The role of instructional supervisors in teachers’ professional development, as perceived by teachers and instructional supervisors in the Kasena Nankana West District of upper East region, Ghana

Abstract

The importance of the role of instructional supervisors in every education system in general, and in teachers’ instructional practices in particular, cannot be overemphasised. As the staff that have direct contact with the learners, teachers can benefit in diverse ways from the role of instructional supervisors. Some of these benefits include specific contributions that instructional supervisors make to ensure that teachers experience professional development. Against this background, the study looked into the specific role that supervisors in the Kassena Nankana West District (KNWD), Ghana, play to ensure teachers’ Professional Development (PD), possible challenges supervisors face and solutions to deal with the challenges. The literature indicated that in Ghana instructional supervisors contributed to teachers’ PD through delegation, encouragement, guidance, monitoring, INSETs, and promotional supervision. These findings were compared to a few studies from two Africa countries – Nigeria and Ethiopia. It was revealed that some supervisors in these countries guide teachers in implementing new curricula apart from offering general professional guidance to teachers. This suggests there are similarities in supervision among Ghana and those two countries, even though the studies that were reviewed were few. The literature review was done on equally few studies outside Africa, which showed a certain trend regarding the role of supervisors that promote teachers’ PD. In Lebanon, it was found the supervisors were instructional and curriculum specialists as well as PD managers, basically guiding teachers in their instructional practices that ensure PD, whereas in the USA it was revealed supervisors were instructional leaders, collaborating with teachers in educational practices in general and in PD activities in particular. In all these countries, what was common in the instructional supervisors' role was that they guide teachers in instructional and professional practices to ensure the te