The Paradigm for Effective School Supervision in Secondary Schools in Nigeria

Abstract

The role of instructional supervision is to bring about teaching effectiveness from which students can benefit. The continued poor performance of secondary school students in Nigeria, as exemplified in the dismal school certificate results, complaints in local and national newspapers as well as electronic media, questions the effectiveness of teachers in the teaching – learning process. The paper investigated various parameters of instructional supervision in making the teaching – learning process more efficient. The sample consisted of 123 principals and 1511 teachers. An instrument captioned: Instructional Supervision Assessment Questionnaire (ISAQ) was used for data collection. After a survey of the respondents the Z – test statistical analysis method was used in testing the five hypotheses proposed to guide the study. The results revealed a strong relationship between adequate funding and adequate school facilities. Other parameters tested, i.e., adequate professional competence, adequate planning and motivation for supervisors, failed to show a significant relationship with effective instructional supervision in schools. However, the results of three out of the five hypotheses proposed tended to deviate from the normal general opinion hence the study recommends a further investigation. It is also recommended that educational managers in Nigeria should provide the necessary funds and facilities to enhance effective instructional supervision in schools.