The purpose of this study was to investigate what elementary school teachers think about a rapidly spreading method of school supervision, the school-based instructional consulting, and to provide some insights for the betterment of its practical impl...
The purpose of this study was to investigate what elementary school teachers think about a rapidly spreading method of school supervision, the school-based instructional consulting, and to provide some insights for the betterment of its practical implementation. Three main research questions were raised to pursue: How do teachers estimate the present practice of instructional consulting in use? What do they think are the major obstacles to for the utilization of instructional consulting? And what do they suggest for the improvement of the practice? To answer these questions, a questionnaire of 21 items was designed and 200 copies were distributed to a group of teachers randomly selected from the schools of Geyongsan, Gumi, Cheongdo, and Chilgok areas in Gyeongbuk province, Korea. Collected 187 copies were analysed and interpreted with the use of SPSS program. The result is as following
First, in the aspect of use, teachers were well aware of the principles and procedures of the new method, and highly cognizant of its differences from other existing supervision methods. This means that many teachers had already sufficient access to the new method and the new method is well received in schools. However, their opportunity for access to the new method seemed to be involuntarily given by school-led plan rather than voluntary individual choice.
Second, as for the big obstacles to the utilization of new method, psychological stress for opening the class to other teachers, lack of time due to the burden of extra work, and lack of professional consultants were counted as most prominent sources. The level of stress for opening the class seemed to be stronger in teachers of longer teaching career. Thus, there needs to be built a more amicable atmosphere among colleague teachers so that they may freely consult each other for their instructional help.
Third, as for the betterment and utilization of the new method, teachers counted the securing of able consultants well equipped with professionality as the most urgent issue. And as their consultants, teachers far more preferred their colleague teachers to assistant principals or principals, expecting that colleague teachers can provide quality-level advices and helps for instruction, with ample experiences and skills for class analysis and consulting. Furthermore, as colleagues, they can make free from the burden of being evaluated by senior supervisors, and also they can maintain the principle of independence in their school life. Thus, there needs to be a governmental support for rearing and securing a sufficient number of consultants with good qualifications.