Preparing Instructional Supervisors for Educational Change: Empirical Evidence From the Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

This article reports on findings from a larger research project examining instructional supervision in the Sultanate of Oman. It sought to explore how teacher supervisors perceived their preparation for the current education reforms. To realize this objective, the study adopted a qualitative research design. Data were collected using semistructured interviews with a sample of teacher supervisors in the Muscat Educational Supervision Directorate. The findings indicate that the supervisors considered their preparation to be inappropriate, reasoning that most of the training programs provided were short theoretical conferences or lectures with no or a few opportunities for practice. The supervisors expressed their need for more adequate and sufficient training to enable them to undertake their new supervisory roles.