SUPEReXCELS

MODULE 12

Provide
Clinical Supervision

First Edition

Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization

Regional Center for Educational Innovation and Technology
First Edition

SEAMEO INNOTECH
Copyright © by SEAMEO INNOTECH
All rights reserved. Published 2010
Printed in the Philippines

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Contents
What Is This Module About? ................................................................................... 1
What Will You Learn? .............................................................................................. 2
Flow of Instruction .................................................................................................... 4
What Do You Already Know? ................................................................................. 5
How Do You Rate Yourself? .................................................................................... 9
Feedback .................................................................................................................. 10

Lesson 1: The Clinical System of Supervision: Assumptions and

Challenges .............................................................................................. 11

What Is This Lesson About? ............................................................................... 11

What Will You Learn? ......................................................................................... 12
Let’s Study .......................................................................................................... 12
Let’s Try This (Activity 1.1) ............................................................................... 14
Feedback .............................................................................................................. 15
Let’s Try This (Activity 1.2) ................................................................................. 16
Feedback .............................................................................................................. 17
Let’s Think About This ...................................................................................... 18
Let’s Read: What Is Supervision? ...................................................................... 18
Let’s Think About This: General Supervision .................................................. 20
Let’s Try This (Activity 1.3) ................................................................................ 21
Let’s Read: What is Clinical Supervision? ......................................................... 22
Let’s Try This (Activity 1.4) ................................................................................. 23
Feedback ............................................................................................................. 24
Let’s Read: The Assumptions of Clinical Supervision ..................................... 24
Let’s Try This (Activity 1.5) ................................................................................ 28
Feedback: Levels of Responsibility in Clinical Supervision ............................. 28
Let’s Think About This ...................................................................................... 29
Feedback ............................................................................................................. 31
Let’s Read: The Advantages of Clinical Supervision ....................................... 32
Let’s Think About This ...................................................................................... 33
Let’s Read: The Disadvantages of Clinical Supervision .................................. 33
Let’s Think About This ...................................................................................... 35
Let’s Read: Overcoming the Disadvantages of Clinical Supervision .............. 36
Let’s Think About This ...................................................................................... 37
Let’s Remember .................................................................................................. 38
How Much Have You Learned From This Lesson? .......................................... 41
Feedback ............................................................................................................. 42

Lesson 2: Implementing Clinical Supervision in Your School ................................. 43

What Is This Lesson About? ............................................................................... 43

What Will You Learn? ........................................................................................ 43
Let’s Study ........................................................................................................... 44
Let’s Try This (Activity 2.1)................................................................................. 46
Let’s Read: The Goals of Clinical Supervision .................................................. 47
Let’s Try This (Activity 2.2)................................................................................. 48
 Feedback .............................................................................................................. 48
Let’s Try This (Activity 2.3) Steps in Clinical Supervision ............................... 49
Let’s Think About This ....................................................................................... 50
Let’s Read: The Clinical Supervision Cycle ....................................................... 51
Let’s Study: Step 1: The Pre-Observation Conference ........................................ 51
Let’s Think About This ....................................................................................... 53
Let’s Study: Step 2: The Observation Stage ........................................................ 54
Let’s Try This (Activity 2.4) ................................................................................. 55
Let’s Read: Guidelines for the Observation Stage ............................................... 56
Let’s Try This (Activity 2.5) ................................................................................. 57
Feedback .............................................................................................................. 58
Let’s Think About This: Issues for the School Head to Handle ........................ 59
Let’s Read: Observation Techniques .................................................................. 60
Let’s Try This (Activity 2.6) ................................................................................. 61
Feedback .............................................................................................................. 62
Let’s Read: Step 3: Analysis and Strategy .......................................................... 62
Let’s Try This (Activity 2.7) ................................................................................. 65
Feedback ............................................................................................................... 67
Let’s Study: Step 4: Post-Observation Conference .............................................. 67
Let’s Try This (Activity 2.8) .................................................................................. 68
Let’s Read: The Steps of the Post-Observation Conference ............................... 69
Let’s Think About This ....................................................................................... 71
Let’s Study: Step 5: Post-Conference Analysis ................................................... 71
Let’s Try This (Activity 2.9) .................................................................................. 73
Feedback .............................................................................................................. 74
Let’s Study: The Post-Conference Analysis ....................................................... 75
Let’s Try This (Activity 2.10): Analyzing Conference Verbal Interaction ......... 78
Feedback .............................................................................................................. 80
Let’s Study: Implementing Clinical Supervision
in Your School ........................................................................................... 81
Let’s Remember ................................................................................................... 82
Let’s Think About This ....................................................................................... 84
How Much Have You Learned From This Lesson? .......................................... 85
Let’s Sum Up ....................................................................................................... 87
How Much Have You Learned From This Module? ......................................... 87
Feedback .............................................................................................................. 94

How Do You Rate Yourself Now? ......................................................................... 95

Let’s Apply What You’ve Learned (Module Assignment) ................................... 96
Key to Correction . .................................................................................................. 97
Suggested Readings and Websites ....................................................................... 117
Glossary ................................................................................................................. 118
References .............................................................................................................. 120
What Is This Module About?
In your teacher training school, who helped you hone your skills as a
teacher? Besides your instructors in various subjects, who else played a
significant role in helping you acquire the skills you need to function well
in a classroom? If your answer is your student teaching supervisor, you
are correct. Supervisors play an important role in developing the skills of
young teachers. Studies have shown that one of the determining factors
in the success of teachers is the type and quality of supervision they receive.
Supervision is needed not only during their training as student teachers
but also in their actual workplace - the school.

The relationship between the teacher and the school head/supervisor,

however, could be strained by the approach used in providing supervision.
The supervision process may not be well-planned. It may not be the
appropriate approach to meet the needs of the beginning teacher. Also,
the school head may not be adequately skilled to be an effective supervisor.
In most school settings, school heads serve as administrators, finance
officers, negotiators, counselors, and even teachers. However, one of the
important roles you – the school head - play is that of supervisor of
teachers. Have you ever provided supervision before? Did you feel you
were successful in that endeavor?

There is an intensive approach to supervision that requires a high level

of involvement from both the teacher and the supervisor. Designed
primarily for supervising beginning teachers, this supervisory approach
empowers teachers to achieve their educational goals. Do you know
what type of supervisory appr oach this is? In th e previous
SUPEReXCELS module, Provide Developmental Supervision, you were
introduced to different choices or approaches in providing supervision.
Can you recall the type of supervision that requires the highest
involvement from both the supervisor and the one being supervised?
If your answer is clinical supervision, that’s right!

This module will help you know more about clinical supervision. You
will learn the basics of a supervision technique that focuses on the
involvement of the school head in the improvement of the teacher’s
instructional skills. Clinical supervision is a type of supervision that
encourages active, hands-on involvement of the school head in examining

Provide Clinical Supervision 1

 instructional activities within the classroom. This highly school head -
involved approach provides rich opportunities for improving teaching
and, consequently, student learning.

Prior to learning more about clinical supervision, you should already be

familiar with the concept of supervision itself. It is, therefore, very
important for you to have already completed the SUPEReXCELS module
Provide Developmental Supervision before proceeding to this one. By
doing so, you would already be familiar with some of the principles and
processes of supervision and the variations in each supervisory approach.

Do you want to know more about an intensive style of supervision in

which cooperation between the supervisor and the teacher is optimized?
If your answer is yes, then, this module on clinical supervision is for you!

What Will You Learn?

At the end of this module, you are expected to be able to plan and
implement a clinical supervision program in your school. Specifically, at
the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Define supervision and clinical supervision.

• State the underlying assumptions of clinical supervision.

• Explain t he advantages and disadvantages of clinical

supervision.

• Discuss the five steps in the clinical supervision approach.

• Apply clinical supervision to your school.

2 Provide Clinical Supervision

This module has two lessons that will guide you through the process of
providing clinical supervision in your school. The lessons are:

Lesson 1

The Clinical System of Supervision: Assumptions and Challenges

presents assumptions and challenges that will familiarize you with
the concept of clinical supervision. You will learn the underlying
assumptions of clinical supervision and the supervisory requirements
for its successful implementation.

Lesson 2

Implementing Clinical Supervision in Your School discusses in detail

the five stages of the clinical supervision model. It provides guidelines
on how to implement clinical supervision in your school.

Each lesson can be completed in about 90 minutes. The whole module

could be completed in about five hours if you really sit down and work
on it. It may take about two to three days if you are to work on only one
lesson per day. Each lesson has activities for you to work on to improve
your knowledge and skills in clinical supervision. These will help you
gauge your progress throughout the course. Make sure you work diligently
on these tests and activities to find out how well you would have learned.

Provide Clinical Supervision 3

 Flow of Instruction
Lesson Focus Topics
1. The Clinical •Defines clinical • What is supervision?
System of supervision as an • What is clinical
Supervision: approach to supervision?
Assumptions instructional
and Challenges supervision. • The assumptions behind
clinical supervision
• Establishes the need
for clinical • Advantages and
supervision among disadvantages of clinical
teachers. supervision
• Discusses the
underlying
assumptions of
clinical supervision.
• Presents the
advantages and
disadvantages of
clinical supervision.

2. Implementing • Presents the • The clinical supervision

Clinical details of the five cycle
Supervision in steps in • The pre-observation
Your School implementing conference
clinical
supervision in a • The observation stage
school setting. • Problems during the
• Shows an observation stage
example of notes • Cause-and-effect
made during the situation table
observation stage. • The analysis and
• Presents a tool for strategy stage
organizing • The steps of the post-
observation data. observation conference
• Presents a tool for • The post-conference
analysis of analysis
observation data.
• Implementing clinical
supervision in your school

4 Provide Clinical Supervision

What Do You Already Know?
To find out how much you already know about clinical supervision and
its related concepts, answer the following questions:

A. Define clinical supervision.

B. Differentiate general supervision, instructional supervision, and clinical

supervision.

C. Indicate the proper order of the steps in the clinical supervision cycle
by filling in the boxes below in chronological order. The choices are
given below.

Pre-Observation Conference Post-Observation Conference

Analysis and Strategy Observation
Post-Conference Analysis

Provide Clinical Supervision 5

 D. Note that clinical supervision is presented as a cycle. Explain why this
is so.

E. On the lines before the different clinical supervision activities, write

the letter of the corresponding clinical supervision step.

Steps in Clinical Supervision:

a. Pre-Observation Conference

b. Observation

c. Analysis and Strategy

d. Post-Observation Conference

e. Post-Conference Analysis

Clinical supervision activities:

______ 1. The supervisor and the teacher set the purpose and focus
of the classroom observation together.

______ 2. The supervisor discusses with the teacher observation data

gathered from the classroom.

______ 3. The supervisor carefully categorizes and studies observation

data and prepares to present them to the teacher.

______ 4. The supervisor analyzes the success of supervisory activities

he/she conducts.

______ 5. The supervisor writes descriptions of the ongoing

activities and behaviors of the teacher and the students.

______ 6. The supervisor organizes data gathered during the observation.

______ 7. The supervisor audio/video records or scripts a meeting with

the teacher after the class observation.

6 Provide Clinical Supervision

 ______ 8. The supervisor informs the teacher that his/her ideas to
improve classroom instruction practices observed are worth
a try.

______ 9. The supervisor and the teacher conclude that some of the
techniques the teacher used were not effective so they
discuss ways to modify them.

______ 10. The supervisor commends a positive teaching behavior.

______ 11. The supervisor quietly motions the teacher to the back of
the classroom to call the teacher’s attention to an unplanned
and inappropriate teaching strategy being used.

______ 12. The supervisor cites some research findings in justifying

an observation and the observation tool to be used.

______ 13. The supervisor and the teacher agree on a schedule for the
post-observation meeting.

______ 14. The supervisor reviews the script/audio/video-recording

of the post-observation conference with the teacher.

______ 15. The supervisor discusses the purpose of the observation

with the teacher, how the supervisor will be introduced to
the students, and where he/she will be seated.

F. Give some advantages and disadvantages of providing clinical

supervision to teachers.

Advantages:

Disadvantages:

Provide Clinical Supervision 7

 G. How can the disadvantages in providing clinical supervision to
teachers be addressed?

Feedback

Check if your answers are correct by comparing them with those in the
Key to Correction on pages 97-100. For questions that require answers in
essay form, give yourself a point per question if your answer has concepts
similar to those in the Key to Correction, although the words may differ.

If you got 20 to 26 correct items, that is great! It means that you are
already very familiar with clinical supervision. This module will enable
you to understand and implement the details even better. However, if
you got 19 or less, the more you need to study the module to refresh your
memory and learn new concepts. If you were able to get only half of the
answers right, read the module carefully to familiarize yourself with
clinical supervision.

Before you proceed to Lesson 1, evaluate your level of competency in

clinical supervision by accomplishing the Self-Rating Competency
Checklist on the next page.

8 Provide Clinical Supervision

How Do You Rate Yourself?

SELF-RATING COMPETENCY CHECKLIST

Directions: The checklist below contains a list of competencies covered in

this module. For each competency, there are four possible levels of mastery
(Novice, Apprentice, Practitioner, Expert). You will use this matrix to
rate your level of mastery of each competency prior to studying the module
(PRE), and after you complete the module (POST). For each competency,
place a check mark () under the appropriate “PRE” column which best
describes your level of mastery prior to studying the lessons of the module.
You will place a check mark () under the appropriate “POST” column
when you have completed the module. Comparing your two self-ratings
on the PRE and POST columns will tell you later whether you have
improved your competency level or not.

I cannot I am I can do I can do

do this learning this, but this very
yet how to I need well
(Novice) do this to learn (Expert)
(Apprentice) more and
COMPETENCY improve
(Practitioner)
Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post
1. Define supervision.

2. Differentiate between
instructional
supervision and
clinical supervision.

3. State the underlying

assumptions of
clinical supervision.

4. Explain the
advantages and
disadvantages of
clinical supervision.

Provide Clinical Supervision 9

 I cannot I am I can do I can do
do this learning this, but this very
yet how to I need well
(Novice) do this to learn (Expert)
COMPETENCY (Apprentice) more and
improve
(Practitioner)

Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post

5. Discuss the five steps

in implementing
clinical supervision.

6. Implement clinical
supervision in your
school.

How did you fare? Which competencies do you need to develop further?
Keep them in mind as you study the lessons that follow.

Do you want to know more about clinical supervision and why it is

important to you as a school head and supervisor? Proceed to the next
page to start Lesson 1 titled, The Clinical System of Supervision:
Assumptions and Challenges.

Happy Learning!

10 Provide Clinical Supervision

 LESSON
The Clinical System of
Supervision: Assumptions and
Challenges 1
What Is This Lesson About?

An important part of a school head’s job is to evaluate and supervise

teachers in order to enhance their teaching and improve student learning.
This is especially true if the teachers do not have enough teaching
experience and still have a lot to learn in terms of improving their teaching
skills. Generally, once or twice a year, school heads evaluate their teachers
to improve teaching performance. These evaluations are done to help
achieve the academic goals of the school, which include providing quality
instruction. Based on these evaluations, a supervisory plan could be
drafted to target the unique needs of each teacher.

In the SUPEReXCELS module titled Provide Developmental Supervision,

you learned about the three supervisory approaches to instructional
supervision. Do you remember what the supervisory approaches are?
Write them on the space provided.

1. _____________________________________________________________

2. _____________________________________________________________

3. _____________________________________________________________

If you answered developmental supervision, differentiated supervision,

and clinical supervision, you are correct.

As a school head, you may have used one or two of these supervisory
approaches before. If so, what do you remember about the activities
involved in supervision? Have you applied clinical supervision to your
work in the past?

Provide Clinical Supervision 11

 Clinical supervision is an intensive, hands-on, and collaborative process
that involves both the supervisor and the teacher. Because of the intensity
of involvement, the clinical supervisory approach is best for beginning
teachers or those who feel the need to be supervised more thoroughly.
Although you were introduced to the concept of clinical supervision in
the previous module, there is a lot more that you need to learn to be able
to implement it effectively. Do you want to know more details about this
supervision approach? If so, this lesson is a good place to start.

This lesson shall give you a definition and the rationale behind clinical
supervision. You will learn its underlying assumptions and the
requirements for its successful implementation. You will also learn how
teachers usually react to clinical supervision and why they react that
way. Are you ready to develop your skills in providing clinical supervision
to the teachers in your school? Then read on.

What Will You Learn?

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to do the following:

• Define instructional supervision and clinical supervision.

• Describe the reaction of teachers towards clinical supervision and

the reason behind this reaction.

• State the underlying assumptions of clinical supervision.

• Describe the advantages and disadvantages of clinical supervision.

Let’s Study

In a local school in Thailand, three newly hired teachers are discussing their
concerns at work and their upcoming meeting with the school head.

Ms. Achara: How are you today, Mrs. Yanisa?

Mrs. Yanisa: I was feeling well until I went to my class this

morning, Ms. Achara.

Ms. Achara: Why, what happened? Can I help?

12 Provide Clinical Supervision

Mrs. Yanisa: I’m still having problems with regard to class
discipline. The students are often noisy and
inattentive. I tried to make my lesson more
interesting, but they do not seem to relate well with
me. I wish I had more experience in these things.

Ms. Achara: I share your concern. Maybe it’s because we are new
in our work. I think we still need time to adjust. In my
case, I am having difficulty encouraging my students
to participate in our classroom discussions. I noticed
that they are very shy and have difficulty expressing
themselves. I don’t know what to do anymore.

Mrs. Yanisa: I think I have those concerns also, especially in my

History class. The students seem to really find it
difficult to appreciate the topic.

Ms. Phan: Oh, there you are. I have been looking for you in
the cafeteria. Have you heard that Khun Sanphum,
our school head, wants to talk to us?

Mrs.Yanisa : I haven’t been informed yet. But, of course, I

would go if I were called. By the way, would
you know what this meeting is all about?

Ms. Phan: I heard that he wants to see the three of us, newly
hired teachers. I think he wants us to undergo some
sort of training to help improve our teaching skills.
Personally, I need to learn more skills in preparing
exams and conducting class activities.

Ms. Achara: I think that would be great. However, wouldn’t it

be a difficult process? I mean, I already have a lot
of work just preparing for my classes everyday.

Ms. Phan: I still do not know much about his plans. I heard he
attended a course recently on some sort of
supervisory program for teachers. I think he wants
us to work with him so he can apply what he learned.

Provide Clinical Supervision 13

 Ms. Achara: I heard that in another school, the school head just
drops by the class every now and then. That would
be okay for me. I need a mentor’s presence, but I
will not be comfortable working too much with
him/her. I don’t like working alone either.

Mrs. Yanisa: I think we will all benefit from it. I still need to
develop my skills in handling classes. When is the
meeting?

Ms. Phan: He will send us a memo. I think it will be tomorrow

after lunch. I suggest we go to his office together.

Ms. Achara: That’s a wonderful idea. I will see you both there
tomorrow. Bye!

Mrs. Yanisa: I hear the school bell ringing. It’s time to go back to
class. See you!

Let’s Try This (Activity 1.1)

Reflect on the dialogue above and then answer the following questions:

1. If you were one of these three teachers, would you be interested in

being supervised by the school head? Why or why not?

2. What can you say about their needs for supervision? What specific
concerns do they want to be addressed?

14 Provide Clinical Supervision

3. Do you think that supervision will help them with their problems? In
what way?

4. What could be possible barriers to the successful supervision of

teachers? What causes these barriers?

Feedback
If you were one of these three teachers, you would likely be interested in
being supervised by the school head because supervision presents an
opportunity to develop one’s skills in teaching. You would not mind being
supervised by your school head because you acknowledge his wisdom
and expertise acquired through years of teaching and school management.
This means that teachers expect this school head to be an expert in the
teaching-learning process.

Although the three teachers have different specific needs, they all have a
need to improve their teaching and classroom management skills. One
wanted to improve her skills in handling class discipline, another was
concerned about preparing exams and class activities, while one was
having difficulty encouraging her students to participate in class
discussion. Given this scenario, a hands-on type of supervision can help
them with their problems. Supervision will give them an opportunity to
identify what areas of teaching they can improve on and how best to
achieve this improvement.

Provide Clinical Supervision 15

 However, while supervision offers hope for the improvement of teachers’
competencies, there are possible barriers to its success. These barriers
are:

• School head’s inability to supervise all teachers due to the sheer

volume of his/her work.

• School head’s inadequate knowledge and skill in conducting

supervision properly.

• Teachers’ skepticism or antagonism towards supervision.

• Inappropriate supervisory approach used for the teachers.

• Communication barriers between the school head and the

teachers.

Let’s Try This (Activity 1.2)

Imagine once more that you are the school head/supervisor of the three
Thai teachers presented in the dialogue on pages 12-14. If you were to
identify the problem that needs to be addressed or the skills that need to
be developed for each one, what would these be? If necessary, also identify
why you think such problems or needs exist. Fill out the profile sheet of
each teacher below.

Name: Ms. Phan

Problem that needs to be addressed or skills

that need to be developed:

How would you help her?

16 Provide Clinical Supervision

 Name: Mrs. Yanisa

Problem that needs to be addressed or skills

that need to be developed:

How would you help her?

Name: Ms. Achara

Problem that needs to be addressed or skills

that need to be developed:

How would you help her?

Feedback

You may compare your answers with those in the Key to Correction on
pages 100-101. If your answers are similar, that’s great. You may also
share and discuss your answers with your co-learners and Flexible
Learning Tutor.

Provide Clinical Supervision 17

 Let’s Think About This

Have you been supervised? How were you supervised? Do you remember
who your supervisor was? What was his/her position in the school?
Did you benefit from your supervision experience? In what ways?

Write your ideas on the lines below.

Discuss your answers with your co-learners and Flexible Learning Tutor.

Let’s Read

What Is Supervision?

Parents today conduct some form of supervision over their children. They
instruct them on how to do things and provide them with guidance and
values. Supervision is actively practiced today as it was practiced during
the time of Plato and Aristotle. It exists in most professions. Doctors-in-
training are supervised by senior doctors. Student-drivers are supervised
by master drivers who go around with them as they learn how to drive
properly. Senior managers train their newly-hired company managers.
Internships and fellowships abound in most government and non-
government agencies. Do you have any idea why supervision is such an
important part of learning and acquiring skills?

18 Provide Clinical Supervision

Study the illustration above. It is a representation of the passing on of the
“torch of knowledge” from a supervisor to a staff. What does it tell you
about the relationship between the supervisor and the supervisee?

The supervisor-staff relationship guarantees the passing on of knowledge

from senior teachers and administrators to younger ones. Even those who
have been teaching for a long time still need to be supervised to ensure
dynamic and lifelong learning. Supervision is an important component
of self-development and institutional enhancement.

Glatthorn (1984) defined supervision of classroom instruction as follows:

“Supervision is a process of facilitating the professional growth of a

teacher, primarily by giving the teacher feedback about the classroom
interactions and helping the teacher make use of that feedback in order
to make teaching more effective.”

According to Sullivan and Glanz (2004), “supervision is essentially

concerned with enhancing teacher thought and commitment to
improving instruction.” These definitions imply that supervision in the
school setting is an activity that has a set of identified goals. Can you
identify at least one of these goals? If you answered: to help teachers
become better providers of instruction and facilitators of learning in the
classroom, you’re correct. That is the primary goal of supervision. Can
you think of other goals of supervising classroom instruction?

Provide Clinical Supervision 19

 Glatthorn’s definition also implies that supervision promotes cooperation
and communication in schools. In supervision, feedback is provided and
received. Aside from this, supervision is also described as a helping
relationship, with one helping and the other receiving aid.

In current times, the giving and receiving of help towards teaching

performance improvement could be done in many ways. As you have
learned in the SUPEReXCELS module, Provide Developmental
Supervision, the developmental system of instructional supervision provides
the school head three approaches with which to supervise teachers. One
of those approaches is clinical supervision. But is the school head’s
supervisory role limited to the teaching-learning process? Although that
aspect is the main focus of this module, you should know that your
supervisory role extends to all aspects of school operations in general.

Read on to find out more about general supervision.

Let’s Think About This

General Supervision

Do you know what general supervision is? General supervision refers to

all supervisory functions that take place both inside and outside the
classroom aimed at improving instruction. It involves functions such as
the following:

• Writing and revision of school curricula.

• Preparation of units and materials for instruction.
• Development of processes and instruments for providing information
to parents and other stakeholders.
• Planning for staff development.
• Application of knowledge gained from experiences with teachers
and from attending seminars, fora, trainings, or conventions.
• Evaluation of the total educational program.

Instructional supervision falls under general supervision. Instructional

supervision aims to improve the teaching-learning process by promoting
the growth, development, and capacity of teachers. As you have learned
in the previous SUPEReXCELS module entitled, Provide Developmental

20 Provide Clinical Supervision

Supervision, there are three approaches in conducting instructional
supervision. These are developmental supervision, clinical supervision, and
differentiated supervision.

Figure 1 below outlines the coverage of general supervision and the

relationship between general supervision and instructional supervision.

General Supervision

Administration Curriculum Instruction

Developmental Supervision

Clinical Supervision

Differentiated Supervision

Figure 1. Hierarchical Relationship Among Supervisory Activities

Let’s Try This (Activity 1.3)

In the SUPEReXCELS module, Provide Developmental Supervision, you

learned that teachers, like workers in any other profession, have different
supervision needs. Some want to work only with their colleagues; others
prefer a higher level of independence; and still others want a more guided,
hands-on approach.

In many Asian schools, school heads adopt clinical supervision to develop

their teachers’ instructional skills. Clinical supervision is described as a
guided, hands-on approach which you may be already familiar with.
Many authors say that in spite of clinical supervision being a long and
rigorous process, it still forms the basic supervision activity in many schools
because of its inherent benefits.

Provide Clinical Supervision 21

 For example, clinical supervision allows the analysis of classroom
instruction so that appropriate recommendations can be provided
regarding the improvement of teaching performance. This feedback
enables teachers to reach their full potential and even meet the needs of
others. The supervisory model that is most likely to help this occur is the
clinical supervision model (Robbins, 2004).

The term clinical in clinical supervision conjures up many images. This

affects how people feel about this supervision approach. How about you?
What words do you associate with the word “clinical”? Write down the
words you associate with the word “clinical” in the spaces below.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Read on to find out how close your answers are to mine. If you have
other answers, discuss them with your Flexible Learning Tutor.

Let’s Read
What Is Clinical Supervision?

The word “clinical” is often associated with the “clinics” of the medical
profession. Hence, it is indirectly associated with disease, treatment,
procedures that take a long time, and even pain. This is understandable.
The word “clinical” creates a natural suspicion as it conjures images of
some type of medical model, either physical or psychological. It is especially
associated with a situation in which a subject is not exhibiting a desired
behavior. These notions make the term “clinical supervision” initially
sound ambiguous and brings to mind unpleasant activities. It is time for
you to find out whether these concepts about clinical supervision are true
or not.

22 Provide Clinical Supervision

The term “clinical supervision” was coined by Morris Cogan in 1973 (Pajak,
2000). Cogan (1973) defines clinical supervision as a process that focuses
on the improvement of a teacher’s classroom instruction through the
observation and collection of records of what the teacher and students
do in the classroom during the teaching-learning process. What do you
think of this definition? What image is pictured in your mind on how
clinical supervision is carried out?

In the supervisory context, the term “clinical” refers to the place where
supervision occurs. Do you know where that is? It is the classroom! That
is the reason why most school heads who do the above activity would
draw a scene inside a classroom where the teacher is being observed by
the supervisor. It focuses on the point of application of pedagogical or
teaching skills – the classroom. This allows a face-to-face interaction where
the actual behavior of the teacher and students can be observed as they
happen, rather than examining the interaction from a distance or through
reports. That is precisely what clinical supervision is. It is the supervisor
working as though in a “clinic” and recording observations made as they
occur because he/she wants to help the teacher improve his/her teaching.

Let’s Try This (Activity 1.4)

Answer the following questions.

1. If you were to observe a class, what activities/aspects of the class

would you include in your observation?

Provide Clinical Supervision 23

 2. Why is there a need for the supervisor to observe what goes on inside
the classroom?

Feedback

You may compare your answers with those in the Key to Correction on page
102. If your answers are similar, that’s great. You may also share and discuss
your answers with your co-learners and Flexible Learning Tutor.

Let’s Read

The Assumptions of Clinical Supervision

According to Cogan (1973), the concept of clinical supervision is based

on the following assumptions that underlie all clinical supervision
activities.

1. Teachers are capable of analyzing their own teaching

performance, and they can provide inputs on ways to improve
their teaching.

Learning how to improve their teaching skills would be easier if teachers

were allowed to examine situations, behaviors, and practices associated
with effective teaching and effective student learning. Teachers should
be given an opportunity to assess what made their teaching effective.
Valverde (1982) calls this process “reflection”. Reflection is described as
the foundation of reflective learning. If the teacher asks him/herself, “What
am I doing? Why am I doing it? Am I effective in what I do?”, he/she is
encouraged to self-monitor. This allows opportunities for improvement.

24 Provide Clinical Supervision

If you were a teacher, how would you respond to these questions? Write
your ideas on the lines.

1. How is your teaching?

2. Why are you teaching that way?

3. Is your teaching practice effective? When can you say that

your teaching is effective? Why?

What do your answers reveal about you as a teacher, hypothetically?

Discuss your thoughts with a colleague. You may also share them with
your co-learners and Flexible Learning Tutor.

2. Teachers are agents of change in the instructional process.

Where do you think should change start if teachers are to improve their
intellectual and behavioral skills? If you answered “in the classroom”,
that is correct!

Improvement of one’s teaching skills should start at the site of instruction-

the classroom. Of course, curriculum revision projects and activities outside
the classroom also help in improving teaching skills, but studies have
shown that these are less effective as compared to when changes are
focused on classroom instruction.

Provide Clinical Supervision 25

 3. Clinical supervision emphasizes teacher growth rather than defects.

Clinical supervision assumes that teachers possess a drive to become better

in what they do. They have not only the motivation and willingness but
also the resources to solve their problems. In clinical supervision, the
supervisor’s role involves helping the teacher clarify problems related to
teaching and develop solutions.

4. Supervisors must be present to observe.

Clinical supervision requires supervisors to personally observe teachers

in action. Assistance could not be adequately provided without observing
the events within the classroom. This forms the basis for achieving
maximum growth in the teachers’ potential.

5. Supervisors should provide feedback to improve and guide the

instructional strategies of the teacher.

Clinical supervision is conducted to provide feedback. It is a superb means

for improving teaching and promoting student learning. For it to be
effective, clinical supervision should be divorced from evaluation. The
school head should communicate comments and suggestions to the teacher
in an objective, nonjudgemental manner (Glanz, 2005).

6. Clinical supervision of teachers improves instruction through the

analysis of classroom teaching-learning and the systematic
interpretation of data.

This assumption requires data to be based on observations rather than

unfounded claims. Observation data allow for better interpretation and
analysis. These, then, form the basis for arriving at some conclusion to
improve practice.

7. Clinical supervision can bring desired changes in teacher behavior.

Clinical supervision is a teacher-centered process of verbal instruction

that can help in improving instruction. This assumption provides a basis
for the school head to initiate an intructional dialogue with the teacher in
an open, congenial, and trusting manner. If teachers are given supervision,
their teaching performance can become better.

26 Provide Clinical Supervision

8. Clinical supervision is ethical, unbiased, and sensitive.

The structure of clinical supervision requires it to base decisions on actual,

observed data. Therefore, information is prevented from being distorted.
The teachers are also made aware of the system of observation and
feedback; hence, everything is transparent. Supervisors must be sensitive
to the needs of the teacher and must interpret observation data in the
context of classroom realities. Towards this, school heads can benefit by
trainings in supervision such as in this SUPEReXCELS course that equip
them to be more objective in the supervision process.

9. The feedback process of clinical supervision encourages

independence.

Clinical supervision encourages the teacher to assume great responsibility

for his/her self-improvement. This gradually lessens the responsibility of
the supervisor in a process very much similar to weaning. The teacher’s
progress is measured in terms of how much support he/she needs to
solve a problem. After the supervision process, the teacher is expected to
become more responsible, creative, and self-sufficient through time. This
relationship is depicted in the diagram below.

Tea
Su p ch e
erv r’s
iso Lev
r’s el o
Lev f Re
el o sp o
f Re n si
s po bili
n si ty
bili
ty

Time

Figure 2. Supervisor’s and Teacher’s Levels of Responsibility

in Clinical Supervision

Provide Clinical Supervision 27

 Let’s Try This (Activity 1.5)
Explain the meaning of Figure 2 based on Assumption 9, which states
that the feedback process of clinical supervision encourages independence.

Feedback

Compare your answer with mine below. If your answer is more or less
similar to the response provided, you did great!

Levels of Responsibility in Clinical Supervision

As depicted in Figure 2, under clinical supervision, there is a gradual

shift of responsibility for the teacher’s improvement from the school head
to the teacher him/herself. Initially, the school head takes the bigger
responsibility through planning, observing, communicating observation
results to the teacher, and later on helping the teacher prepare a plan for
the teacher’s improvement. However after this first cycle, the teacher
starts taking greater responsibility by implementing the improvement plan
and monitoring his/her own progress. The school head’s presence is still
felt, but this time it is simply to offer guidance and support. The cycle
continues until the teacher is able to determine his/her own areas for
improvement and work out ways to address deficiencies.

28 Provide Clinical Supervision

Let’s Think About This

In what ways can the nine assumptions underlying clinical supervision

influence your behavior towards teachers and your role as a supervisor?
Write your answers on the spaces provided. Assumption no. 1 has been
done for you.

1. Teachers are capable of analyzing their own teaching performance, and

they can provide inputs on ways to improve their teaching.

This assumption influences me to see the teachers I am supervising as

intelligent professionals who are capable of appreciating their strengths
and recognizing their areas for improvement. Thus, I will have greater
trust in them. Based on this, I would feel more confident and comfortable
sharing observation results with them on an individual basis. Such data
would help them know how well they perform as teachers. Through this,
they would be able to share their ideas on how they could improve or
enhance their performance.

2. Teachers are agents of change in the instructional process.

3. Clinical supervision emphasizes teacher growth rather than defects.

Provide Clinical Supervision 29

 4. Supervisors must be present to observe.

5. Supervisors should provide feedback to improve and guide the instructional

strategies of the teacher.

6. Clinical supervision of teachers improves instruction via the analysis of

classroom teaching-learning and the systematic interpretation of data.

7. Clinical supervision can bring desired changes in teacher behavior.

30 Provide Clinical Supervision

8. Clinical supervision is ethical, unbiased, and sensitive.

9. The feedback process of clinical supervision encourages independence.

Feedback

Compare your answers with those in the Key to Correction on pages

102-104. If your answers are more or less similar to the sample responses
provided, you did great!

Provide Clinical Supervision 31

 Let’s Read

The Advantages of Clinical Supervision

Clinical supervision, as a way of improving instruction, is being practiced

in many schools because it offers many advantages. Some of these
advantages are:

• The school heads and teachers are encouraged to cooperate

towards achieving common objectives.

• The school head can influence teaching behavior to a greater degree.

• Because of the collegial and cooperative process, teachers and school

heads have positive feelings towards the supervisory process.

• Teachers needing help would invite the supervisor rather than hide
from him/her.

• Clinical supervision allows for objective feedback, which leads to

improved results.

• It helps to diagnose instructional problems and provides valuable

information which can lead to solving such problems.

• It enables teachers to clearly see differences in what they think

they are doing and what they are actually doing.

• Resulting improvements on instruction are highlighted and both

teacher and supervisor are able to develop new skills and strategies,
which will be replicated, as needed.

• As teacher instruction improves, students will become more

motivated, classroom management will improve, and better
learning will take place.

• Improved teacher performance leads to improved chances of

promotion for the teacher.

32 Provide Clinical Supervision

Let’s Think About This
1. Can you think of other advantages of clinical supervision? Write your
ideas on the lines below.

2. What about possible disadvantages of clinical supervision? Can you

think of any?

Discuss your ideas with your co-learners and Flexible Learning Tutor.
Read on for a discussion of some criticisms of clinical supervision.

Let’s Read
The Disadvantages of Clinical Supervision

Critics of clinical supervision give the following disadvantages of

this approach.

• Clinical supervision is difficult to do in reality because it involves

a long and tedious process.

Because of the sheer volume of work done by school heads, their

supervisory function is often set aside. In reality, teacher performance
observations are not done frequently enough. Aside from that, if class

Provide Clinical Supervision 33

 observation had been done, only a few would lead to a post-observation
conference with the teacher. Because of this, opportunities for feedback
and guidance are missed, and not much change occurs.

• Often, the teacher approaches the clinical supervision relationship

with skepticism or antagonism right from the start.

Many teachers regard supervisors using the clinical supervision

approach as non-allies and even adversaries. This predicts a
breakdown of supervision right at the beginning.

• It is difficult to provide clinical supervision to all teachers because

it is time-consuming.

Clinical supervision uses a hands-on, meticulous approach and

involves guidance of all teachers by the assigned supervisor. As such,
it is time-consuming and often impractical. It takes away a lot of time
from the teacher and the school head. Some supervision experts
estimate that even if school heads spent three hours in observing and
training their teachers for every 40 hours they stay at school per week,
it would still not be enough. For each year, that school head would
have only accumulated 100 hours of providing supervision. Using
strict and complete clinical supervision alone as an approach, only 10
teachers would have been able to receive it.

• Not all teachers need intensive clinical supervision.

Clinical supervision is a thorough process that was originally designed

for the training of student-teachers. Clinical supervision may be
suitable for some teachers in certain school contexts but not for others
(Kwong Yee Fan, 1992). Not all teachers would need that much
“attention” from their supervisor. Many would rather be left alone to
pursue their other interests. Aside from this, there has been a claim
that there is still no conclusive evidence that clinical supervision
improves teaching. Hence, its effectiveness is still questioned by some
(Glatthorn, 1990).

• Teachers have different growth needs and learning styles.

Applying rigorous clinical supervision to all teachers may be

impractical and inappropriate because it fails to acknowledge the
uniqueness of each faculty member. Teachers often vary in the kind

34 Provide Clinical Supervision

 of supervision interactions they prefer. Some would prefer a more
formal helping relationship, such as in clinical supervision, while
some may want to work with other teachers in a collegial or
professional relationship than with the school head. They also have
different views about supervisory relationships and would prefer
different types of work environments. Therefore, clinical supervision
may be appropriate for some teachers, but not for others.

• Supervisors have different personalities and supervisory styles.

Lastly, as teachers’ needs are highly individualized, supervisors also

need to individualize their supervisory approaches. School heads who
are more comfortable teaching their teachers as peers or friends might
find the rigidity of clinical supervision disconcerting. In the same light,
some supervisors would also have a hard time dealing with teachers
who want to work independently. The demands of clinical supervision
may not be adequately tuned to the supervisor’s personality and skills.

Let’s Think About This

Do you agree with these criticisms of clinical supervision? Why or why
not? If you agree, what do you think can be done to address the
disadvantages?

Read on to check how well you thought up ways to counter the

disadvantages of clinical supervision.

Provide Clinical Supervision 35

 Let’s Read

Overcoming the Disadvantages of Clinical Supervision

Given the cited disadvantages of clinical supervision, why is it still being

practiced? The answer is: clinical supervision is widely practiced because
it works for many teachers who need the close guidance of a hands-on
supervisor. Clinical supervision has helped many teachers develop better
instructional skills. As a school head, it is, therefore, important that you
know ways to overcome the disadvantages of clinical supervision so it
could be one of your options in helping your teachers become better
providers of instruction.

The following ideas are offered by Zepeda (2002) and Robin and Alvey
(2004) as proactive measures to make the most of clinical supervision:

1. Tap other sources of supervisory assistance. You don’t have to be the

only one to provide supervision. Share the formal authority to supervise
teachers with the assistant/deputy school head, department heads, and
subject coordinators.

2. Train and support teachers who are willing to coach and mentor their
colleagues. This is a way of multiplying your effort to provide step-by-
step assistance in providing knowledge and skills to new teachers and
those who need to improve their competencies.

3. Keep a log of observations by various school personnel that you tapped (e.g.
department head, assistant school head etc.) to help you identify patterns
and determine the instructional needs of particular teachers.

4. Supervise with limited time (Robbins & Alvy, 2004). This strategy involves
using short time segments - some planned, some unplanned - to get out of
the office and into classrooms and campus areas to observe. This is called
“Leading and Learning by Wandering Around” (LLBWA). There are many
approaches to LLBWA. One of these is “The 7-Minute Classroom Snapshot.”

36 Provide Clinical Supervision

This strategy is a quick way to collect data regarding curriculum,
assessment, and instruction across the school. It also provides focused
opportunities for dialogue with selected teachers. You will learn more
about how it works in Lesson 2.

5. Find out what the teachers’ preferred supervisory approaches are. Do they
want to work closely with a supervisor? Would they rather work with
their peers? Or do they prefer to work on their own professional
development? Clinical supervision is most beneficial for teachers who
need close supervision from a supervisor. For teachers with other
supervisory needs/preferences, the SUPEReXCELS Modules titled Provide
Developmental Supervision and Provide Differentiated Supervision can
give you more knowledge on a range of options.

6. Find out what your preferred supervisory approach/es is/are. If clinical

supervision is not your preference, but one or more of your teachers prefer
it (which would most likely be the case), then you need to learn more
about this supervisory approach in order to appreciate its potential in
developing your teachers.

Let’s Think About This

Are you convinced that clinical supervision is worth a try? If you are,
how would you convince your teachers that this approach might work?
Write your ideas on the lines below.

Share and discuss your thoughts with your co-learners and Flexible
Learning Tutor.

Provide Clinical Supervision 37

 Let’s Remember

In this lesson, you learned that:

• General supervision refers to all supervisory functions that take place

both inside and outside the classroom. It involves all activities that
aim to improve all processes within the school.

• Instructional supervision is a process or activity that involves

facilitating the professional growth of a teacher primarily by giving
him/her feedback about the classroom interactions and helping
him/her make use of that feedback in order to make teaching
more effective.

• Clinical supervision is a process that focuses on the improvement

of a teacher’s classroom instruction through the observation and
collection of records of what the teacher and students do in the
classroom during the teaching-learning process. Clinical
supervision allows for the school head’s observation of the actual
behavior of the teacher and the students as they happen, rather
than examining this interaction from a distance or through reports.

• The assumptions that underlie all clinical supervision activities

are:

 Teachers are capable of analyzing their own teaching

performance, and they can provide input into ways to improve
their teaching.

 Teachers are agents of change in the instructional process in

schools.

 Clinical supervision emphasizes teacher growth rather than

defects.

 Supervisors must be present to observe.

 Supervisors should provide feedback to improve and guide the

instructional strategies of the teacher.

38 Provide Clinical Supervision

  Clinical supervision of teachers improves instruction through
the analysis and interpretation of data obtained from the
observation of classroom teaching-learning activities.

 Clinical supervision can bring desired changes in teacher behavior.

 Clinical supervision is ethical, unbiased, and sensitive to the

supervisor’s and the teachers’ needs.

 The feedback process of clinical supervision encourages

teachers’ independence.

• Clinical supervision aims to shift the responsibility for development

from the school head to the teacher.

• The advantages of clinical supervision are:

 The school head and the teachers are encouraged to cooperate

towards achieving common objectives.

 The school head can influence teaching behavior to a greater

degree.

 Because of the collegial and cooperative process, teachers and

school heads have positive feelings towards the supervisory
process.

 Teachers needing help would invite the supervisor rather than

hide from him/her.

 Clinical supervision allows for objective feedback, which leads

to improved results.

 It helps to diagnose instructional problems and provides

valuable information, which can lead to solving such problems.

 It enables teachers to clearly see differences in what they think

they are doing and what they are actually doing.

 Resulting improvements on instruction are highlighted and

both teacher and supervisor are able to develop new skills and
strategies which may be replicated, as needed.

Provide Clinical Supervision 39

  As teacher instruction improves, students become more
motivated, classroom management improves, and better
learning takes place.

 Improved teacher performance leads to better chances of

promotion for the teacher. The school head and the teachers
are encouraged to cooperate toward achieving common
objectives.

• The disadvantages of clinical supervision include:

 Clinical supervision is difficult to do in reality because it is a

long and tedious process.
 It is difficult to provide clinical supervision to all teachers
because it is time-consuming.
 Not all teachers need intensive clinical supervision.
 Teachers have different growth needs and learning styles.
 Supervisors have different personalities and supervisory styles.

• There are ways of overcoming the disadvantages of clinical supervision:

 Tap other sources of supervisory assistance.

 Train and support teachers who are willing to coach and
mentor their colleagues.
 Keep a log of observations by various school personnel that you
tapped.
 Supervise with limited time.
 Find out what the teachers’ preferred supervisory approaches are.
 Find out what your preferred supervisory approach/es is/are.

40 Provide Clinical Supervision

How Much Have You Learned From This Lesson?

Write the letter of the answer that corresponds best to the description
given.

A. General supervision
B. Instructional supervision
C. Clinical supervision

___ 1. A supervisory approach that enables the school head to observe

what actually takes place in the classroom during the teaching-
learning process.

___ 2. Refers to all supervisory functions that take place both inside and
outside the classroom.

___ 3. Also described as hands-on supervision.

___ 4. Involves all activities undertaken by the school head that aim to
improve instruction.

II. Provide answers to the following:

1. State at least three assumptions of clinical supervision.

Provide Clinical Supervision 41

 2. Considering the advantages and the disadvantages of clinical
supervision, would you still want to apply it to your school? Why or
why not? Elaborate on your answer.

Feedback

Compare your answers with those in the Key to Correction on pages 104-
105. For the essay-type questions, your answers may not be expressed
exactly the same way, but as long as the thoughts expressed are similar, it
is alright.

If you have answered all questions correctly, well done! You may proceed
to the next lesson in this module which focuses on skills in implementing
clinical supervision in schools. If not, you need to review this lesson
carefully before proceeding.

42 Provide Clinical Supervision

 LESSON
Implementing Clinical
Supervision in Your School
2
What Is This Lesson About?

Now that you are already more familiar with clinical supervision, how
do you actually go about adopting it in your school? How are you going
to successfully apply this supervisory system to improve the instructional
skills of teachers?

Implementing clinical supervision is easier if you follow certain guidelines.

This lesson shall acquaint you with the steps to follow in instituting the
clinical system of supervision in your school. You will also learn the details
in implementing each of the five steps of the clinical supervision model.

Are you ready to develop specific skills in providing clinical supervision

in your school? Then, read on.

What Will You Learn?

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to do the following:

• Identify the five steps in the clinical supervision approach.

• Discuss each of the five steps in sequence.

• Apply clinical supervision to your school.

Provide Clinical Supervision 43

 Let’s Study

Three newly hired teachers are at a meeting with the school head, Mr.
Sanphum. Let’s find out what happened.

Ms. Achara: Good morning, Khun Sanphum. How are you today?

School Head: Oh, here you are. I am expecting you. I’m good. Come in.

Mrs. Yanisa: Good morning, Khun Sanphum. I heard you wanted to

meet us about something important. We are excited to
find out what it is.

School Head: Yes, there is something I would like to discuss with you.
But before that, I want to know how you are all doing.
Today is exactly three weeks since classes started. Have
you encountered any problems so far? Is everything fine?

Mrs. Yanisa: I’m afraid I still have problems with regard to class
discipline. The students are often noisy and inattentive. I
tried to make my lessons more interesting, but they still
do not seem to be interested. I don’t know what to do.

Ms. Achara: I also have the same concern, Khun Sanphum. I think it
is because we do not have enough experience yet as
teachers. Maybe we still need time to adjust. Aside from
my students being noisy, I am having difficulty
encouraging them to participate in our class activities.
Another thing is that while many students are noisy,
some are very quiet. I noticed that a few are very shy
and have difficulty expressing themselves. I need help in
handling these students. I really want them to learn in
my class.

School Head: I see. Hmmmm, of course. Many teachers have

experienced what you are going through right now when
they were also starting. How about you, Ms. Phan? How
are you doing? Is everything fine?

44 Provide Clinical Supervision

Ms. Phan: It is the same with me. I am having difficulties adjusting
to my students. I wish there were some kind of training
to help us further improve our teaching skills. Aside from
handling noisy students, I need to learn more about
preparing examinations and planning class activities. I
hope you could help us.

Ms. Achara: I hope so, too.

School Head: I am glad you mentioned that. I appreciate your

efforts in teaching our students. Hmmmm, let’s see.
The three of you have concerns about students’
classroom behavior. Basically, you have a problem
maintaining your students’ attention during class. Did
I understand you correctly?

Mrs. Yanisa: That is correct.

School Head: I think that, given these concerns, it would be good if I

could visit your classes so that I would know how to help
you improve your teaching skills. Have you heard of
supervision before?

Mrs. Yanisa: Yes, we have. It is some form of training or instruction.

You will observe us and then give us feedback about our
class performance.

School Head: That is right! I have something in mind that might just
work for the three of you. It is an approach to supervision
called clinical supervision. Do you want to know what it
is?

Provide Clinical Supervision 45

 Let’s Try This (Activity 2.1)

If you were School Head Sanphum, what would you tell your teachers
about clinical supervision? Recall what you learned from Lesson 1 of this
module. Imagine that you are School Head Sanphum. Using the
illustration below, write your answers in the dialogue box in response to
the teachers’ questions as you explain to them what clinical supervision
is all about.

The way that you

mentioned clinical
supervision makes it
sound not at all
scary. What does
clinical supervision
really mean?

Is clinical supervision
a difficult process?

We are afraid to be
evaluated. You might
find us lacking in
instructional skills.

Read on to find out how close your dialogues are with mine.

46 Provide Clinical Supervision

Let’s Read

The Goals of Clinical Supervision

Compare your dialogues with what were actually said by School Head
Sanphum below. Are your dialogues similar?

School Head: Clinical supervision is a process that aims to improve a

teacher’s classroom instruction. This is done through
classroom observation during which information is
gathered on what the teacher and students do in the
classroom during the teaching-learning process. It is
called “clinical” because it involves a face-to-face activity
between the supervisor and the teacher during the actual
classroom setting.

Ms. Phan: Is it a difficult process?

School Head: It depends on what problems were observed and what

solutions we could come up with to solve them. There
would be consultations between the supervisor and the
teacher, and they will come up with solutions based on
a systematic assessment of data gathered during the
observation.

Mrs. Yanisa: We are afraid to be evaluated. You might find us

inadequate or lacking in skills.

School Head: Oh, on the contrary, clinical supervision focuses more

on collaborative efforts to improve instruction. The aim
of the observation is not to evaluate and pass judgment
but to identify what problem areas need to be addressed.

Ms. Phan: I see. I think we could give it a try. Could you explain to
us the exact processes involved in clinical supervision?

Provide Clinical Supervision 47

 Let’s Try This (Activity 2.2)

Based on the conversation between the school head and the teachers,
what are the goals of clinical supervision? Write your answer on the
space provided.

Feedback

Compare your answer with that in the Key to Correction on page 105.
If your answers are more or less similar to the answers provided, you
did great!

48 Provide Clinical Supervision

Let’s Try This (Activity 2.3)

Steps in Clinical Supervision

School Head Sanphum explains about the Clinical Supervision Cycle

to the teachers.

Do you know the steps of the Clinical Supervision Cycle developed by

Cogan in 1973? Let’s see if you do. Arrange the steps below in their proper
order by labeling the steps from 1 to 5.

The Five Steps of Clinical Supervision

______ Post-Observation conference

______ Pre-Observation conference
______ Analysis and strategy
______ Observation
______ Post-Conference analysis

Compare you answers with the numbered steps found in the diagram on
the next page. This is what School Head Sanphum showed the three
teachers. Study the diagram carefully. Note the steps of the clinical
supervision cycle and how these are sequenced.

Provide Clinical Supervision 49

 Did you get the order of the steps right? If you did, then, it’s time for you
to know more about them through this module. If you incorrectly labeled
some of them, you may want to write the correct answers now.

Read on to learn more about the steps of clinical supervision.

Let’s Think About This

Why is clinical supervision depicted as a cycle? What does this mean?

Read on to check your answer.

50 Provide Clinical Supervision

Let’s Read

The Clinical Supervision Cycle

As a school head or school administrator, one of your main goals is to

make sure that your teachers are doing their job well. Good teaching
performance is enhanced by supervision. Clinical supervision is one of
the most effective forms of supervision. Have you actually provided or
received clinical supervision before? What processes did you follow?

Clinical supervision focuses on improving teaching performance by

analyzing teaching through a series of five steps that come in sequence. It
is founded on open communication and cooperation between the
supervisor and the teacher. Instruction is improved through the use of
data from observation and other classroom-based sources. The systematic
evaluation of these data helps the teacher engage in reflective teaching
through self-analysis.

The clinical supervision cycle requires that each of the five related steps
be maximized to help teachers achieve their full potential. Since the steps
are in a cycle, a break at any one level of the chain breaks the continuity.
This lessens the benefits of clinical supervision in promoting instructional
excellence.

Read on to find out how School Head Sanphum explained each step of
the clinical supervision cycle to his teachers.

Let’s Study

Step 1: The Pre-Observation Conference

School Head: Clinical supervision has five steps that are arranged in
a cyclical way.

Ms. Phan: Does it mean that the steps have to be followed in

sequence? What will happen if one of the steps is by-
passed?

Provide Clinical Supervision 51

 School Head: Yes, the steps have to be followed in sequence. If the
chain is broken, it wiil be difficult to move on to the
next step because each step of the process provides
prerequisite information and skills needed for the next
step.

Mrs. Yanisa: What are the steps of clinical supervision? Can you tell
us more about them?

School Head: Of course. The steps of clinical supervision are 1) pre-

observation conference, 2) observation, 3) analysis and
strategy, 4) post-observation conference, and 5) post-
conference analysis.

Mrs. Yanisa: You said that the first step is holding a pre-observation
conference. Would that not just be time-consuming? Is
it really needed before conducting an observation?

School Head: Good questions! That is the reason why the first step of
the cycle is considered the most controversial step. The
pre-observation conference refers to when the
supervisor and the teacher meet and discuss their plans
for the supervision process. There are some who believe
that the pre-observation conference is too time-
consuming and that it creates supervisor and teacher
bias. Others think that this step prevents the building
of rapport between the supervisor and the teacher.

Mrs.Yanisa : I see. A pre-observation conference may not be really

necessary.

School Head: On the contrary, experts in supervision think that the

pre-observation conference is absolutely necessary. To
understand why, you need to know that the pre-
observation conference aims to orient the supervisor
on the situation and needs of the teachers and the
students. This is also an opportune time for the school
head to clarify his/her roles and the roles of the teacher.
This way, a common frame of reference is established.

52 Provide Clinical Supervision

 This is important in planning for the observation and
building rapport between the supervisor and the
teacher.

Ms Achara: So, the pre-observation conference enables the teacher

and the principal to level expectations for the
observation. That would definitely help the teacher
prepare well and, thus, be less anxious.

School Head: I’m glad you now appreciate the value of Step 1. In
fact, we will need to discuss some concerns before I
actually go to your class on a specified date to observe
it. I would want to first establish a trusting relationship
with you. We will start the supervisory process by
clarifying my role as your supervisor. We will discuss
how you want to be observed, how the data will be
recorded, and what categories will be used as points of
observation. In this stage, we also need to discuss your
lesson plan so I can help you make revisions before the
actual teaching to make your lesson more effective. Of
course part of the discussion would be on how to come
up with the best strategy to test how well your students
learned your lesson. As a closing activity, we will talk
about the remaining four steps of the clinical supervision
process so you would be fully aware of what will happen
next. What do you think about this?

Let’s Think About This

Based on the information given by School Head Sanphum, what do you

think are some specific activities to be conducted during the pre-
observation phase? Imagine that you are a supervisor, what do you need
to accomplish at this stage?

On the list below, put a check mark next to the tasks that you feel belong
to a pre-observation conference.

1. Build rapport between the supervisor and the teacher.

2. Clarify the role of the supervisor.

Provide Clinical Supervision 53

 3. Identify the areas for which the teacher will be observed.
4. Set the time of the observation.
5. Examine and discuss the lesson plan.
6. Discuss the assessment strategy to be used to check how well
the students learned the lesson.
7. Agree on the method of data collection (how the supervisor
will record the classroom observation data).
8. Discuss the remaining four steps of the clinical supervision
process.
9. Set the schedule of the post-observation conference.

How many of these items have you checked? If you checked all nine
items, that is great! These nine activities are all part of the pre-observation
conference phase. Think of this as a planning stage for the rest of the
clinical supervision process. Indeed, experts in supervision also call this
step the “the planning conference” (Sullivan, 2004; Glanz, 2005).

Let’s Study

Step 2: The Observation Stage

Inspired to share his knowledge with the teachers, Mr. Sanphum continues
to explain the observation stage. Let’s join them in their discussion.

Ms. Phan: I see the importance of holding a pre-observation

conference now. It makes everything clearer. I think
we could give it a try. School Head Sanphum, what
happens after the first step?

School Head: Let us look at the cycle again. It shows that the next
step is observation. In this stage, the supervisor
conducts an observation inside the classroom. In our
case, I will go to your classroom on an agreed date to
observe not only how you teach, but also how your
students respond to your teaching. In effect, I will try
to come up with an objective record of the entire
instructional process. By this time, it should be easy
because all details such as time, manner of recording,

54 Provide Clinical Supervision

 and categories to be used for observation would have
already been agreed upon during the pre-observation
stage.

Mrs. Yanisa: Is the observation really necessary? I am afraid that

I might not do well.

Ms.Phan : Oh, yes, I think the actual observation is necessary. How

else would School Head Sanphum find out how well
we teach if he does not see us in action?

School Head: Thank you for bringing that up, Miss Phan. That is true.
In clinical supervision, we need to gather firsthand
data and record them for analysis and discussion later
on. Besides, when I observe your class, I will be guided
by the belief that “life in classrooms” is context-bound,
or situationally determined and complex. You should
not be afraid because this is not done to judge nor
evaluate you, but to help you develop your skills as a
teacher. Think of me as a mentor who drops by to see
how well things are going. Whatever happens, I would
still be there to help you become a better teacher.

Ms. Achara: Thank you for being so kind. I feel more encouraged
now to undergo clinical supervision. It sounds relatively
easy to do.

Let’s Try this (Activity 2.4)

Based on School Head Sanphum’s explanation, what should you keep in
mind when you conduct the classroom observation? Write your answers
on the space provided.

Read on to check your answers.

Provide Clinical Supervision 55

 Let’s Read
Guidelines for the Observation Stage

As explained by School Head Sanphum, observation is the second stage

of the clinical supervision cycle. It involves the supervisor going to the
classroom to observe the teacher in action. What should a school head
keep in mind during the observation? Below are guidelines of observation
that should be remembered.

1. You must remind yourself that the purpose of your visit is to observe the
teacher’s class in order to help him/her and not to evaluate him/her.

2. You should focus on the over-all interaction without ignoring or paying

too much attention to a part of the process.

• Focus on the objectives of the observation.

• Follow set observation guidelines/categories.
• Record classroom event or happening.

3. You need to remain objective in your observation.

• Be aware of your personal bias and overcome it.

• Do not put judgmental comments as part of observation.
• Do not interpret behaviors. Re-organize raw observational data
at a later time.

4. Prior to entering the classroom, discuss with the teacher how he/she
will introduce you to the students, where you will sit, and so forth.
You must assume an unobtrusive (non-distracting) role and position
when entering the classroom to gather data.

• Do not talk to the teacher.

• Do not talk to the students.
• Act as if you were not there.
• Try not to affect the flow of events inside the classroom.

It is important that you record or describe what actually happened and

not make a judgement based on one observation. This should be recorded
carefully because the teacher and the students have their own reason/s
for what they do inside the classroom.

56 Provide Clinical Supervision

Let’s Try This (Activity 2.5)

Answer the following questions. Write your answers on the space provided.

1. Why should supervision be separated from evaluation?

2. Why is it not advisable to try and interpret the teacher’s and the students’
behaviors while you are observing class?

3. Give an example of how personal bias can affect your ability to observe
a class effectively.

Provide Clinical Supervision 57

 Feedback

Compare your answers with mine below. If your answers are more or
less similar to the sample responses provided, you did great!

1. Why should supervision be separated from evaluation?

Supervision should be separated from evaluation so that the teachers will

not find supervision a threatening activity. The separation will encourage
them to be truthful about their deficiencies and to grow in competence.

2. Why is it not advisable to try and interpret the teacher’s and the students’
behaviors while you are observing class?

If a supervisor interprets the teacher’s and students’ behaviors during

classroom observation, the supervisor might miss important environmental
inputs based on the situational context. His/Her personal biases might
also interfere with the results of observation.

3. Give an example of how personal bias can affect your ability to observe a
class effectively.

For example, if you have heard comments about Mr. Keang being a very
good teacher, you might perceive, while observing him, that everything
he does is either good or excellent. Another example is supposing you
had a bad experience with a minority group member and the teacher
you will observe belongs to that minority group, it is possible that if you
are not careful to check your own biases, your negative experience could
influence your observation.

58 Provide Clinical Supervision

Let’s Think About This
Issues for the School Head to Handle

During this observation process the teacher should be less anxious about
your presence and visitation because he/she has chosen the focus and is
familiar with your observation tool. Trust is created if you focused only
on what has been identified during the pre-observation conference. Your
observation should not interfere with the teacher’s teaching. However,
Robbins and Alvy (2001) give some important advice when you, as a
supervisor, should take action during the observation process:

“The only exceptions to this are if the content presented is incorrect,

inappropriate teaching strategies are being used, or the students are
being harmed - emotionally, psychologically, physically, socially, or
intellectually. Though these issues occur rarely, they must be addressed
directly.”

Why should you take action directly when any of the exceptions cited
take place?

Share and discuss your answer with your co-learners and Flexible
Learning Tutor.

Provide Clinical Supervision 59

 Let’s Read
Observation Techniques

Observation is done to gather objective data for analysis and feedback

later on.

An important issue that needs to be discussed regarding the observation

stage is how data, or information, will be recorded. There are three ways
to record data. These are:

a. Audio-recording
b. Video-recording
c. Scripting

Audio-recording is done through a tape recorder. Video-recording is done

through a video camera. In both methods, data is reviewed after recording,
transcribed, noted down, and organized.

Given limitations in the availability of technology in many Southeast Asian

schools, perhaps the most useful method of obtaining a record of what
happened in a classroom is the act of scripting or taking down notes.

Do you know what scripting is? Have you done this before? Chances are
you already have. Scripting is the process of writing down key words that
are spoken by the teacher or his/her students. Scripting also involves
writing down observations on behaviors manifested by the teacher and
the students during a lesson. This method is most popular because it only
requires a pen and notebook. Whatever the supervisor has written down
can be organized at a later time.

Scripting is not an easy task to do. It involves the development of certain

psychomotor skills that require days of practice. A good scriptor also often
develops his/her own codes or abbreviations to decrease writing time.
As a supervisor’s observation skills develop, he/she acquires the ability to
scan the room and note important events through codes as they happen.

60 Provide Clinical Supervision

Let’s Try This (Activity 2.6)

Mr. Pang is the supervisor of Miss Nguyen. Mr. Pang observed Miss
Nguyen in her classroom as part of their clinical supervision activities.
Shown here are some of Mr. Pang’s observation notes during Miss
Nguyen’s lecture to her Grade 5 pupils on the use of a microscope.

Class started late.

The objectives of the lesson were not presented at the start of class.
Latecomers ignored.
Most students inattentive.
Poor handling of overhead projector.
Started with a good topic introduction... attentive students.
Teacher has soft voice.. can’t be heard by students in the back.
Tallest student seems to ignore teacher.
Lesson plan not followed properly.
Teacher focused only on a group of students... ignored the rest of
the class...
A student was eating crackers, unnoticed.
Topics lack focus in presentation.Poor/Inadequate visual aids.
Questions difficult for students to answer. Some questions were
not related to the lesson.

Can you visualize the classroom events based on Mr. Pang’s notes?

1. What areas should Miss Nguyen focus on for improvement?

Provide Clinical Supervision 61

 2. How will the observation notes guide the feedback session later on?

Feedback

Compare your answers with those in the Key to Correction on page

106. If your answers are more or less similar to the sample responses
provided, you did great!

Let’s Read
Step 3: Analysis and Strategy

The conduct of the pre-observation conference and the observation itself

are steps in the clinical supervision approach that most school heads are
able to carry out. Unfortunately, the rest of the steps are often not carried
out because the supervisor’s activity usually stops after Step 2. As a result
the teacher is left without feedback from the observation, which should
make the supervisory visit meaningful.

The last three steps of clinical supervision - analysis and strategy, post-
observation conference, and post-conference analysis - enable the school
head to create a professional learning environment that supports the
growth and development of teachers.

Let us continue joining School Head Sanphum’s conversation with his

teachers where he explains the third step: analysis and strategy.

62 Provide Clinical Supervision

Ms. Achara: After observing us, what will happen next?

School Head: Let’s check the cycle again. Can you tell me the next
step after observation?

Ms. Phan: I believe that the next step is analysis and strategy. What
actually happens during this step?

School Head: Once the pre-observation conference and observation

steps are completed, it is now time for me, the supervisor,
to do a careful analysis of the classroom data gathered
in class. It is preferable that I analyze and interpret the
observation tool as soon as possible after the class while
the observation is fresh in my mind. In the process of
analyzing, I would go through the observation data,
study the facts carefully, and label the cause and effect
situations that have been recorded. I will identify the
decisions and actions you made and their probable
effects on your students. For example, I may have noticed
that the students were noisy because your voice was too
soft for them to hear or that your visual aids were not
prepared well. However, there may be other more
positive reasons why children are noisy, such as when
they are very interested and excited to learn from the
activities in a lesson. I will analyze the data using criteria
that we agreed upon during our pre-observation
conference. I need to maintain your trust by not making
drastic changes in the criteria without seeking your
agreement.

Mrs.Yanisa : How is observation data interpreted?

School Head: Supervisors interpret data by finding meanings in the

categorized observation notes. We should cast away our
personal beliefs and prejudice. We interpret the analyzed
data in the light of the complex nature of classroom life.
We should not jump to conclusions during this stage
before meeting with the teacher to avoid teacher
resistance. It is important to get the teacher’s perspective
before drawing conclusions from the interpretation.

Provide Clinical Supervision 63

 Ms. Phan: If I were a supervisor, I would find that part difficult.
Could you tell us how you prepare yourself for this task?

School Head: The school head implementing clinical supervision and

the teacher should have agreed to conduct the post-
observation meeting within 24 to 48 hours of the
classroom observation, because after that, memories of
what happened during the observation would fade. This
means that when the school head conducts anlysis and
interpretation right after the observation, he also plans
the strategy on how to communicate the results of the
observation to the teacher.

Mrs. Nga: Allowing the teacher to explain her side about the
supervision data certainly makes clinical supervision a
teacher-friendly approach. I feel more comfortable about
it now.

Ms. Achara: I agree with you. I have realized now that clinical
supervision is not something to be afraid of.

Ms. Phan: I agree with you both. School Head Sanphum, based on
what you said, do I take it right that the school head
holds another meeting with the teacher after he or she
analyzes and interprets observation data?

School Head: You’re right, Ms. Phan. As I have said, that is called the
post-observation meeting, a very important one where
both the school head and the teacher can learn much
from the class observation experience.

64 Provide Clinical Supervision

Let’s Try This (Activity 2.7)

Help Mr. Pang prepare for a feedback session with Miss Nguyen. Analyze
and interpret his observation notes.

Class started late.

The objectives of the lesson were not presented at the start of class.
Latecomers ignored.
Most students inattentive.
Poor handling of overhead projector.
Started with a good topic introduction... attentive students.
Teacher has soft voice.. can’t be heared by students in the back.
Tallest student seems to ignore teacher.
Lesson plan not followed properly.
Teacher focused only on a group of students... ignored the rest of
the class...
A student was eating crackers, unnoticed.
Topics lack focus in presentation. Poor/Inadequate visual aids.
Questions were difficult for students to answer. Questions were
not related to the lesson.

You can help the teacher identify his/her areas of improvement by

determining the cause-and-effect relationships between teacher actions
and student learning. Using your observation notes, you and the teacher
will be able to review his/her decisions or actions and their corresponding
effects on students. The teacher behaviors in your observation notes may
be grouped into four areas:

1. Teacher’s questioning style (How well the teacher formulated

and asked questions during the class.)

2. Classroom management (How well the teacher managed

student behavior.)

3. Lesson presentation (How well the lesson was planned and

delivered.)

4. Assessment of student learning (How well the teacher

evaluated the knowledge, skills, and values acquired by the
students from the lesson/s presented.)

Provide Clinical Supervision 65

 To facilitate the cause-effect analysis, you may use the table presented
below. Notice that some entries have been made on the area related to
questioning skills. The teacher’s actions and the effects on students as
observed by the supervisor have been written.

Your task now will be to complete the table by entering the other observed
teacher actions and their effects on the students. Let’s try this now!

Cause and Effect Situations Table

Decision/Action of Teacher Effect/s upon Students

1. Questioning Style

Questions were difficult for the Students could not answer the
students to answer. questions and did not participate in
the discusion.
Some questions were not related to the Students could not answer.
lesson.
2. Classroom Management

3. Lesson Presentation

4. Assessment of Student Learning

66 Provide Clinical Supervision

Feedback

Compare your answers with those in the Key To Correction on page 106-
107. Your answers may not be worded exactly the same way. The
important thing is that the thoughts expressed are similar.

Let’s Study

Step 4: Post-Observation Conference

Ms. Phan: After the analysis and strategy step, what will happen
next?

School Head: The fourth step of the clinical supervision cycle is the
post-observation conference. It aims to provide
feedback and guidance to the teacher to improve
teaching, reward desirable teacher behaviors, provide
acknowledgement of teacher instructional strength
patterns, and promote techniques for self-analysis.

Ms.Phan : How is it done?

School Head: After analysis and strategy, I will meet with you
individually to discuss my observations. The main
goals of the post-observation conference would have
been set already earlier. Do you know when that
would have been?

Mrs. Yanisa: I guess that’s during the pre-observation conference,

when the plan and the guidelines are made by the
supervisor and the supervisee.

School Head: Correct, Mrs. Yanisa.

Ms. Achara: Where are we going to hold this post-observation

conference? Do we invite other people to join?

Provide Clinical Supervision 67

 School Head: No. This is a session specially held to allow the supervisor
and the teacher to exchange ideas. We have to carefully
choose where to hold the conference, how long it should
take, and the order of discussion. This way any surprises
are avoided.

Mrs. Yanisa: I see. It seems fair to me.

School Head: However, there are some rules to fo llow. For

instance, I should not share the evaluation with you
after the observation outside of the post-observation
conference.

Ms. Achara: Why is that so?

School Head: Experts say that it is to prevent biases and to make the
discussion more orderly. To pro vide proper
documentation and review, it is also suggested that the
post-observation conference be scripted or audio/video-
recorded.

Mrs. Yanisa: What actually happens during the post-observation

conference?

Let’s Try This (Activity 2.8)

Can you answer Mrs. Yanisa’s question? What do you think actually
happens during the post-observation conference?

Read on to find out how well you answered the question.

68 Provide Clinical Supervision

Let’s Read

The Steps of the Post-Observation Conference

The opportunity to conduct both a pre-observation conference and a

post-observation conference is one of the great strengths of clinical
supervision. This allows the school head and the teacher to mutually
accept information that are anchored on their experiences and
observations.

The role of the supervisor in the post-observation conference is to promote

the growth of the teacher in terms of his/her instructional skills. The
supervisor takes care not to destroy or inflate the ego of the teacher. When
teachers go to the conference with a negative attitude, they may view all
information as criticisms. Some may even choose to ignore the information
altogether. These possible teacher reactions require that supervisors be
very specific during discussions. A technique that is often used by
supervisors to check if the teacher understood the discussion is called
paraphrasing. This requires the teacher to restate the information given
or provide the meaning of the information.

What are the procedures for the post-observation conference?

There are no hard and fast rules to follow. The main determinant of what
goes on during a post-observation conference depends largely on the first
three steps of the clinical supervision cycle. Do you remember what these
steps are?

The following procedures for the post-observation conference are

suggested:

1. The supervisor starts the conference by explaining that this session is

being video/audio-recorded. However, in the absence of a video/
audio-recorder, the supervisor may take down notes, called “scripting”
as you have learned earlier. This is a way to properly document the
exchange so that an analysis can be made later on.

Provide Clinical Supervision 69

 2. Results from the analysis and strategy step are then shared with the
teacher following the process below:

• The supervisor identifies areas of strength from the observation

data for samples of strength patterns.

• The teacher identifies his/her areas of strength, too. He/She

had prepared for this task earlier through an independent self-
analysis of the observation data provided by the school head.

• The school head presents the areas for improvement and

encourages the teacher to explain his/her side. The teacher
identifies his/her areas for improvement. This may be done by
identifying cause-and-effect relationships between teacher
actions and student learning. Recall that to make this process
easier, the discussion could be grouped into four areas of
concern:

- Teacher’s questioning style (How well the teacher formulated

and asked questions during the class)

- Classroom management (How well the teacher managed

student behavior)

- Lesson delivery (How well the lesson itself was planned and
delivered)

- Assessment of student learning (How well the teacher assessed

students’ acquisition of knowledge)

• Lastly, the supervisor identifies areas for improvement. He/She

may also provide recommendations at this point.

3. The supervisor and the teacher make a list of possible alternatives or

plan of action for the next lesson. Preparing a plan of action has two
purposes:

• It provides specific activities for the teacher to try based on the

general recommendations.

• It serves as a pre-conference for the next observation.

4. The supervisor and the teacher agree on the details of the next round
of the clinical supervision cycle.

70 Provide Clinical Supervision

Let’s Think About This

Do you now realize why the clinical supervision process is a cycle? What
do you think are the advantages of following the steps in sequence? Write
your answers on the lines below.

Discuss your answers with your co-learners or your Flexible Learning

Tutor.

Let’s Study
Step 5: Post-Conference Analysis

Ms. Phan: What happens after the post-observation conference?

You mentioned that there is a fifth step before the cycle
could start all over again.
School Head: You are a good listener, Ms. Phan. You are right. There
is still a fifth step. Do you remember what it is?

Ms. Phan: Is it the post-conference analysis?

School Head: You are correct. After the post-observation conference,

the next step is post-conference analysis. Do you know
what happens during this step?

Provide Clinical Supervision 71

 Mrs. Yanisa: I guess it has something to do with the audio/video-
record or script taken during the post-observation
conference.

Ms. Achara: I bet the supervisor goes over the audio/video-record

or script and checks if the session went well. I also think
he/she would take note of how to improve the process
for the next time. It’s really wonderful the way the steps
are connected!

School Head: Of course! I am glad that you appreciate the wisdom

behind each step. You have shown quick thinking and
a good understanding of the process of clinical
supervision this early. As you said, the fifth and last
step, the post-conference analysis, focuses on the
supervisor. In our case, it would be my show. To
improve the process of giving feedback next time, I
would assume the role of an evaluator of the recently
concluded post-observation conference. I would need
to be objective while listening to the recording to try to
identify relevant information. In case of difficulties or
ambiguities, I may ask another supervisor to help me
in this step.

Mrs. Yanisa: That seems to be a formidable task!

School Head: It could be if you are not prepared. In my case, I will

follow certain guidelines to make the process faster and
easier.

Ms. Achara: Can you tell us more about them? I am very interested.

School Head: I will use a set of questions to help me conduct the post-
conference analysis. These questions are:

• What was the tone of the exchange? Was there

hostility or acceptance?
• If there is hostility, in what specific part of the
session was it manifested?
• Were the messages clearly delivered and
understood?

72 Provide Clinical Supervision

 • Was the recommendation detailed enough?
• Was there more “supervisor talk” than meaningful
exchange?
• Did the teacher feel depersonalised?
• Was there adequate closure to the session?
• Was there emphasis on professional values?

Mrs. Yanisa: Conducting a post-conference analysis sounds like

reviewing and examining what occurred during the
post-observation conference. It allows the supervisor
to know how well the process went.

School Head: You are correct! Of course, there are other questions to
be added to the list. Again, this depends on what
transpired during the session.

Mrs.Yanisa : This explains to me why clinical supervision is a

demanding and long process. It is very meticulous and
it requires a lot of analysis.

School Head: I agree with you. But I think clinical supervision is a

good approach if we want to improve the instructional
skills of teachers who are new on the job or who need
more training on the teaching-learning process.

Let’s Try This (Activity 2.9)

Answer the following questions. Write your answers on the space

provided.

1. If the video/audio/script of the post-observation conference shows

that there was more “supervisor talk”, what is the implication of this
to the supervisory activity?

Provide Clinical Supervision 73

 2. In analyzing the post-observation conference, what would you consider
as behaviors that could lead to teacher depersonalization?

Feedback

Compare your answers with mine below. Your answers may not be
exactly the same, but as long as the thoughts expressed are similar, you
are doing well.

What does it mean when there is more “supervisor talk”?

Having more supervisor talk during the post-observation conference

implies that the supervisor dominated the post-observation conference,
depriving him/herself of the opportunity to hear and understand the
teacher better. The teacher was not able to express his/her thoughts and
feelings about the class observation, and thus, may have not felt esteemed
and trusted by the supervisor.

What behaviors could lead to teacher depersonalization?

Depersonalization pertains to a state in which a person no longer perceives

him/herself as an individual worthy of respect. The supervisor behaviors
that could lead to depersonalization of the teacher are scolding, giving of
criticism only and not recognition to the teacher, generalizing, comparing
the teacher to others, and censoring the teacher from presenting his/her
side.

74 Provide Clinical Supervision

Let’s Study

The Post-Conference Analysis

The main task of the supervisor in the post-conference analysis is to

carefully and systematically reflect on his/her own performance as
supervisor (Smyth, 1986). The supervisor him/herself becomes an object
of the analysis. One input to this is a comparison of what was planned
with what actually happened in the entire clinical supervision cycle. To
make the process more objective, the supervisor analyzes the video/audio/
script to determine who (either the supervisor, the teacher, or both) selected
each topic, who provided the data, who analyzed the data, and who
provided the alternatives.

The school head also analyzes the amount of guidance given to the teacher
and the reflection that took place during the post-observation conference
both on the teacher’s and the school head’s part.

The school head may involve the teacher in the post-conference analysis.
During the cooperative activity, the school head and the teacher may
identify specific areas for improvement in the next supervisory cycle that
they would carry out. To make the post-conference analysis more
organized, Garland and Shippy (1995) adopted and modified analysis
guides that the school head can use for analyzing the post-observation
conference’s verbal interaction. You may use these guides in analyzing
the post-observation meeting you conducted with the teacher.

Provide Clinical Supervision 75

 ANALYSIS GUIDE
Supervisor Perception of Own Behavior

In completing this questionnaire, please respond to the questions according

to how you perceive your interaction with the teacher was actually
conducted, not how you feel they should be.

Listed below are ways that you might have behaved during the post-
observation conference. Your concern should be the emphasis you placed
on particular behaviors. Please place an X in the position which you think
designates the degree to which a behavior was used.

The categories for rating your behavior usage are (1) very heavy emphasis
(VHE), (2) fairly heavy emphasis (FHE), (3) moderate emphasis (ME), (4)
very little emphasis (VLE), and (5) no emphasis (NE).

Categories
Behavior
1 2 3 4 5
(VHE) (FHE) (ME) (VLE) (NE)

1. Asked for teacher’s opinion.

2. Asked for clarification of ideas.

3. Accepted teacher’s ideas.

4. Praised teacher.

5. Gave constructive suggestions about

teaching.

6. Gave objective information about

teaching behaviors.

76 Provide Clinical Supervision

 ANALYSIS GUIDE
Supervisor Perception of Teacher Behavior During
Post-Observation Conference

In completing this questionnaire, please respond to the questions according

to how you perceive your interaction with the teacher was conducted,
not how you feel they should be.

Listed below are ways that the teacher might have behaved during the
post-observation conference. Your concern should be the emphasis the
teacher placed on particular behaviors. Please place an X in the position
which you think designates the degree to which a behavior was used.

The categories for rating the teacher’s behavior usage are (1) very heavy
emphasis (VHE), (2) fairly heavy emphasis (FHE), (3) moderate emphasis
(ME), (4) very little emphasis (VLE), and (5) no emphasis (NE).

Categories
Behavior
1 2 3 4 5
(VHE) (FHE) (ME) (VLE) (NE)
1. Asked for supervisor’s opinion and
ideas.

2. Asked for clarification of ideas.

3. Accepted supervisor’s ideas and

suggestions.

4. Offered suggestions and ideas.

5. Clarified own ideas and actions.

6. Assessed own teaching performance.

Provide Clinical Supervision 77

 Let’s Try This (Activity 2.10)

Analyzing Conference Verbal Interaction

Do you remember supervisor Mr. Pang on page 61? Below and on the
next page are the analysis guides he prepared for the post-conference
analysis of his implementation of clinical supervision with his teacher,
Miss Nguyen. Study it carefully.

ANALYSIS GUIDE
Supervisor Perception of Own Behavior

Categories
Behavior
1 2 3 4 5
(VHE) (FHE) (ME) (VLE) (NE)

1. Asked for teacher’s opinion. 

2. Asked for clarifications of ideas. 
3. Accepted teacher’s ideas. 
4. Praised teacher. 
5. Gave constructive suggestions about

teaching.

6. Gave objective information about


teaching behaviors.

78 Provide Clinical Supervision

 ANALYSIS GUIDE

Supervisor Perception of Teacher Behavior

Categories
Behavior
1 2 3 4 5
(VHE) (FHE) (ME) (VLE) (NE)
1. Asked for supervisor’s opinion and
ideas. 

2. Asked for clarification of ideas. 

3. Accepted supervisor’s ideas and

suggestions.

4. Offered suggestions and ideas. 

5. Clarified own ideas and actions. 
6. Assessed own teaching performance. 

Now, try to answer the following questions:

1. Based on the filled-out analysis guides, what can you say about Mr.
Pang’s behavior during the post-observation conference?

2. How about Miss Nguyen’s behavior?

Provide Clinical Supervision 79

 3. What do you think about the nature of the exchange between the
supervisor and the teacher? Who seems to have done most of the
talking?

4. Were the behaviors of Mr. Pang and Ms. Nguyen desirable? Why or
why not?

Feedback

Compare your answers with those on page 107-108. Your answers

may not be worded in exactly the same way but as long as the thoughts
expressed are similar, consider them correct.

The inputs in the analysis guides will help you, as a supervisor, to reflect
and decide on what to do next. As clinical supervision is a cycle, you may
opt to start the process again, building on what you have learned
previously. This process will help develop your skills as a supervisor. This
way, you are one step further in your quest to becoming an effective
supervisor leader in your school.

80 Provide Clinical Supervision

Let’s Study

Implementing Clinical Supervision in Your School

To be able to implement clinical supervision in your school, you need to

be familiar with the WHAT, WHO, WHEN, and HOW of clinical
supervision. Based on this lesson and the previous lesson, you should
already be able to answer the following questions:

1. What is clinical supervision?

2. Who provides clinical supervision and to whom is it given?

3. When is clinical supervision conducted?

Provide Clinical Supervision 81

 4. How is clinical supervision conducted?

Were you able to answer the questions? If so, then you are ready to
implement clinical supervision in your school! Just follow the steps of
clinical supervision and you are on your way to becoming an effective
clinical supervisor.

If you were not able to answer the questions correctly, read on to refresh
your memory.

Let’s Remember
In this lesson, you learned that:

• Clinical supervision is a process that focuses on the improvement

of a teacher’s classroom instruction through observation and
collection of records of what the teacher and students do in
the classroom during the teaching-learning process.

• Clinical supervision is a service given by the supervisor (usually

the school head) to the teacher (or student teacher). It requires
the active involvement of both the supervisor and the teacher
for it to work.

• Clinical supervision focuses on improving a teacher’s teaching

performance by analyzing teaching through a series of five
sequential steps. These steps are:

 Pre-observation conference
 Observation
 Analysis and strategy
 Post-observation conference
 Post-conference analysis

82 Provide Clinical Supervision

 The steps of clinical supervision are arranged in a cycle which
allows for the process to go back to the start each time a need
to further improve instruction is identified.

• The specific activities under the pre-observation stage are the

following:

 Build rapport between the supervisor and teacher.

 Clarify the role of the supervisor.
 Identify the categories by which the teacher will be observed.
 Examine and discuss lesson plans.
 Discuss an assessment strategy to check how well the
students learned the lesson.
 Agree on the method of data collection (how the supervisor
will record the classroom activity).
 Develop understanding about the remaining four steps of
the clinical development process.

• The observation stage refers to the actual observation of the

teacher teaching inside the classroom. The three ways to record
data during the observation stage are:

 Audio-recording
 Video-recording
 Scripting

• The guidelines for classroom observation include the following:

 Focus on the over-all interaction without ignoring or focusing

too much on a minor part of the process.
 Remain objective in your observation.
 Assume an unobtrusive (non-distracting) role and position
when entering the classroom to gather data.

• The analysis and strategy stage allows the supervisor to conduct a

careful analysis of the classroom data gathered in class and label
the cause-and-effect situations recorded. Decisions and actions
are identified as well as their probable effects on students. Under
this step, the school head plans the strategy for communicating
the observation results to the teacher and plans strategies for helping
the teacher improve performance.

Provide Clinical Supervision 83

 • The post-observation conference is the step in which the school head
holds a meeting with the teacher to discuss data gathered from
the observation. The school head presents to the teacher what
he/she observed and enables the teacher to explain and clarify
the observation results. The school head may audio/video record/
script the post-observation conference for analysis later.

• The post-conference analysis stage involves the supervisor

analyzing the effectiveness of his/her performance as a
supervisor. Using the audio/video-recorded or scripted post-
observation conference to compare what was planned with
what actually happened in the clinical supervision process, the
supervisor determines the extent of his/her and the teacher’s
involvement in the clinical supervision process. Garland and
Shippy (1995) provide Analysis Guides for the supervisor.

Let’s Think About This

Do you find clinical supervision a useful approach in providing
instructional supervision to your teachers? Can you use it to improve
teaching and learning in your school? How will you use it? Write down
your answers on the lines below.

Discuss your answers with your co-learners and Flexible Learning Tutor.

Now that you have learned the basic principles and techniques of clinical
supervision, you can start planning to implement it in your school. In
spite of some disadvantages, many schools have adopted the clinical system
of supervision and have achieved encouraging results. Are you prepared
to give clinical supervision a try?

84 Provide Clinical Supervision

How Much Have You Learned From This Lesson?
A. Answer the following questions.

1. Why should the five steps of clinical supervision be implemented in

proper sequence?

2. Why is a pre-observation conference necessary?

3. In the observation stage, why should the supervisor assume an

unobtrusive (non-distracting) role and position when entering the
classroom to gather data?

4. What are the advantages of audio/video-recording and/or scripting

a post-observation conference?

Provide Clinical Supervision 85

 5. What is the main goal in conducting a post-conference analysis, and
how is it done?

Compare your answers with those in the Key To Correction on pages 108-
109. Your answers may not be worded exactly the same, but as long as
the thoughts expressed are similar, consider them right.

If all your answers are correct, very good! You have successfully completed
Lesson Two! If you answered three or less correctly, please review the
items you missed and correct your own answers.

You are now more equipped to plan and implement clinical supervision
in your school. You may encounter difficulties along the way, but like in
any new system that could be difficult at the beginning, you will be able
to overcome these challenges and successfully achieve your goal in
improving instruction in your school. Good luck!

86 Provide Clinical Supervision

Let’s Sum Up

This module has guided you through two lessons that enabled you to
learn how to plan and implement clinical supervision in your school.

In Lesson 1, The Clinical System of Supervision - Assumptions and

Challenges, you learned the concept of clinical supervision. You
studied the assumptions underlying clinical supervision and the
advantages and disadvantages of clinical supervision.

In Lesson 2, Implementing Clinical Supervision in Your School, you

studied the five steps of the clinical supervision model in detail. You
learned the guidelines on how to successfully implement each step to
improve instruction in your school.

How Much Have You Learned From This Module?

Let’s find out how much you have learned from this module.

Part I. Answer the following questions. Write your responses in the

space provided.

1. What are the differences of general supervision, instructional

supervision, and clinical supervision?

Provide Clinical Supervision 87

 2. What are the advantages of the clinical approach to supervision?

3. Enumerate the disadvantages of clinical supervision and state ways

with which you can address them.

4. Why is there a need to take scripts or audio/video-recodings of the

post-observation conference?

88 Provide Clinical Supervision

Part 2: Read the case below and answer the questions that follow.

Mr. Sri Gusputra is encountering a great deal of trouble with three

students in his class. These students are constantly talking with
one another, starting fights, and provoking other classmates. Mr.
Gusputra finds their behavior disturbing and sees that other well-
behaved students are beginning to misbehave, too.

The school head’s attention was called by the frequent visits of

Mr. Gusputra’s students to her office for disciplinary reasons.
When she does LLBWA(Leading and Learning by Walking
Around), she often hears Mr. Gusputra’s angry voice. These events
made the school head determine that Mr. Gusputra is experiencing
classroom management problems. With this in mind, she called a
meeting with Mr. Gusputra.

Assuming that you are the supervising school head of Mr. Sri Gusputra,
answer the following questions.

A. In applying the clinical supervision approach to the case of Mr.

Gusputra, what steps will you apply? Write your answers in the
appropriate boxes below.

Provide Clinical Supervision 89

 B. As Mr. Gusputra’s supervisor implementing clinical supervision,
answer the following questions in order to conduct Step 1. Write your
answers in the spaces provided.

1. Just to be sure, what is Step 1 of clinical supervision?

2. What will be the purpose of your observation?

3. What will be the focus of the observation?

4. What observation tool will you use?

5. When will you conduct the observation?

90 Provide Clinical Supervision

6. When will you conduct the post-observation conference?

C. Now, you are ready to conduct Step 2 of clinical supervision with Mr.
Gusputra. What is Step 2? ________________________.

Answer the following questions in relation to Step 2.

1. What should you be doing as you observe Mr. Gusputra’s class? Check
your answer.

_____ Making descriptions of events under the focus of observation.

_____ Making interpretations of events under the focus of observation.

2. What is the difference between description of events and

interpretation of events?

D. As Mr. Gusputra’s supervisor who has conducted Step 2, you are

now proceeding to Step 3. What is Step 3?

Provide Clinical Supervision 91

 Answer the following questions that will help you conduct Step 3.

1. How will you analyze your observation data?

2. What strategy for helping the teacher improve will you propose?

E. What is Step 4? _____________________________________________

1. What is the purpose of Step 4?

2. What materials should you have with you in this meeting with Mr.
Gusputra?

3. At most, how many days should elapse before the conduct of Step 4?

92 Provide Clinical Supervision

4. What is the first thing to do during Step 4?

5. Whose responsibility is it to develop a future plan for further

improvement?

F. What is Step 5? ______________________________________________

1. What is the purpose of Step 5?

2. What materials will you need in conducting Step 5?

3. Check the items that you should analyze under Step 5:

_____ Data from the pre and post-observation conference.

_____ The appropriateness of the amount of guidance you gave

to the teacher.

The level of your involvement in the pre-observation

conference.

Provide Clinical Supervision 93

 The level of your involvement in the post-observation
conference.

_____ The verbal interaction that has taken place between you, as
supervisor, and the teacher, Mr. Gusputra.

4. Is it a good idea for you to involve Mr. Gusputra when you do Step 5?
Why or why not?

5. What should be the product or output of Step 5?

Feedback
Compare your answers with those in the Key to Correction on pages 110-
116. For answers that are in essay form, they may not be expressed in
exactly the same words, but as long as the thoughts expressed are similar,
you may give yourself a check mark.

If you have answered all the 33 questions correctly, that’s great! This
means that you have learned so much from this module. You may now
proceed to the next module in the SUPEReXCELS course. If you got 25
items or less correct, study this module on clinical supervision carefully
one more time. Reviewing the module contents may help you understand
the lessons better. Concentrate on the parts that cover the topics you
missed. Revise your answers after your review of the module. After doing
so, you may then proceed to the next module.

Good luck in your efforts to implement clinical supervision in your school!

94 Provide Clinical Supervision

How Do You Rate Yourself Now?

Congratulations! You have done well in finishing this module. I’m sure
you have gained a lot of learning and insights in providing clinical
supervision.

However, for a final check, may I invite you again to return to the Self-
Rating Competency Checklist on pages 9-10. Review the list of
competencies and place another check mark () in the POST column
that best describes your level of mastery of each competency now that
you have completed the module. Compare your competency level before
and after studying the module and reflect on how much you have learned.

Provide Clinical Supervision 95

 Let’s Apply What You’ve Learned
(Module Assignment)

Module Assignment Guidelines

Please follow these instructions:

1. Select a teacher in your school who seems to need the clinical

supervision approach.

2. Apply clinical supervision to this teacher by carefully conducting the

five steps of clinical supervision.

3. Make sure that the clinical supervision steps/activities are well

documented. (Text and photo/video documentation are better.)

4. Answer the following questions on a separate sheet/page

(approximately 500 words):

a. What was your basis in selecting the teacher for the

implementation of clinical supervision?

b. Briefly describe what you felt were the highlights of the clinical
supervision experience.

c. What insights did you gain from doing the assignment?

d. Based on the result of the post-conference analysis, what areas

of your clinical supervisory practice do you need to further
improve on?

Attach your answers to the whole documentation report.

5. Submit your module assignment to your Flexible Learning Tutor for

review and evaluation on or before the deadline.

96 Provide Clinical Supervision

Key to Correction

What Do You Already Know? pages 5-8

A. Define clinical supervision.

Clinical supervision is a process that focuses on the improvement of a

teacher’s classroom instruction through the observation and collection
of records of what the teacher and students do in the classroom during
the teaching-learning process.

B. Differentiate general supervision, instructional supervision, and clinical

supervision.

General supervision refers to all supervisory functions of the school

head inside and outside the classroom. On the other hand, instructional
supervision is focused on the teacher towards improving the teaching-
learning process. Clinical supervision is one of three approaches in
instructional supervision. The clinical supervision approach focuses
on the school head’s hands-on assistance to the teacher on areas of
the teacher-learning process where the teacher needs to improve on.

C. Indicate the proper order of the steps in the clinical supervision cycle by
filling in the boxes below in chronological order.

Provide Clinical Supervision 97

 D. Note that clinical supervision can be presented as a cycle. Explain why this
is so.

Clinical supervision is a cycle because it implies that after its five steps
are completed in sequence, the supervisor and the teacher may agree
to go through the entire process one or more times until the desired
changes are achieved.

E. Write the letter of the correct answer in the space before the number.

1. a. Pre-Observation Conference
2. d. Post-Observation Conference
3. c. Analysis and Strategy
4. e. Post-Conference Analysis
5. b. Observation
6. c. Analysis and Strategy
7. d. Post-Observation Conference
8. d. Post-Observation Conference
9. d. Post-Observation Conference
10. d. Post-Observation Conference
11. b. Observation
12. a. Pre-Observation Conference
13. a. Pre-Observation Conference
14. e. Post-Conference Analysis
15. a. Pre-Observation Conference

F. Give some advantages and disadvantages of providing clinical supervision

to teachers.

Advantages:

• The school head and the teachers are encouraged to cooperate

towards achieving common objectives.

• The school head can influence teaching behavior to a greater degree.

• Because of the collegial and cooperative process, teachers and

school heads have positive feelings towards the supervisory
process.

• Teachers needing help would invite the supervisor rather than

hide from him/her.

98 Provide Clinical Supervision

 • Clinical supervision allows for objective feedback, which leads
to improved results.

• It helps to diagnose instructional problems and provides

valuable information, which can lead to solving such problems.

• It enables teachers to clearly see differences in what they think

they are doing.

• Resulting improvements on instruction are highlighted, and

both teacher and supervisor are able to develop new skills and
strategies, which will be replicated, as needed.

• As teacher instruction improves, students will become more

motivated, classroom management will be improved, and better
learning will take place.

• Improved teacher performance leads to improving chances of

promotion for the teacher. The school head and the teachers
are encouraged to cooperate toward achieving common
objectives.

Disadvantages:

• Clinical supervision is difficult to do in reality because it is a

long and tedious process.

• It is difficult to provide clinical supervision to all teachers

because it is time-consuming.

• Not all teachers need intensive clinical supervision.

• Teachers have different growth needs and learning styles.

• Supervisors have different personalities and supervisory styles.

Provide Clinical Supervision 99

 G. How can the disadvantages in providing clinical supervision to teachers be
addressed?

The disadvantages could be addressed by:

• Tapping other sources of supervisory assistance.

• Training and supporting teachers who are willing to coach and

mentor their colleagues.

• Supervising with limited time.

• Find out the teachers’ preferred supervisory approaches and your

own preferences for the possibility of adopting other supervisory
options.

Lesson 1: The Clinical System of Supervision:

Assumptions and Challenges

Let’s Try This (Activity 1.2), pages 16-17

Name: Ms. Phan

Problem that needs to be addressed or skills

that need to be developed:

Ms. Phan needs to improve her teaching skills.

She needs to learn more skills in preparing exams
and conducting class activities.

How would you help her?

I would help her by observing her in class and

identifying areas for improvement, especially in
conducting class activities. I would also request
her to show me the exams she has prepared. Once
I have observed her class and seen her exams, I
would provide her information on how she could
improve on identified areas, and coach her on the
knowledge and skills she needs to learn.

100 Provide Clinical Supervision

Name: Mrs. Yanisa

Problem that needs to be addressed or skills that

need to be developed:

Mrs. Yanisa has concerns with regard to class

discipline. Her students are often noisy and inattentive.
She needs to learn how to make her lessons more
relevant and meaningful so students could relate to
them better. She also wants to know how to make the
students develop an appreciation for the topics they
discuss in class.

How would you help her?

I would help her by observing her in class, identifying

the teacher and student behaviors that contribute to
classroom management problems and check on why
she doesn’t succeed in making her lessons more
interesting. Afterwards, I would discuss with her
information on how she could improve on identified
areas, and coaching her on the knowledge and skills
she needs to learn.

Name: Ms. Achara

Problem that needs to be addressed or skills that

need to be developed:

Ms. Achara has difficulty encouraging her students to

participate in class discussions.

How would you help her?

I would help her by observing her in class to find out

possible reasons why the students do not participate
in classroom discussions. I would look into possible
hindering factors in motivating her students. I would
also study whether her questioning skills and teaching
strategies encourage student participation or not.
Then, I would provide her information on how she
could improve on identified areas and coach her on
other knowledge and skills she would need to learn.

Provide Clinical Supervision 101

 Let’s Try This (Activity 1.4), pages 23-24

1. If you were to observe a class, what activities/aspects of the class would you
include in your observation?

In observing a class, school heads usually cover the following:

• Appropriateness of learning activities to the lesson

• Student motivation and interest
• Assessment of student learning
• Classroom management
• Student behavior
• Teacher behavior

However, clinical supervision specifies including only the behavior and

activities that the school head and the teacher agreed to cover in the
observation.

2. Why is there a need for the supervisor to observe what goes on inside the
classroom?

There is a need for the supervisor to observe what goes on inside the
clasroom so that he/she can obtain first-hand information on how the
teacher handles classes, how the students respond, and how much they
learn. Observing classes enables the school head to know the teacher’s
areas of strengths, areas for improvement, and areas needing support for
his/her professional growth and development.

Let’s Think About This, pages 29 - 31

2. Teachers are agents of change in the instructional process.

The assumption makes me all the more willing to provide supervision to

the teachers because they are the frontliners in the teaching-learning
process. Competent teachers can liven up even the dullest moment in the
classroom. They can make the class interesting and meaningful.

102 Provide Clinical Supervision

3. Clinical supervision emphasizes teacher growth rather than defects.

As a clinical supervisor, I should keep in mind that the objective of

supervision is the professional growth and development of the teacher. I
should constantly look for good things about the teacher and his/her
efforts for improvement. Should I see weaknesses, I should communicate
these to the teacher as opportunities for learning and growth.

4. Supervisors must be present to observe.

Based on these assumption, a school head like me should not rely on

hearsays. I should see what’s happening in the classroom with my
own eyes so that I could later on come up with recommendations for
the teachers based on valid information.

5. Supervisors should provide feedback to improve and guide the instructional

strategies of the teacher.

This means that in the process of supervising the teacher, the task should
not end in classroom observation alone. I should give the teacher feedback
on the results of the observation. As I do so, I would also need to instruct
the teacher on how observed strengths could be further enforced and
how areas for improvement could be addressed.

6. Clinical supervision of teachers improves instruction via the analysis of

classroom teaching-learning and the systematic interpretation of data.

I should analyze and interpret data from the classroom observation. To

be able to do this systematically, I need to use valid observation tools. I
should also practice objectivity when I interpret data.

7. Clinical supervision can bring desired changes in teacher behavior.

The assumption makes me think positively about clinical supervision so

that even if I do not see results immediately, I do not give up easily. Instead
I will review areas which I need to improve.

Provide Clinical Supervision 103

 8. Clinical supervision is ethical, unbiased, and sensitive.

When I apply clinical supperviosion, I will observe professional ethics. I

should be fair to the teacher and should be watchful of the teacher’s and
students’ behaviors in order to have a good grasp of what their behaviors
are trying to communicate.

9. The feedback process of clinical supervision encourages independence.

When teachers are independent because they are already competent in

the teaching-learning process, I would be able to focus more attention on
my other leadership roles. Because the feedback process contributes well
to teachers’ independence, I will be able to engage in the feedback process
very actively. I will also find time to learn about how to give feedback
effectively.

How Much Have You Learned From This Lesson? pages 41-42

I.
1. C
2. A
3. C
4. B

II.
1. State at least three assumptions of clinical supervision.
Your answer may be any three of the following:

• Teachers are capable of analyzing their own teaching performance,

and they can provide input on ways to improve their teaching.

• Teachers are agents of change in the instructional process in schools.

• Clinical supervision emphasizes teacher growth rather than

defects.

• Supervisors must be present to observe.

• Supervisors should provide feedback to improve and guide the

instructional strategies of the teacher.

104 Provide Clinical Supervision

 • Clinical supervision of teachers improves instruction through the
analysis of classroom teaching-learning and the systematic
interpretation of data.

• Clinical supervision can bring desired changes in teacher

behavior.

• Clinical supervision is ethical, unbiased, and sensitive.

• The feedback process of clinical supervision encourages

independence.

2. Considering the advantages and the disadvantages of clinical supervision, would

you still want to apply it to your school? Why or why not? Elaborate on your
answer.

You would still want to apply clinical supervision in your school because
there are far more advantages than disadvantages. The 10 advantages
listed on pages 32 could result in improved school head-teacher relations,
improved teaching, and consequently, better student learning. On the
other hand, the disadvantages actually have to do with misconceptions
about clinical supervision and the inherent tediousness of implementing
it. Although these disadvantages are present, there are ways of addressing
them.

Lesson 2: Implementing Clinical Supervision in Your

School

Let’s Try This (Activity 2.2), page 48

What are the goals of clinical supervision?

The goals of clinical supervision are to gather information about the

teaching-learning process and to use data gathered in coming up with
solutions for the improvement of classroom instruction.

Provide Clinical Supervision 105

 Let’s Try This (Activity 2.6), pages 61-62

1. What areas should Miss Nguyen focus on for improvement?

The areas that Miss Nguyen should focus on for improvement are
classroom management, use of educational technology, communication
skills, questioning skills, and presentation skills.

2. How will the observation notes guide the feedback session later on?

Mr. Pang should review his observation notes and categorize the items into
classroom management concerns, teaching strategies, and questioning skills.
The observation notes could then be shown by Mr. Pang to Miss Nguyen
and they could discuss each observation note one by one.

Let’s Try This (Activity 2.7), page 66

Decision/Action of Teacher Effect/s upon Students

1. Questioning Style
• Questions were difficult for the • Students could not answer the
students to answer. questions and did not participate
in the discussion.

• Some questions were not related to • Students could not answer.

the lesson.
2. Classroom Management

• A student was eating crackers, • Student inattentive.

unnoticed.
• Teacher focused only on a group • Student being focused on paid attention.
of students. • Other students noisy and inattentive.
• Tallest student seems to ignore • Student inattentive.
teacher.

• Class started late. • Early students were noisy.

106 Provide Clinical Supervision

 Decision/Action of Teacher Effect/s upon Students
3. Presentation of Lesson
• Poor handling of overhead projector. • Inattentive students.
• Lesson plan not followed properly. • Students missed some lessons.
• Topics lack focus in presentation. • Students inattentive.
• Poor visual aids. • Students inattentive.
• Soft voice. • Students in the back could not hear
the teacher.
4. Assessment of Student
Learning
• There was no formal assessment • Students’ learning was not
of student learning using a measured. Thus they may be
written test or a practical test. deprived of the opportunity for
remediation activities.

Let’s Try This (Activity 2.10), pages 78-80

A. Answer the following questions.

1. Based on the filled-out analysis guides, what can you say about Mr. Pang’s
behavior during the post-observation conference?

Mr. Pang placed a fairly heavy emphasis on asking for Miss Nguyen’s
opinion, clarification of ideas, and accepting her ideas. Moderate
emphasis was given to praising her, while giving constructive
suggestions and providing objective information about her teaching
were very heavily emphasized. These show that Mr. Pang wanted to
hear out Miss Nguyen’s side, but later on ended up telling her his
suggestions and information which were already framed in his mind.

2. How about Miss Nguyen’s behavior?

Miss Nguyen placed fairly heavy emphasis on asking for and accepting
Mr. Pang’s ideas and suggestions. On the other hand, she placed very
low emphasis on offering suggestions and ideas, clarifying her own
ideas and actions, and assessing her teaching performance.

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 3. What do you think about the nature of the exchange between the
supervisor and the teacher? Who seems to have done most of the talking?

The nature of the exchange between Mr. Pang and Miss Nguyen was
cordial but somewhat supervisor-centered. This is evidenced by the
post-observation data which show that although Mr. Pang asked Miss
Nguyen’s opinion regarding the observation conducted, more emphasis
was given on providing feedback to Miss Nguyen on what he had
observed in her class. This behavior may have made Miss Nguyen
reluctant to explain her actions, assess her own performance, and
offer ideas for her own improvement.

The supervisor seemed to have done most of the talking. This may
have reduced the active participation and involvement of the teacher.

4. Were the behaviors of Mr. Pang and Miss Nguyen desirable? Why or why
not?

Some of the behaviors of Mr. Pang and Miss Nguyen were not
desirable. Mr. Pang tended to dominate the post-observation
conference; as a result, Miss Nguyen took on a more passive role.
Such behaviors do not encourage a cooperative involvement between
the teacher and the supervisor in the clinical supervisory process.

Since the role of the supervisor in the post-observation conference is

to promote the growth of the teacher, the more desirable scenario
would have been that the discussion was cooperative and equally
participated in by Mr. Pang and Miss Nguyen. A good practice would
have been as follows: Mr. Pang and Miss Nguyen together identified
her strengths, her areas for improvement, and their recommendations
for strengthening these areas.

How Much Have You Learned From This Lesson? pages 85-86

1. Why should the five steps of clinical supervision be implemented in proper

sequence?

Clinical supervision focuses on improving teaching performance by

analyzing teaching through a series of five steps that come in sequence.

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 It requires that each of the five interdependent steps be maximized to
help teachers achieve their full potential. Since the steps are in cycle, a
break at any one level of the chain breaks the continuity. This lessens
the benefits of clinical supervision in promoting instructional excellence.

2. Why is a pre-observation conference necessary?

A pre-observation conference is necessary because it allows the

supervisor and the teacher to dicuss a number of things: the purpose
of observation, schedule, focus, topic to be discussed, strategies to be
used by the teacher, observation tools to be used by the supervisor,
and schedule of the post-observation conference. All these prepare
both the supervisor and the teacher for the activity and ensure the
success of the process.

3. In the observation stage, why must the supervisor assume an unobtrusive

(non-distracting) role and position when entering the classroom to gather data?

This facilitates the natural flow of instructional events inside the classroom.
The supervisor must be unobtrusive to fully observe the teacher’s strengths
and areas for improvement as they occur in the actual classroom setting.

4. What are the advantages of audio/video-recording or scripting a post-

observation conference?

Audio/Video-recording and/or scripting allows for the post-

observation conference to be documented objectively. This
documentation later serves as a basis for the post-conference analysis
and for changes and improvements in the next cycle of supervision.

5. What is the main goal in conducting a post-conference analysis and how is

it done?

The post-conference analysis step involves the supervisor analyzing the

recorded post-observation conference to compare what was planned with
what actually happened in the clinical supervision process. At this stage,
the supervisor determines from the recording the nature of the interaction
that took place between the teacher and the supervisor, the agreements
reached, and the plan for future action. To make this approach more
organized, Analysis Guides may be used by the supervisor.

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 How Much Have You Learned From This Module? pages 87-94

Part I.

1. What are the differences of general supervision, instructional supervision,

and clinical supervision?

General supervision refers to all supervisory functions of the school

head that take place inside and outside the classroom. Instructional
supervision focuses on the teaching-learning process and encompasses
clinical supervision. On the other hand, clinical supervision, which is
one approach in instructional supervision, focuses on the specific role
of the supervisor in observing classes and taking other important steps
towards improving classroom teaching.

2. What are the advantages of the clinical approach to supervision?

• The school heads and teachers are encouraged to cooperate

towards achieving common objectives.

• The school head can influence teaching behavior to a greater degree.

• Because of the collegial and cooperative process, teachers and

school heads have positive feelings towards the supervisory
process.

• Teachers needing help would invite the supervisor rather than hide
from him/her.

• Clinical supervision allows for objective feedback, which leads

to improved results.

• It helps to diagnose instructional problems and provides

valuable information which can lead to solving such problems.

• It enables teachers to clearly see differences in what they think

they are doing.

• Resulting improvements on instruction are highlighted, and

both teacher and supervisor are able to develop new skills and
strategies, which will be replicated, as needed.

• As teacher instruction improves, students will become more

motivated, classroom management will improve, and better
learning will take place.

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 • Improved teacher performance leads to improving chances of
promotion for the teacher. The school head and the teachers
are encouraged to cooperate towards achieving common
objectives.

3. The disadvantages of clinical supervision and ways with which you can
address them are:

Disadvantages:
• Clinical supervision is difficult to do in reality because it is a
long and tedious process.
• It is difficult to provide clinical supervision to all teachers
because it is time-consuming.
• Not all teachers need intensive clinical supervision.
• Teachers have different growth needs and preference for
supervisory styles.
• Supervisors have different personalities and supervisory styles.

Ways to address the disadvanatges:

• Tap other sources of supervisory assistance.

• Train and support teachers who are wiiling to coach and mentor
their colleagues.

• Keep a log of observations by various school personnel that you

tapped.

• Apply supervising with limited time.

• Find out what the teacher’s preferred supervisory approaches are.

• Find out what your preferred supervisory approaches are.

4. The need to take scripts, audio/video-record of the post-observation

conference.

A post-observation conference needs to be properly documented

to serve a s a basis for the p ost-conference ana lysis. The
documentation provides the school head with pieces of evidence
that may be shown to the teacher.

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 Part 2.

A. In applying the clinical supervision approach to the case of Mr. Gusputra,

what steps will you apply? Write your answers in the appropriate boxes
below.

All 5 steps in the Clinical Supervision Cycle should be followed. These

are as follows.

B.

1. Just to be sure, what is Step 1 of clinical supervision?

Pre-observation conference

2. What will be the purpose of your observation?

The reason for the school head’s observation will be to help Mr. Gusputra
address his problem in managing his classroom and, thereafter, promote
better teaching and student learning.

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3. What will be the focus of the observation?

The focus of the observation will be the way he manages his class and the
interaction among the three students, the rest of the class, and Mr
Gusputra.

4. What observation tool will you use?

The observation tool the school head will use will be an observation guide
focused on the behavior of Mr. Gusputra, the three students, and the rest
of the class.

5. When will you conduct the observation?

The school head will conduct the observation on a day and time agreed
upon with Mr. Gusputra.

6. When will you conduct the post-observation conference?

The post-observation conference will be conducted within 24 to 48 hours

after the observation and should be agreed upon with the teacher.

C. What is Step 2? Observation

1. What should you be doing as you observe Mr. Gusputra’s class? Check
your answer.

 Making descriptions of events under the focus of observation.

This is the correct answer because during the class observation, the school
head should objectively take note only of what is going on inside the
classroom as raw data and without any interpretation.

_____ Making interpretations of events under the focus of observation.

This is not the correct answer because during the observation, the school
head or administrator should refrain from interpreting what is happening
in the classroom to prevent data being gathered from getting tainted by
subjectivity.

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 2. What is the difference between description of events and interpretation
of events?

Description of events refers to the objective narratives of what are actually

taking place inside the classroom, no more no less. Interpretation of events
refers to the meanings given to what are observed based on the context of
events and the interpreter’s background and experiences.

D. What is Step 3? Analysis and Strategy

1. How will you analyze your observation data?

The school head will analyze the observation data using the Cause-and-
Effect Situation Table. The school head will fill out the table by writing
the observation data he/she obtained.

2. What strategy for helping the teacher improve will you propose?

The strategy refers to the solution and actions the school head will propose
to the teacher towards addressing the teacher’s concern. The strategy is
arrived at after analyzing the observation data.

E. What is Step 4? Post-observation Conference

1. What is the purpose of Step 4?

The purpose of the post-observation conference is to communicate the

results of the observation with the teacher observed.

2. What materials should you have with you in this meeting with Mr.
Gusputra?

During the post-observation meeting, the school head should have all
papers from the pre-observation conference to the observation itself, and
the Cause-and-Effect Situation Table.

The school head will interpret the analyzed data during the post-
observation conference by sharing with the teacher the data entered in
the Cause-and-Effect Situation Table.

114 Provide Clinical Supervision

3. At most, how many days should elapse before the conduct of Step 4?

Only 48 hours at most should elapse before the conduct of the post-
observation conference.

The period between the classroom observation, analysis and strategy, and
conduct of the post-observation conference should be short - 48 hours or
two days at most - so that the teacher and the school head will not start
forgetting the details of the observation. With the details of the class
observation still fresh in their minds, the supervisor and the teachers can
maximize their conference as a good source of learning for both of them.

4. What is the first thing to do during Step 4?

The first thing to do during the post-observation conference is for the

school head to explain to the teacher the reason for the conference.

5. Whose responsibility is it to develop a future plan for further improvement?

The responsibility for developing a future plan for further improvement

lies in the school head, primarily, and the teacher, secondarily.

F. What is Step 5? Post-conference Analysis

1. What is the purpose of Step 5?

The purpose of the post-conference analysis is for the school head to

analyze him/herself in the conduct of clinical supervision with the specific
teacher.

2. What materials will you need in conducting Step 5?

The school head will need the analysis guides for the supervisor’s behavior
and the teacher’s behavior.

Provide Clinical Supervision 115

 3. Check the items that you should analyze under Step 5:

 Data from pre and post-observation conference.

_____

 The appropriateness of the amount of guidance you gave

_____
to the teacher.

 The level of your involvement in the pre-observation

conference.

 The level of your involvement in the post-observation

conference.

 The verbal interaction that has taken place between you, as

_____
supervisor, and the teacher, Mr. Gusputra.

4. Is it a good idea for you to involve Mr. Gusputra when you do Step 5?
Why or why not?

Yes, because that will increase the accuracy of your post-conference

analysis. It will also show Mr. Gusputra how serious you are in
implementing clinical supervision and in helping him.

5. What should be the product or output of Step 5?

The output of the post-conference analysis should be a plan on how the

school head could implement clinical supervision better.

116 Provide Clinical Supervision

Suggested Readings and Websites

Readings

Bernard, J.M., Goodyear, R.K., & Bernard, J.M. (2004). Fundamentals of

Clinical Supervision, 3rd ed. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Campbell, J.M. (2006). Essentials of Clinical Supervision. New Jersey: John

Wiley & Sons.

Driscoll, J. (2001). Practising Clinical Supervision: A Reflective Approach.

London: Bailliere Tindall.

Falender, C.A. & Shafraske, E.P. (2004). Clinical Supervision: A

Competency-based Approach. Washington, D.C.: American
Psychological Association.

Fall, M. & Sutton, A. (2003). Clinical Supervision: A Handbook for

Practitioners. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Orange County Department of Education (1989). Clinical Supervision:

Eleven Programs for Administrators on Lesson Analysis and Conferencing
Skills. Bloomington, IN: Agency for Instructional Technology.

Sullivan C. G. (1980). Clinical Supervision: State of the Art Review.

Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Websites

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved:

April 13, 2007. Website: http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/
index.jsp/

Center for Instructional Support. Clinical Teaching. Retrieved: April 13,

2007. Website: http://www.uchsc.edu/CIS/ClinSupChkList.html

Counselling (c2003-2007). Retrieved: April 13, 2007. Website: http://

counsellingresource.com/features/archives/2005/site-news/online-
supervision/

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 Edwards, J.K. (1999). Clinical Supervision. Retrieved: April 13, 2007.
Website: http://www.neiu.edu/~jkedward/ppt/800/index.htm

Eric Digest (1994). Models of Clinical Supervision. Retrieved: April 13, 2007.
Website: http://www.ericdigests.org/1995-1/models.htm

Glossary

Abbreviation - shortened version.

Acquaint - to familiarize or introduce.

Adopting - using, applying.

Adversary - an enemy or antagonist.

Ally - a friend.

Alternatives - choices or options.

Ambiguous - unclear or confusing.

Antagonism - being enemies or going against one another.

Appropriate - right or proper.

Assumption - a belief.

Collegial - being colleagues or among friends.

Conjure - think of, realize, or come up with.

Depersonalize - lose one’s individual identity.

Diligently - carefully or persistently.

Exhibiting - showing or manifesting.

Feedback - information given as a response, or a reaction.

Hands-on - very involved.

Haphazard - not careful, hasty, or disorderly.

Initiate - start.

Instituting - adopting for institutional use.

Implement - apply, use, or adopt.

118 Provide Clinical Supervision

Meticulous - strict, with high standards, or exacting.

Modify - revise, or change.

Passive - submissive, or not active.

Rationale - reason, or justification.

Recipient - receiver or one who receives.

Reflective - involving self-analysis.

Rigorous - laborious or demanding.

Scenario - an idea, scenery, thought or image.

Skepticism - lack of faith, disbelief or doubt.

Sequence - order or pattern.

Strategy - plan of action.

Supervisor - one who supervises or a manager.

Supervisee - one who is supervised.

Systematic - orderly, organized.

Thoroughly - completely.

Transparent - clear or not confusing.

Verbal - oral or by mouth.

Weaning - slowly removing oneself from.

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 References

Cogan, M.L. (1973). Clinical Supervision. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Garland, C. & Shippy, V. (1995). Guiding Clinical Experience: Effective

Supervision in Teacher Education. New Jersey: Ablex Publishing
Coorporation.

Glanz, J. (2005). What Every Principal Should Know about Instructional

Leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Glatthorn, A. (1997). Differentiated Supervision, 2nd edition. Arlington,

Virginia. : Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Kwong Yee Fan (1992). A Descriptive Study of Clinical Supervision in an

Aided Secondary School. The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Graduate School - Division Of Education.

Robbins, P. & Alvy, H. (2004). The New Principal’s Fieldbook: Strategies for
Success. Virginia, USA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.

Robins, S. (2004). Supervision Today. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:

Pearson - Prentice-Hall.

Smyth, J. (1986). Learning About Teaching Through Clinical Supervision.

Beckenham: Croom Helm.

Sullivan, S. & Glanz, J. (2004). Supervision that Improves Teaching: Strategies

and Techniques. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Valverde, L (1982). “The Self-evolving Supervisor.” In T. Sergiovanni (ed.)

Supervision of Teaching (p 81 - 89). Alexandria: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development.

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