Bhaktapur:

Nepal is a country relying mostly on international communities to develop its human resources. Education is one of the key areas where human resource development is needed to improve the quality. Teaching has been called the loneliest profession’, even though the teacher may be surrounded by dozens of students. It is quite rare for another teacher or administrator to enter the classroom. For new teachers especially this loneliness leads to constantly making the same mistakes, to frustration when students do not learn, to a lack of motivation because no one seems to care, and finally to job burnout. Fortunately there is quite a simple solution to the problem — ‘Clinical instructional supervision’.

Clinical instructional supervision is a relatively new process. When used with good intentions by trained supervisors, this process leads to better instruction and therefore increased learning. Traditionally, supervision was taken as an activity carried out by managers to oversee the productivity and progress of employees. These activities were mostly done from authority basis. The results were used to rate performance and to decide the level of the teacher or instructor. This type of supervision is done on periodic basis. Teachers/instructors may not be satisfied with the decisions and this results in frustration and disappointment.

In 1973, Morris Cogan (the original developer of the concept of clinical instructional supervision) made the famous statement, “Teachers are better left alone, than merely tampered with.”

Clinical instructional supervision is a different concept and used to improve teacher/instructor performance. According to Peter Oliva, “Instructional supervision is a means of offering to teachers, specialised help in improving instruction.”

Clinical instructional supervision takes place between two professional educators. The supervisor may be a peer teacher/ instructor, department head, principal or vice-principal who are experienced in delivering good instruction and is trained in clinical supervisory skills. The supervisee can be any teacher/instructor in the school.

Each supervision cycle has three phases — pre-observation conference, observation and post-observation conference. During pre-observation, supervisors and supervisee sit together and talk about upcoming lessons — topic, learning outcome, methodology et cetera and confirm the class to be observed. During the observation, the supervisor observes the class (theory or practical) by using specialised tools. After the observation, the data is analysed and shared with respective teachers for the purpose of improving instruction. The supervisor may provide feedback or just listen to the teacher for his/her feelings about the strength and weakness of the lesson. This depends on the level of development of the teacher.

The data about the performance of supervisee are not shared with the school authority. Data remains confidential between the supervisor and supervisee and is used only for the professional growth and development of the teacher. Thus, the outcome of this process is the motivation of the teacher to improve his/her performance.

There is no doubt that many teachers/instructors need help on how to teach and what to teach. An effective supervisor can provide guidance on these aspects. Studies by Norman Boyan and Willis Cop-eland have shown that supervisors trained in the model of clinical supervision were able to help teachers make significant improvements in a variety of teaching behaviours (Collum, 1998). We often think human resource development is only possible through formal training. But when we compare the purpose of human resource development and the purpose of clinical instructional supervision, they are the same that is to help the teacher/ instructor perform better and improve the quality of teaching/learning.

To implement clinical instructional supervision in a school, a few good teachers should be trained in the technique. This normally requires a three-week training. These teachers should be provided with a few hours of release time per week so they can conduct supervision cycles with teachers needing this service.

Don’t leave the teachers alone — show them that they are needed and cared for. Give clinical instructional supervision a try.

(Bhandari is the executive coordinator at Training Institute for Technical Instruction, Sanothimi, Bhaktapur)