The Effectiveness of Instructional Supervision in School Performance in Government Primary Schools of Buno Bedelle Zone

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of Instructional Supervision in School Performance in Government Primary Schools of Buno Bedelle Zone. To conduct the study, a descriptive survey design was employed and qualitative methodology was used to enrich data. The study was carried out in 25 selected primary schools of Buno bedele Zone using simple random sampling techniques. From these schools, 274 randomly selected teachers and 42 school leaders were used for questionnaires. 6 cluster supervisors and three school principals were selected for interview. The questionnaire was the main data gathering instrument for this study. The quantitative data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics (mean scores, frequency and standard deviation) and inferential statists. A correlation test was done between the effectiveness of instructional supervision and students’ academic performance in the schools under study. Interview and document analysis were also used to substantiate the data gathered through questionnaires. The result showed that instructional supervision in primary schools of Buno Bedele Zone was poor. School leaders were found to refrain from visiting classrooms for lesson observation and rarely provided in-service training for teachers. The instructional supervision and school performance in the primary schools of Buno Bedele Zone was also found to be having a strong positive correlation (r = .935, N =290). Furthermore, as the findings of the study indicated, factors affecting the implementation of instructional supervision and school performance were: teachers’ wrong perception and resistance toward supervision, lack of relevant training programs for supervisors, scarcity of experienced supervisors in school-based supervision activities, lack of supervision manuals and guidelines in the schools, shortage of budget, lack of time due to work load of supervisors and less community participation. The conclusion which revealed that the school performance becomes low as supervision activities were not implemented according to their plan and the supervision practice encountered with many challenges. It is recommended that school principals and supervisors have to provide different supervisory options and approaches to teachers; supervisors should aware teachers about significance of supervision and apply all procedures of classroom observation