Teacher supervision practices and principals' characteristics

Abstract

A questionnaire was used to determine the individual and collective teacher supervision practices of school principals and vice-principals in Québec (n = 39) who participated in a research-action study on pedagogical supervision. These practices were then analyzed in terms of the principals' sociodemographic and socioprofessional characteristics and certain aspects of their schools. Results show that the principals favoured individual over collective supervision and tended to forego preliminary meetings. Furthermore, principals in "disadvantaged" areas were more inclined to provide the necessary training and supervision to help their teachers make informed decisions. Recommendations for more effective teacher supervision are proposed for principals to ultimately improve student achievement.