PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES OF INISTRUCTIONAL SUPERVISION IN PREPARATORY SCHOOLS OF EAST HARARGHE ZONE, OROMIA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the experience of Practices and Challenges of Instructional Supervision in Preparatory Schools of East Hararghe Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia namely:G ursum, Babile, Kersa, Kombolcha, Chelanko , Dadar Kurfaa Calle and Gurawa preparatory schools. The study examined the actual experience, effectiveness Practices and Challenges of Instructional Supervision in Preparatory Schools of East Hararghe Zone. The research design employed in the study was both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Accordingly, a questionnaire was prepared to be filled by teachers, school based supervisor s (principals, vice principals, and supervisors), and department heads. For the qualitative portion, interviews were conducted. Regarding the questionnaires, distributed to sample size of 74 teachers ,24 school based supervisors (principals, vice principals and supervisors) and 32 department heads. Out of 136 distributed questionnaires 130 were returned, producing an overall 95.5 %return rate. Data obtained through questionnaires were analyzed using statistical too issue as mean, standard deviation, frequency and one- w a y ANOVA. The results of the study indicated that teachers lack awareness and orientation on the activities and significance of school-based supervision, ineffectiveness of the practices of supervisory options matching with the individual teacher’s developmental level, and inability of supervisors to apply the necessary procedures for classroom observation properly. On the other hand, among the factors that influence the effectiveness of school-based supervision were lack of relevant training programs for supervisors, scarcity of experienced supervisors in school-based supervision activities, lack of supervision manuals in the schools and shortage of allocated budget for supervisory activities. Finally, to minimize the problems of school-based supervision in preparatory schools, it is recommended to give relevant in-service trainings for supervisors to upgrade their supervisory activities, necessary resources such as supervision manuals and an adequate budget for the success of supervision at the school level was suggested.