Supervision and education 1AbstractThis essay discusses how supervision and leadership in education advances knowledge, skills,and dispositions through a set of assumptions and skills that empower teachers through anongoing change process. Knowledge, educational philosophy, adult learning, and value-addedleadership are introduced through an epistemological and ontological perspective in a way thatencourages moral reasoning and has an important role in how teachers approach their teachingpractice. Supervisory tasks such as walkthroughs and clinic supervision are mentioned that tendto favor a nondirective stance to leadership over a directive one. It was determined that closingthe written and taught curriculum gap requires distributed leadership that embraces diversity,resolves conflict, and reaches a consensus in a way that adheres to both the individual andcollective goals of the entire school.

Supervision and education 2Supervision in education: A perspective on knowledge, skills, and moral reasoningMost people can relate to a supervisor who demanded a lot from fellow-subordinates,who perhaps was unfair, and who looked at job performance in a judgmental way, all of whichare especially common in the business world where the overall objective is to gain a profit. Inthe educational field

–

where the assumption is to gain intellectual property as opposed tomonetary property

–

the terms

supervision

supervisor

, or

to supervise

have the risk of beingmisinterpreted. To address this potential for misinterpreting on how a person is to lead (i.e., one

who supervises), a school administrator’s knowledge, skill, and moral reasoning all mesh

together in determining how effective the behavior is when leading faculty, parents, and thecommunity towards a common good. Moreover, empowering other teachers to take onleadership roles often extends beyond the traditional notion of supervision in a way that doesaway with idea of

“subordinates” or the “novice” and

instead creates a culture of collaboration orcommunity of practice that embraces diversity through the pursuit of both individual andcollective goals. Therefore, an epistemological and ontological look at supervision is presentedthat recognizes learning and leading as an emergent, complex system.Supervisory knowledge

Knowledge

When defining what knowledge is, definitions abound. Generally, knowledge is defined

by a “familiarity, awareness, or understanding gained through experience and study” (

The American Heritage Dictionary

…, 2000). Knowledge can also be d

efined as facts and figuresand knowing how to do something. According to Bloom (1984), knowledge was at the lowestlevel of the cognitive domain

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below comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, andevaluation. For Wiggins and McTighe (2005), knowing discrete information and knowing how to

Supervision and education 3do something was necessary but not sufficient in developing the six facets of understanding:explain, interpret, apply, perspective, empathy, self-knowledge. Finally, for connectivists,knowledge resides within the connections which occur at a neural, conceptual, and social level(Siemens, 2008). Defining knowledge, therefore, influences how supervision is applied within aschool. Depending on how one defines knowledge and learning will greatly influence how onesupervises and leads.Instructional leaders who view knowledge as a collection of discrete facts and figureswill certainly have a different supervisory approach than someone who considers knowledgefrom a connectivism perspective. The former leads instructional leaders who settle for the statusquo and perhaps belong to a more didactic, lock-step approach to leading and learning.Alternatively, a connectivists approach suggests that the content is of lesser importance than theactual connection itself. In other words, knowing

when

where

, and

why

become more importantthan knowing

what

and

how

. In a digital age where content knowledge is changing at a rapidpace teachers who learn how to be critical of what they find on the Internet, for example, becomebetter life-long learners. Additionally, teachers who are able to establish networks for their ownlearning and teaching practice will be better prepared to improve over the long run.

Educational philosophy

Just as knowledge (i.e., epistemology) influences teaching and supervisory practice, so

too does an overall educational philosophy: “metaphysics

[and ontology], axiology, ethics,

aesthetics, and logic” (Gutek, 2004, p.

4). One´s own perception of what is real, knowing whatis means to be someone, determining what is valuable, distinguishing between right and wrong,recognizing beauty, and applying appropriate logic (i.e., inductive and deductive) all contributeto a perspective on teaching and learning that is certain to be varied among faculty. The job of