HARAMAYA UNIVERSITY

POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM DIRECTORATE

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

COURSE CODE:

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT: QUESTIONS ON EDUCATIONAL

SUPERVISION

NAME OF STUDENT ID.NO

1. MOHAMMED BEKER SEIDO PGP/673/14

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
PROGRAM: MA IN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

TO : TADESE HAILU (Ph.D)

JUNE, 2022
HARAMAYA UNIVERSITY, ETHIOPIA
I. Introduction...............................................................................................................1
1. Why supervision is a complex process?..............................................................1
2. When we say educational supervision is a branch of educational management,
what does it mean?...................................................................................................3
3. How supervision is connected with school improvement program?...................5
4. How the modern supervision is different from the traditional supervision?.......6
Summary and Conclusion .....................................................................................12
References..............................................................................................................12
 I. Introduction
Educational Supervision is a branch of Educational Management. Supervision could
be defined as a day-to-day guidance of all education operations, coordination of the
detailed work and cultivation of good working relationship among all the people
involved in the teaching-learning process.. Supervision is in a sense, the back-bone of
educational improvement (Education commission). Supervision is provided by the
inspectorate division of the ministry of education to help educators and educational
administrators to do better jobs. This service provides educational leadership and
guidance to various personnels in the field of education.

Supervision is necessary in education to ensure uniformity and effectiveness of

educational programmes it is required to promote teaching and learning in schools. It
incorporates checking, enquiry, fact-finding, keeping watch, survey, correction,
prevention, inspiration, guidance, direction, diagnosis, and improvement.

1. Why supervision is a complex process?

The term “supervision” has been given different definitions, but from an educational
view, the definition implies supervision as a strategy that emphasizes on offering
professional support for the improvement of instruction. Supervision is a complex
process that involves working with teachers and other educators in a collegial,
collaborative relationship to enhance the quality of teaching and learning within the
schools and that promotes the career long development of teachers
(Beach&Reinhartz, 2000). Similarly, Glickman et al. (2004) shared the above idea as
supervision denotes a common vision of what teaching and learning can and should
be, developed collaboratively by formally designated supervisors, teachers, and other
members of the school community.

In schools there is often conflict between line and staff personnel; they compete for
respect and authority from teachers. Principals dislike the meddling of supervisors
in administrative concerns, and supervisors resent the interference of principals in
curricular and instructional matters. The source of the conflict is often not so much

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a result of self-interest or a clash in personal values as of basic differences in career
interests and the roles of the two kinds of personnel.'o
Supervisory staff is typically concerned with making decisions to improve instruction.
Their role is working with teacher colleagues in a supportive and helpful manner to
provide advice and counsel on educational issues. The administrative line, on the
other hand, is responsible for the smooth functioning of the organizational and
managerial apparatus. Supervisors are guided by their technical competence and
expertise in a specialized teaching area, while administrators are oriented more to
disciplined compliance flowing from the official hierarchy. The ultimate justification
for a supervisory action is the professional's technical knowledge; however, the
ultimate justification for an administrative action is its consistency with organizational
policy and approval from superiors. .
Administrators face the day-to-day problems of running a school. Most principals, for
example, spend much of their time facing routine problems and confronting minor
crises-thatis, engaging in organizational maintenance activities." It is one day at a
time for most principals. Supervisors, by contrast, have the duty of improving
teaching and learning in the classroom, a complex task that is planned and conceived
in terms of months and years. The time perspective of supervisory staff is clearly
long-term compared to the shortterm maintenance functions of line administrators.
The practical problems of managing a school are also often at odds with the
theoretical issues of improving instruction. Assumptions about the nature of learning
frequently conflict with the immediate problems of discipline in the classroom.
Parents want practical, concrete action to bring order into the classroom, not
speculation and more testing of educational theory. Administrators, not supervisors,
are confronted with parents' angry protests and ultimatums. Hence the nature of the
administrative role constrains most principals toward a pragmatic rather than a
theoretical orientation.

In addition, the supervisory role is oriented toward change; innovation is the

expectation. New ways to teach, to structure the classroom, to motivate students, to
set the stage for learning-all are concerns of supervisors. But innovation and change
are often accompanied by friction and tension, and the basic role of administrators is
to maintain a smoothly functioning organization. So while the administrator strives
for harmony, the supervisor is seeking change-actions that are not always in concert.

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Thus, it seems reasonable to expect a basic tension between the administrative line
and the supervisory staff. The conflict arises not from the personalities or
self-interests of the individuals but rather from differences in the orientations of
their positions. The supervisory role requires a professional orientation, a long-term
framework, a theoretical perspective, and a change orientation; the administrative
role demands a bureaucratic orientation, a short-term reference, a pragmatic
perspective, and a maintenance orientation.

2. When we say educational supervision is a branch of

educational management, what does it mean?

Supervision is directly responsible for such functions and thereby contributes

substantially to the production life of the organization. Therefore, the purpose of
supervision is constant across all types of organizations to provide the conditions and
promote the behavior necessary for the achievement of organizational goals.
Supervision is a dynamic process like education; its lands and domain work under
constant change. It expands under the impact of expectations and shifting emphases.

Supervisors are staff-master teachers. They are expected to provide advice and
support to colleagues, not to discipline them. The staff position has little formal
authority; authority is primarily informal and earned-arising from the supervisors'
expertise and personal skills. Teachers must have confidence in those to whom they
turn for help, and trust can more readily be built when status distinctions among
supervisors and teachers are limited. In fact, formal authority and status can be
dysfunctional for supervisors as they seek to establish colleague relationships. Such
status distinctions are likely to curtail authentic interactions and productive problem
solving because, they hinder social support and restrict and distort communication of
information.

School personnel remain one of the most significant resources in the school.
Supervision of the school personnel is central to the attainment of the goals and
objectives of the school. The National Policy on Education (NPE) has highlighted in

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precise terms the objectives of educational supervision, which is “:to ensure quality
control through regular inspection and continuous supervision of instructional and
other educational services” (1981).
There are various definitions of educational supervision. There is the need to state
some of them in order to bring out what educational supervision is, its nature and
purposes in education.
The Good’s Dictionary of education (1945) defined educational supervision as “all
efforts of designated school officials towards providing leadership to the teachers and
other educational workers in the improvement of instruction. It also involves the
stimulation of professional growth and development of teachers, a selection and
revision of educational objectives; materials of instruction, methods of teaching; and
the evaluation of instruction.
To Dodd (1968) and Ogunsanya (1985) Supervision is perceived as a way of advising,
guiding, refreshing, encouraging, stimulating, improving and over-seeing certain
groups with the hope of seeking their cooperation in order for the supervisiors to be
successful in their tasks of supervision

The essence of supervision is therefore the monitoring of the performance of school

staff, noting the merits and demerits and using befitting and amicable techniques to
ameliorate the flaws while still improving on the merits thereby increasing the
standard of schools and achieving educational goals. Thus, the concern of educational
supervision is the improvement in teaching and teaching environment in order to
promote effective teacher performance and learning in the school.
Supervision is thus a combination or integration of a number of processes, procedures
and conditions that are consciously designed with the sole aim of advancing the work
effectiveness of teachers and other personnel involved in the schooling process.
We should note that educational supervision focuses on changing the behaviour of
staff for an improved performance. In most cases, it is internally arranged by the
school head and at times assisted by other agencies and stakeholders. Supervision
pays more attention to personnel and instructional delivery more than the pupils in the
school. In other to enhance instruction, the role of the supervisors should be
supportive, assisting, explanative, encouraging, guiding, advisory, improving and
sharing rather directing.

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3. How supervision is connected with school improvement program?

School-based supervision focuses on teachers‟ professional growth to enhance the

instructional practice in schools and to bring about the desired change of learning
achievement for the students. In line with this, UNESCO (1999) indicated that school-
based supervisory practices are significant for individual teachers‟ professional
development, school improvement, and satisfaction of public demands. To this end,
school-based supervision should be well planned and organized to accommodate the
central interest of teachers, students and the society. School-based supervision thus
has much importance. According to the view of Goble and Porter (1977), school-
based supervision is vital for the continuous professional development of teachers and
the overall enhancement of quality education.
To make school-based supervision more effective, collaboration should be made with
various groups. As illustrated by the Ministry of Education (MoE, 1994), the school
principals, viceprincipals, department heads, and senior teachers should take major
responsibility in supervisory practices within their school. These responsible partners
involve themselves in the regular observation of teachers, and the organizing of short-
term training and experience sharing to maximize the professional competence of
teachers, and thus contribute for the quality of education.

The purpose of supervision is to work cooperatively with teachers to improve

instruction. The goal of the supervisor is not simply to help teachers solve immediate
problems but also to engage with teachers in the study of the processes of teaching
and learning. Clearly, improvement of instruction is a long-term, continuous process
that requires cooperation. In the final analysis, only teachers can improve classroom
instruction, and teachers need the freedom to develop their own unique teaching
styles. Any attempt to change teaching behaviors, however, requires social support as
well as
professional and intellectual stimulation. Therefore improvement of instruction is
most likely to be accomplished in a nonthreatening atmosphere, by working with
colleagues, not superiors, and by creating in teachers a sense of inquiry and
experimentation. Although supervision can be broadly conceived as any set of
activities planned to improve the teaching-learning process, it fundamentally involves

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a cycle of systematic planning, observation, diagnosis, change, and renewed planning.
We turn first to a description and critical analysis of clinical supervision-a
contemporary approach to the improvement of instruction that is consistent with many
of our assumptions about supervision.

A supervisor is an expert who supports teachers and other educational experts for the
improvement of teaching learning activities and also who motivates teachers for their
professional growth. Moreover, a supervisor is responsible to act as a coordinator and
expected to work intimately with teachers and school community for the school
improvement programme. Based on this, a supervisor monitors the curriculum
development, facilitates inservice training, and provides professional support for
teachers particularly on the basis of school improvement programme and quality
education (MoE, 2006).

4. How the modern supervision is different from the traditional

supervision?

Traditional methods of supervision have been defined as where a ‘supervisor or

appointed group leader is primarily held accountable for the activity and results of the
work unit’ (Cole & Stover, 1999). Or, alternatively, ‘work is organised to emphasise
the vertical relationship between the supervisor and each worker and to minimise co-
worker interaction’ (Batt, 1999).
Therefore an individual has the responsibility for delivery of all aspects of supervision
to the team.
Whilst traditional supervision lends itself to clear lines of communication, a lack of
employee involvement is apparent, and this may adversely impact on health and
safety performance. Organisations with a traditional type of supervision tend to rely
on safety representatives, rather than involving employees in health and safety issues,
adding to the overall lack of employee involvement. Traditional supervision also
lends itself to clear leadership and clear roles and responsibilities for employees.
Although lines of communication tend to be clear within an organisation employing a
traditional structure, communication between co-workers may be minimal. In

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addition, a lack of variation in roles within a traditional structure may mean that levels
of employee competence are limited.

.There are three types of supervision: administrative, clinical (also called educational
supervision) and supportive supervision.

Administrative Supervision
The most basic function of administrative supervision is to ensure that work is
performed. Most social workers receive administrative supervision at their agencies.
How do you know if you’re receiving administrative supervision? Your supervisor
talks with you about paperwork compliance, billing, administrative procedures for
changes in codes and categories. Administrative supervision is crucial in maintaining
agency functioning. Every time my supervisor talked about billing codes, she was
making sure that our agency would be reimbursed for services rendered. Without
proper attention to billing and compliance with the myriad of oversight agencies (and
funding sources), most social service agencies couldn’t survive audits or pay the bills.
Administrative supervision is not concerned about the quality of the services provided
– that is the function of clinical supervision.

Clinical (also known as educational supervision)

Clinical supervision is concerned with teaching the knowledge, skills, and attitudes
important to clinical tasks. Some social workers receive clinical supervision at their
agencies. How do you know if you’re receiving clinical supervision? You meet on a
regular basis with your supervisor to discuss client issues such as assessment,
diagnosis, treatment options, barriers to care, medication support, etc.

Clinical supervision, like the therapeutic relationship itself, starts with rapport
building, establishes a purpose for supervision, and determines when the relationship
will be over. Clinical supervisors can and should use all of the skills they have
developed as clinicians in a supervisory context.

Supervision looks different based on setting, clinician needs and supervisor

orientation. For example, if you are receiving supervision for work in the addictions

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field, it might be that your supervisor will ask you to identify which stage of change
your client is in. In contrast, if you are working in a child and family treatment
agency, your supervisor might ask you to identify your client’s developmental stage,
or the stage of the family life cycle.

Although there are different approaches to supervision, including formal case

presentation, technique-specific approaches, etc., some common clinical supervisory
questions include:

1. What is your role with the client?

2. What goals have you and your client established for treatment?
3. What challenges do you have with treatment right now?

Supportive Supervision

This type of supervision is typically not separate from administrative or clinical but
has the function of increasing job performance and decreasing burnout.

Supervision, whether administrative, clinical or supportive, has traditionally occurred

in person. Because of advances in technology, more and more people are using the
phone and Internet technologies like chat rooms and email to obtain supervision.
Regardless of the medium, supervision can occur individually or in groups. Each state
has different regulations about what counts towards supervision. In Pennsylvania,
social workers can receive no more than 50% of their supervision towards advanced
clinical licensure in a group setting.

Uses of supervision across the career

In this next section, I’m going to talk about how supervision can be used at three
different stages of a social work career – student, professional working towards
advanced clinical license, and finally independent practitioner. I will also reference

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relevant standards and guidelines developed by the National Association of Social
Workers (NASW) and the Counsel on Social Work Education (CSWE). For social
workers at all stages of their career, good supervision prevents burnout, improves the
quality of clinical care, and reduces liability.

The Council on Social Work Education’s 2004 Educational Policy and Accreditation

Standards (also known as EPAS) state that that supervision is essential to social work
practice. Graduates of either BSW or MSW programs are expected to demonstrate 12
abilities, one of which is the use of supervision and consultation (EPAS, 2001, 3.0, p.
7). Students are required to receive supervision in field placements (EPAS, 2.1.6, p.
13). Field supervision has an educational focus and is expected to accomplish a
number of goals. One goal is to ensure that students are providing ethical and
clinically appropriate services. Another goal is to help students to develop into
professionals. A third purpose is to help students understand how coursework is
translated into practice. In any give class students are provided with more information
than they can be expected to grasp, and certainly more than they are expected to
implement in the field. Good field supervision allows students to bounce ideas off of
supervisors that they learned about in class and to gain insight into how those ideas or
theories actually work in the “real world.”

Supervision is important after graduation as well. Supervision is also important for

obtaining advanced clinical licenses that are often required for third-party
reimbursement, whether that be federal insurance like Medicaid, medicare or SCHiP,
or private insurance like BC/BS. Before you enter a supervisory relationship towards
advanced clinical licensure, it is important to make sure that your supervisor has all of
the credentials necessary to sign off on your supervision. I know this sounds obvious,
but the rules and regulations for clinical supervision differ from state to state. Here’s a
recent example from New Jersey. An article in the January 11, 2008 edition of the
Asbury Park Press [article no longer available] reported that 5 social workers in New
Jersey were suing their employer, Meridian Health System, for misrepresenting their
supervisor’s credentials to provide their supervision towards advanced clinical
licensure. According to the article, in the State of New Jersey, clinical supervisors
must have an LCSW and have completed 20 continuing education credits of post-
graduate course work related to supervision. Here’s where it is important to be clear

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on your supervisor’s credentials. Although the plaintiff’s supervisor was an LCSW he
did not have the 20 CEU hours. So, what do you do if your agency supervisor does
not have the credentials? You seek outside supervision like I did at the crisis unit.
Because of social work’s unique focus on the person-in-environment, it is usually
preferred to have a social worker as your clinical supervisor. If, however, you are
unable to find a clinical social worker, some states allow approved psychologists and
licensed professional counselors to provide supervision.

Supervision is expected of social workers who have achieved their advanced clinical
license and are able to practice independently and receive third-party reimbursement.
The NASW Standards for Clinical Social Work stipulate that Clinical social workers
shall maintain access to professional supervision and/or consultation. Most social
workers work in settings that expect them to provide services to a wide variety of
clients with a wide variety of problems. The social work axiom of “starting where the
client is” sometimes means that social workers are presented with problems that are
outside of their area of expertise. Supervision and consultation becomes a way for
social workers to acquire additional knowledge and skills required to provide
excellent clinical care. Supervision helps social workers to recognize when they are
practicing beyond the scope of their expertise and need to refer to someone else. For
example, when I was working at a small private social service agency in Austin,
Texas I was assigned a woman whose husband of 50 years had recently died. Her
stated reason for seeking services was to deal with the overwhelming sadness she was
experiencing. Although I had experience working with grief and loss issues with
children, I had never worked with adult grief and loss. I spoke with the director of the
agency about my concerns. He provided administrative supervision and asked that I
complete the intake and then refer if necessary. According to the NASW guidelines, it
is appropriate for me to provide services to this client, as long as I let her know that I
do not have expertise in working with adults with grief and loss issues and as long as I
seek clinical supervision and consultation about all areas of treatment, including
assessment, diagnosis, course of treatment, best practices, issues of transference and
countertransference and termination and referral. By providing this information, the
client can consent to services knowing what I can and cannot do. This is called
“informed consent." After the intake assessment I met with my clinical supervisor
(who was different than my administrative supervisor) and it became clear to me that I

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would be unable to provide the type of clinical care that this woman deserved, so I
referred out. Through a combination of administrative and clinical consultation I was
able to provide the appropriate level of clinical care. Had I been in a situation where
there were no referral options, I would have needed to obtain intensive supervision
and outside education in order to provide services.

Supervision is important not only to ensure quality clinical care, but also as a way of
reducing liability. Social workers are increasingly the targets of malpractice lawsuits.
Although courts do not require social workers to be perfect, they do require social
workers to be professional. How do the courts know what professional services look
like? Well, they can look at the NASW standards for clinical practice and see if you
have been following them. They can also call in social workers who perform the same
kind of work as you and ask them to review your documentation to determine whether
or not you were providing a reasonable standard of care. That is, they want to know if
you were doing what any other reasonable social worker would have done in your
place. Documented supervision is a way of showing the courts that you were
following NASW guidelines and that your treatment decisions were reviewed by
others and modifications were made, if appropriate. In other words, documenting your
supervision is a way of making sure that you are providing a reasonable standard of
care.

Social workers who provide supervision are expected to uphold certain ethical
standards outlined in the NASW code of ethics. These can be found on the NASW
website at socialworkers.org. The four ethical responsibilities for supervision and
consultation are:

(a) Social workers who provide supervision or consultation should

have the necessary knowledge and skill to supervise or consult
appropriately and should do so only within their areas of knowledge
and competence.
(b) Social workers who provide supervision or consultation are
responsible for setting clear, appropriate, and culturally sensitive
boundaries.
(c) Social workers should not engage in any dual or multiple

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 relationships with supervisees in which there is a risk of exploitation of
or potential harm to the supervisee.
(d) Social workers who provide supervision should evaluate
supervisees' performance in a manner that is fair and respectful.
(NASW, 1999).

Summary and Conclusion

Supervision is relationship between a supervisor and supervisee. Social workers

typically receive both administrative and clinical supervision. According to the
standards set by the Counsel on Social work Education and the National Association
of Social workers, social workers are required to receive supervision during their
social work program and for five years after graduation. For ethical, clinical and
liability reasons, ongoing clinical supervision and consultation is strongly
recommended for social workers with advanced clinical licenses. Supervision can be
face to face, over the phone or even over email and can occur individually or in a
group setting. For social workers who find themselves working with a problem area or
population for which they have little training, or for social workers who are in
agencies or geographic locations where clinical supervision is not available, phone
and email supervision are important alternatives to traditional face to face supervision.
Because the issue of phone and web-based social work services is increasingly
important, the next few podcast will address phone supervision, both from the
supervisors’ and supervisees point of view.

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 References

 Coleman, M. (2003, June). Supervision and the clinical social worker. Clinical

Social Work: Practice Update, 3(4).Retrieved on January 11, 2008
at http://www.socialworkers.org/practice/clinical/csw0703b.pdf

 Counsel on Social Work Education. (2001). Educational Policies and

Accreditation Standards. Retrieved online January 11, 2008
at http://www.cswe.org/NR/rdonlyres/111833A0-C4F5-475C-8FEB-
EA740FF4D9F1/0/EPAS.pdf
 National Association of Social Workers. (1999). 3.01 Supervision and
Consultation. NASW Code of Ethics. Washington, D.C.: Author. Retrieved online
January 11, 2008 at http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/code.asp.
 NASW standards for clinical social work in social work practice. Washington,
D.C.: Author. Retrieved online January 11, 2008
at http://www.socialworkers.org/practice/standards/NASWClinicalSWStandards.pdf
 Stofle, G. S., & Hamilton, S. (1998). Online Supervision for Social Workers.
The New Social Worker, 5(4).Retrieved online January 11, 2008
at http://www.socialworker.com/onlinesu.htm.
 Webster, C. (2008, January 11). Social workers sue over supervisor's
credentials: Claim boss didn't have necessary credits. Asbury Park Press.Retreived
online January 11, 2007
at http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080111/NEWS01/801110413/1
004/NEWS01APA (7th ed) citation for this podcast:

Singer, J. B. (Host). (2008, January 14). Supervision for social workers [Episode
30]. Social Work Podcast. http://socialworkpodcast.com/2008/01/supervision-for-
social-workers.html
Owoeye, J. S. (2002). Educational supervision in primary and secondary schools.
Ibadan. Longman Publishers.

McGoldrick, D.A. (1994). First-Line Supervisors in the Offshore Oil Industry. Papers
Society of Petroleum Engineers of Aim Health Safety & Environment in Oil & Gas
Exploration & Production 1994, 2, 665-674.

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