Effect of Supervisors Beliefs on the Supervision System in Turkish Primary Schools - Essay Example

Introduction The article “Supervision beliefs of primary school supervisors in Turkey” written by Kursad Yilmaz, Murat Tasdan and Ebru Oguz, is an article that grips the attention of the reader with its subject matter and the topic of discussion, which is related to supervisor’s approach in primary schools in Turkey. However, the research discussed in the article does not fulfill the expectations of the reader to learn something new about the topic, as it fails to give any new information regarding the field of supervision in the primary schools of Turkey. Usually, the aim of the researcher is to go deeper into the topic than the previous researchers and find out more about the topic being researched on. If the research reveals something more than what the previous researches have revealed, then the research can be called as successful. Otherwise, it remains just an experiment with no new insights on the topic. Similarly, the research on the ‘beliefs of supervisors in primary schools of Turkey’ revealed nothing new about the research topic. After reading the article, the reader feels that the researchers should have widened the scope of the participants and the subject matter if they were to learn something more than what is already available in the existing literature on the topic. It feels as if something was missing in the research and makes the reader feel that the study was incomplete. The Positive Aspects Of The Research The authors have done an excellent job in giving the background of the research. The authors have beautifully explained why the research is being conducted and how the beliefs of the supervisors play an important role in the performance and development of the educational organizations in Turkey. According to the research by Sullivan and Glanz (2005), the supervision beliefs of supervisors influence not only their behavior and approach towards work but also their language and communication pattern. Hence, understanding their beliefs about supervision becomes an important thing. According to the authors, the main aim of the research is to know the core of the supervision. As beliefs of human being determine the “views and perceptions” of the job they are doing, it is important to know what work method they believe in so as to understand their drive and motivation behind their performance at work. The authors have very successfully explained the reason behind undertaking the research and how the research results are going to impact the overall function of supervision in the primary schools of Turkey. Moreover, the sample strength of the research of 300 primary school supervisors was also a positive point of the research. Also, the research was based on the classification of beliefs of supervision by Sullivan and Glanz (2005). They have classified beliefs of supervision in two categories, i.e. ‘bureaucratic supervisory beliefs’ and ‘democratic supervisory beliefs’. The authors have explained how these beliefs affect the communication between supervisors and teachers, and the job satisfaction of the teachers. The authors have explained the essence of both, the bureaucratic and the democratic supervisory beliefs, in very easy and clear language. Their explanation makes the reader believe that the supervision beliefs of the supervisor truly play an important role in the implementation of responsibilities and also in the satisfaction level of the teachers. In this way, a strong foundation of research is formed. However, it also prompts the reader to think if studying the ‘supervision beliefs of primary school supervisors’ is enough to understand the whole structure of supervision in the primary schools of Turkey. After all, the people who are being supervised by the supervisors are also the important and essential aspect of the supervision system. The Drawbacks Of The Research Following are the drawbacks of the research: 1) The authors have described how supervision plays an important role in maintaining, improving and reinventing the quality of education in the primary schools of Turkey. The authors have also mentioned that improving the teaching activities is the main goal of supervision in educational organization. Hence, it won’t be wrong to say that if one needs to know the weak points in the supervision field in order to find a solution for them, then it is important not only to understand the ‘supervision beliefs of supervisors’ but also to know if those beliefs are really being implemented in the job. This would have been possible with the help of the method of interview. Interview would have proven to be a better method for this research as it would have given a deeper look at different aspects of supervisor’s beliefs and its implementation. 2) According to Glickman (1990), one of the main goals of supervision is the development of school functions with the help of “teacher improvement and direct help for teachers”. This shows that teachers play an important role in the development of the educational sector. Hence, it was also important for the researchers to include teachers in their survey. Without understanding the opinion of teachers, it is not possible to improve the supervision system. After all, it is the teachers who are being supervised and it is ‘their’ satisfaction level with supervision methods that can improve the quality of education in primary schools of Turkey. Hence, the second drawback of the research is that the teachers were not included as participants. Even though the research was ‘only’ about the beliefs of the supervisors, one cannot ignore the fact that the research was aimed at improving the supervision system in the schools in Turkey. Improvement of the system is not possible without taking the ideas and input from one of the most important part of the system which, in this case, is the teachers. The only way to know how the beliefs of the supervisors are affecting the responsibilities of the supervisors is to talk to the teachers. 3) When a research is conducted in any field, the main intention is to gain insight into those aspects of the subject which are not yet touched in the previous researches. However, the research discussed in the article fails to find anything new. The researchers stated that the purpose of the research is to find out the supervision beliefs of supervisors and if their beliefs change according to their educational background and superiority. However, after reading the article, one realizes that researches were conducted in the past on the same topics. For example, a research conducted by Açıkgöz in the year 2001 had revealed that the educational background of the supervisors does change their approach to supervision. Açıkgöz’s research had concluded that the lack of higher education of supervisors was creating problem in the quality and functional nature of the supervision. Hence, the importance of education in role of the supervision beliefs was already established. So, why the researchers decided to take up the same topic again is a question. Conclusion From the discussion above, it is clear that the researchers started the research with good intention of finding how supervisor’s beliefs affect the supervision system in the primary schools of Turkey. However, the lack of innovative and new approach made this research a little weak. In the end, nothing new was contributed to the efforts of improving the supervision system in the primary school in Turkey. Inclusion of teachers and some new research questions would have strengthened the research. References Yilmaz, K., Tasdan, M., & OÄŸuz, E. (2009). Supervision beliefs of primary school supervisors in Turkey. Educational Studies (03055698), 35(1), 9-20. doi:10.1080/03055690802288502 Read More