The Ministry of Education currently promotes clinical supervision, why is this model not adopted? Clinical supervision is attached to a process or technology and a philosophy.
The technology or process in CS is very clear- Essentially, it is a three part process-planning, observation and feedback. This may be used for developmental or evaluative supervision.
The philosophy of both purposes (development and evaluation) is less clear and not necessarily compatible.
Developmental supervision requires the philosophy of a helping relationship and a reduction of the gap between supervisor and client. It is hindered within defensive hierarchical organizational cultures common in schools of Trinidad and Tobago.
Read chapter on supervision, coaching and mentoring
Theories related to mentoring and coaching encourage the facilitative helping relationships needed for personal and professional growth.
Mentoring may be defined as a caring and supportive interpersonal relationship between an experienced, more knowledgeable practitioner (mentor) and a less experienced, less knowledgeable individual (prote´ge´ or mentee) in which the prote´ge´ receives career-related and personal benefits.
Coaching is the most facilitative approach when compared to mentoring and traditional supervision and works well with peers and high quality leaders.
Carl Rogers ideas are the foundation of person-centered supervision.
Noreen Garman (1982) clarified and expanded upon the construct of clinical supervision developed earlier by Cogan and Goldhammer.
In the early model, it was argued that teachers follow cognitive maps when they are teaching, but are only partially conscious of those maps, and that the aim of cognitive coaching is to help them become fully conscious of, analyze, and further develop their maps.
They identified four “stages of instructional thought,” including preactive, interactive, reflective, and projective stages. Four supervisory objectives, auditing, monitoring, validating, and consulting, parallel the four stages of instructional thought. In later theory they define a holonomous person - a self-directed individual who functions well both individually and as a member of a group.
Carl Glickman’s (1981) model of developmental supervision was based on the premise that teachers function at different levels of adult and professional development, and thus should be matched with different supervisory approaches.
He recommended the directive approach for “teacher dropouts,” different versions of the collaborative approach for “unfocused workers” and “analytical observers,” and the nondirective approach for “true professionals.”
The current theory expands and explores the alignment of supervisory approach with the supervisee.
Glickman supported several four different approaches (Pajak & Glickman, 1989).
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