Influence of school improvement support officers’ instructional supervisory practices on Junior High School teachers’ professional development in Breman Asikuma

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of school improvement support officers’ supervisory practices on junior high school teachers’ professional development in Breman Asikuma. The study employed a qualitative approach. The design adopted for the study was the case study design. The targeted population was all teachers and School Improvement Support Officers (SISOs) in Breman Asikuma. Simple random sampling technique was used to select five public junior high schools. The maximum variation (heterogeneous) type of purposive sampling technique was used to select five SISOs and convenience sampling was also employed to sample 10 public junior high school teachers for the study. Semi-structured interview was used to collect data. Data collected was analysed thematically. The findings of the study revealed that SISOs often go round the schools to check records and lesson notebooks, books for students, and other materials. The study rather found that SISOs did not follow any particular instructional supervisory practices during supervision. Again, provision of teaching/learning materials, organizing for in-service courses, meeting and discussing observed lessons with teachers as well as orientating teachers to new and suitable teaching methods influences teachers’ professional development. It is recommended that supervision of instruction by SISOs should be scheduled, well-planned and frequently executed such that they will find time to hold a pre-observation conference with every teacher they supervise.