Practices and Challenges of Instructional Supervision in Government Secodary Schools of Wolaita Zone

The purpose of this study was to assess practices and challenges of instructional supervision in government secondary schools of Wolaita Zone. Three research questions were formulated. They are aimed at determining the extent to what instructional supervisors give professional support to teachers; to what extent are instructional supervisors effective in supervisory tasks and finding out the main challenges that existed in the implementation of instructional supervision. Descriptive survey design and mixed methods were employed. Five woredas and six secondary schools were selected by simple random sampling technique. Five woreda education office supervision coordinators, five assigned supervisors, 15 principals were selected by purposeful sampling technique. Eighty five teachers were selected by simple random selection method. Instruments of data collection were developed by the researcher and pilot-tested by using Cronbach’s Alpha. Quantitative data were gathered through questionnaire. Qualitative data were gathered through interview. Data were analyzed in quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were filled into SPSS version 20. Frequency, percent and mean were used to analyze quantitative data. Qualitative data were analyzed by narration. The findings of the study indicated that instructional supervisors didn’t give regular and adequate support to teachers in professional and curriculum development. They didn’t give training to teachers either in pedagogical issues or in importance of instructional supervision. Instead of spending more support time in academic tasks, they spend their time doing administrative tasks. On the other hand, instructional supervisors faced different challenges that influenced effective implementation of supervision. These were: problem in selecting and assigning right persons as instructional supervisor, lack of supervision manuals, lack of adequate budget, facilities and materials, resistance of teachers to supervision due to lack of awareness for teachers in importance of supervision, excessive workloads of principals and lack of right training for supervisors. Based on the findings, it was recommended that supervisors need to give regular and adequate support to teachers on professional and curriculum development and it is better to focus on academic tasks by delegating administrative tasks to other personnel. Woreda education office is suggested to select and assign right persons as instructional supervisors. Regional education bureau, zone education department and woreda education office are suggested to fulfill supervision manuals for instructional supervisors. Keywords: Instruction; Supervision; Secondary School and Zone DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-13-05 Publication date:May 31st 201