Supervisory Practices of Private Senior High Schools in the Awutu Senya East Municipality

Abstract

This study was conducted in the Awutu Senya East Municipality in the Central Region of Ghana with the aim of finding out the supervisory practices of private senior high schools in the Municipality. The study made use of primary data collected from 121 sample respondents consisting of municipal private school coordinator, head teachers, teachers and students. In finding the type of supervision being carried out in the Awutu Senya Municipality, questionnaires and semi- structured interview guides were the instruments used. The interview responses were transcribed and analysed thematically. Findings revealed that most supervisors of Private Senior High schools in the Awutu Senya East municipality undertake brief visits. Instructional supervision was carried out on daily, weekly and monthly basis. The critical problems confronting supervision in the municipality are supervisors‟ lack of confidence, lack of adequate resources for supervision, poor communication skills and low knowledge on supervisory practices on the part of supervisors and workload on the part of headmasters is a major setback to internal instructional supervision. From the findings of the studies, it can be concluded that the major problem affecting supervisory practices in private senior high schools in the Awutu Senya East municipality is inadequate supervision resources. In view of the findings, it is recommended that teachers should change their perception towards supervision by not seeing it as fault finding mission, feedback after supervision should be immediate, that supervisors should be motivated to work harder, supervision resources should be provided to supervisors on timely basis and also supervisors should desist from intimidating teachers during supervision. Besides, the study recommends that supervision in private senior high schools should be restructured to embrace new trends of supervision which emphasises teacher growth rather than teacher defects.