Primary school teachers’ perceptions of instructional supervision by primary education advisors: a case study of three primary schools in Mponda education zone, Zomba

Abstract

The quality of primary education in Malawi has been on the decline for a number of years. Unfortunately, instructional supervision which safeguards quality in education has been described as being weak and responsible for the deterioration in the quality of primary education hence the need for a solution to make the instructional supervision to be effective and vibrant. In order for instructional supervision to be effective, teachers’ perceptions on instruction should be taken into account. This would be useful to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology officials who would make reforms so that instructional supervision meets teachers’ expectations. Eventually, quality of education would improve as teachers would easily accept P.E.A.s recommendations and implement them. Therefore, it was imperative to embark on this study which aimed at investigating teachers’ perceptions on the effectiveness of instructional supervision carried out by P.E.As. The study involved fifteen teachers drawn from three public primary schools in Zomba urban. The research addressed questions pertaining to the teachers understanding of supervision, the conduct of supervision by P.E.As, impact of instructional supervision on teachers’ professional lives and reforms that can be made to current instructional supervision. Being a qualitative research, the researcher utilised individual interviews, document analysis and observation as instruments for data collection. Data analysis has revealed that teachers appreciate the existence of instructional supervision by P.E.As but would like some alterations to be made to the process. Amongst the various reforms that ought to be undertaken is: linkage of instructional supervision with promotion opportunities; consistency in the receipt of supervision forms and a reduction in the number of records prepared and updated by teachers.