Psychological Theory of Supervision Explored in Education
Psychological Theory of Supervision Explored in Education
Within an organization there’s a body of people where at least one person stands out as the leader or the one who supervises the rest of the body. Usually someone has appointed this person. I believe in order for one to have a purposeful organization, someone within should oversee the transitional processes of that organization. The supervisor is the overseer in most organizations and many times delegate duties to others within the organization. Analyzing the educational arena, supervisors seek to improve schools, classroom instruction, and the growth of the organizational body by using one of the three philosophies: essentialism, experimentalism, and existentialism. These three philosophies determine the manner in which the supervisor will direct the body of the organization.
A supervisor who possesses the essentialist philosophy is one who does it in an authoritative manner. Still holding on to his or her goals of improving the school, classroom instruction and the growth of the organizational body, there’s little room for collaboration from the body of the organization. This type of philosophy places the supervisor as the person who teaches truths about the absolute standards. Educationally, the teachers mechanically and systematically feed content to the students. While I believe that there’s a time for essentialism or direct-control, I believe it limits teacher and student growth. As a supervisor it is important for the body of the organization to continue to grow and possess a sense involvement.
Supervisors can also supervise using an experimentalist approach. When a supervisor use this type approach he or she continues to hold on to his or her goals of school improvement, classroom instruction, and organizational growth, however it is done by allowing the involvement of the organizational body (teachers). Supervision becomes developmental because it encourages the involvement, and collective action of others. The supervisor believes that teachers need to learn what are the truths of their time, but they should not rest content with that parcel of knowledge. The supervisor, which utilizes the experimentalist approach, allows teacher to test old ideas and try new ideas. This allows teacher and student growth, while at the same time improves classroom instruction.
The third approach to supervision is the existentialistic. Within this approach, the supervisor continues to hold on to his or her goals, but the accomplishments of the goals are clearly achieved by the supervisor’s facilitation of the teacher. Using this approach allows the...