1997) note that in developing countries, heads of schools emerge from the teaching population and have had little or no training for the job. A possible reason supportive of Marks’ observation, is that Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Education assumes that competent teachers in the classroom tend to make good instructional supervisors, yet they should possess an array of skills that make them effective instructional leaders. Such skills include technical, conceptual, human and diagnostic skills (Glickman, Gordon and Ross-Gordon, 2007; Madziyire, 2013)

Methods

Results

Conclusion