Page 247 - DEDU503_EDUCATIONAL_MANAGEMENT_ENGLISH

Unit 19: Planning and Organizing Supervisory Activity

each other. From the cumulation of short-term planning can emerge long-range plans of improvement. Notes
The planning of supervisory programme should be undertaken with the following objectives in
view :
1. Unification and integration of educational effort : The programme should be planned with
the purpose of co-ordinating the various resources and materials and unifying the effort of all
workers. Supervision “needs to be encompassed in a program that represents unity. Only then,
can purpose, planning, and organization be assured. A properly conceived program represents
effort directed toward a common goal.” Unification of effort can be achieved by a continuous
review and re-statement of the objectives of education, a continuous review and revision of the
curriculum and a sound administrative organisation. All this must be done co-operatively by
the supervisors, administration and teachers. “Frequent meetings of the supervisory staff is one
of the best safeguards against scattered effort and the subsequent frustration or confusion on
the part of teachers.”
2. Improvement of the knowledge and skills of the teacher : The centre of all supervisory effort
is the teacher. “The teachers hold the key position in any program of instruction, and
consequently in any program of instructional improvement.” Hence, the supervisory programme
“should be planned around the work, the thinking, and the attitudes of teachers.” In this
connection it should be remembered that “...establishing a good program is dependent upon
overcoming among teachers a feeling of futility about supervision.” Improvement in teachers’
knowledge and skills is of paramount importance. The supervisory programme should offer all
possible opportunities to participate in co-operative planning of policies and procedures, to
exercise leadership and creativity by trying out new ideas experimentally.
3. Incorporation of the latest trends : Teaching is a complicated process and there are rapid
developments in educational theory and practice. Reeder says, “Pedagogical theory and
accompanying instructional practice are today, like most of our other cultural institutions, in a
period of rapid change and development.” Improvement in instruction can, therefore, be
accomplished only if school practices keep abreast of the changes in educational thinking and
practice. Educational workers should keep uptodate with the new educational literature. The
supervisor’s special duty in this regard is to bring the latest developments to the notice of the
workers through a continuing programme of inservice education. The supervisory programme
should be planned in a way to offer opportunities for this. “A continuous program of inservice
training through supervision is the price which school systems must pay if they would keep
abreast of the truth which the profession is discovering.”
4. Improvement of the teaching-learning situation : The central purpose of the supervisory
programme is the assessment and improvement of the teaching-learning situation, the
constituents of which are the pupils, teachers, curriculum, materials and equipment and the
physical and social environment. For effective supervision it is necessary to appraise and improve
these matters. Also things like buildings and other physical conditions, work loads instructional
material, products and outcomes of education and conditions likely to bring success and better
achievement should be studied. Similarly, the needs, interests and study habits, etc., of students
should be improved. The supervisory programme should take care of all these things.

5. Promotion of Good Relationships : Nothing can be achieved from any activity if the workers
are in a state of tension. “Supervision depends for full effectiveness upon the existence between
teachers and supervisors of a common ground of agreement as to the essentials of the educational
program” The best classroom is one in which prevails the atmosphere of a good home. In other
words, healthy relationships between teacher-to-child, child-to-teacher and child-to-child must
exist. Similarly for good supervision superisor-administrator-teacher relationship must be
developed. It should be noted that such relationships are the result of gradual growth and
development through mutual understanding, goodwill and close co-operation.

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