Issues and Challenges Facing Supervision of Secondary Education in Nigeria in the 21st Century

Abstract

Supervision of secondary education in the 21st century has raised deep concern among relevant stakeholders in educational industry as decline in the quality of education in the nation’s school system could be attributed to ineffective supervision. Thus, the paper examined issues and challenges associated with supervision of secondary education in the 21st century. The concept of supervision was examined taking into cognizance the basic principles, types, purpose and supervision process consecutively. Specifically, various models such as integrative model, discrimination model and systems approach model of supervision were used to justify the importance of supervision. Issues and challenges facing the supervision of secondary education in Nigeria in the 21st century were equally overviewed meticulously. Also, measures for effective supervision in Nigerian secondary schools were elucidated consecutively. In view of the theoretical approach employed to explain the challenges of supervision in Nigerian secondary schools, it was concluded that for efficiency and effectiveness to be accomplished in Nigerian secondary schools, synergy must be established between the internal and external mechanisms in educational context. It was recommended among others that educational supervision should be redefined and earnestly undertaken either by appointed supervisors from the ministry of education or school based supervisors, professional accountability, values and standard required of teachers and educational supervisors should be appropriately recognized, well-defined, practiced and sustained, timely appraisal of supervisors’ reports should be effectively addressed to ensure effective learning and promote students’ cognitive growth.