Practices and Challenges of Instructional Supervision in Government Secodary Schools of Wolaita Zone

The purpose of this study was to assess practices and challenges of instructional supervision in government secondary schools of Wolaita Zone. Three research questions were formulated. They are aimed at determining the extent to what instructional supervisors give professional support to teachers; to what extent are instructional supervisors effective in supervisory tasks and finding out the main challenges that existed in the implementation of instructional supervision. Descriptive survey design and mixed methods were employed. Five woredas and six secondary schools were selected by simple random sampling technique. Five woreda education office supervision coordinators, five assigned supervisors, 15 principals were selected by purposeful sampling technique. Eighty five teachers were selected by simple random selection method. Instruments of data collection were developed by the researcher and pilot-tested by using Cronbach’s Alpha. Quantitative data were gathered through questionnaire. Qualitative data were gathered through interview. Data were analyzed in quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were filled into SPSS version 20. Frequency, percent and mean were used to analyze quantitative data. Qualitative data were analyzed by narration. The findings of the study indicated that instructional supervisors didn’t give regular and adequate support to teachers in professional and curriculum development. They didn’t give training to teachers either in pedagogical issues or in importance of instructional supervision. Instead of spending more support time in academic tasks, they spend their time doing administrative tasks. On the other hand, instructional supervisors faced different challenges that influenced effective implementation of supervision. These were: problem in selecting and assigning right persons as instructional supervisor, lack of supervision manuals, lack of adequate budget, facilities and materials, resistance of teachers to supervision due to lack of awareness for teachers in importance of supervision, excessive workloads of principals and lack of right training for supervisors. Based on the findings, it was recommended that supervisors need to give regular and adequate support to teachers on professional and curriculum development and it is better to focus on academic tasks by delegating administrative tasks to other personnel. Woreda education office is suggested to select and assign right persons as instructional supervisors. Regional education bureau, zone education department and woreda education office are suggested to fulfill supervision manuals for instructional supervisors.


Background of the Study
Education is an instrument to bring change in human life and a base for development.Schools are places where formal education is implemented.For its implementation cooperation of different stakeholders is important.The role of instructional supervisors is to support teachers who are facilitators of student learning.The goal of supervision will be achieved when instructional supervisors and stakeholders work together.
Before the emerging of supervision, inspection was first introduced in 1941/2 in Ethiopia as it was indicated in Ministry of Education Supervision Manual.Later, inspection was replaced by supervision in 1962/3.The replacement of inspection by supervision was believed that it can improve the teaching-learning process [18].But in developed countries like United Kingdom (UK) and United States much more attention is given to inspection than school supervision [7].According to [4] inspectors acted as expertise and authority.They had authority to transfer teachers to the schools they want, promote or suspend them for negligence of duties.In contrast, supervisors are responsible to support and assist teachers and school principals in the tasks.According to [21] instructional supervision is viewed as all activities that educational administrations may express as leadership in the improvement of instruction like observation of teaching-learning in classrooms meeting with individual teacher or group of teachers.This shows that instructional supervision has a role of improving teaching-learning process.[16] explains the way of emphasizing this strategy in that all children and students can learn and many of them need some form of support in learning and identifying barriers that hinder learning.[12] suggest the way to achieve the goal of supervision as general advice, assistance and support of instructional supervisors.
Therefore, to make teaching-learning process effective, advice, assistance and support of supervisors is very important.Over several decades great changes were observed in the philosophy, objective, function, technique and in the outcomes of supervision according to [21].This shows the growth and changes made in supervision.
According to [18] in Ethiopia during socialist principle, the political system of the country changed education management.There was strict control over education policy.Due to this, plans and programs needed to be changed from supervision to inspection in 1980/1981.After this, when Education and Training Policy of 1994 was started to be implemented, educational administration was decentralized.Following this, democratic supervision was introduced.In this form of supervision all concerned stake holders can participate in decision making, planning and setting objectives to improve teaching-learning process.
In order to improve teacher's performance and students' achievement, improvement of instructional supervision plays a crucial role.Researchers such as [25] believed that instructional supervision has the potential to improve class-room practices and contribute to student success through professional growth and improvement of teachers.[20] in its Education Sector Development Plan (ESDP IV) underlined the necessity of supervising and supporting teachers as a strategy to ensure quality and improvement of teaching-learning.According to [23] effective school supervisor gives relevant and on-going support and encouragement to teachers' instructional practices.Instructional supervision improves both decision-making skills and student learning out come.Therefore, instructional supervision and support are very important to improve teaching-learning.[2] mentioned the importance of effectiveness and commitment of stakeholders especially teachers, school leaders and management.In (ESDP) III policy frame work, SNNPRS has given due attention to implement the current education policy.In the same book it is underlined that educational supervision and leadership will be strengthened especially at the wereda and school levels through intensive training for supervisors, school principals and teachers as strategy to improve quality of education and teaching-learning.This is to achieve education goal of GTP2 by improved teaching-learning through effective instructional supervision.Wolaita Zone Education Department underlined the necessity of instructional supervision and commitment of assigned/cluster supervisors to improve student achievement in the conference made in November 2017 in Wolaita Sodo.In the conference one of the challenges raised was lack of commitment of supervisors.Another challenge raised was the tasks they do when they visit schools that are not in their job descriptions.Some of the participants of the conference and the head of education department of Wolaita Zone said that assigned/cluster supervisors visit the schools only to take lists of males and females and report it to woreda education office.[27] showed in their research that there is new approach to supervision in Addis Ababa.The city administration Education Bureau recruits and assigns subject area supervisors/ teachers based on their qualification and teaching experiences as permanent staff member in each school to give professional support to teachers.
Therefore, the researcher believes that effective implementation of existing instructional supervision and finding new strategy and approach to it can promote professional competency of teachers and improve instruction.So, this study was used to assess practices and challenges of instructional supervision in government secondary and preparatory schools of Wolaita Zone.

Statement of the Problem
The strength and effectiveness of instructional supervision is one of the key aspects for improvement of teachinglearning process, teachers' professional development and achievement of students.To achieve this goal, schools should be supported by committed and skillful supervisors.Instruction can be successful and improved by regular and adequate Support of instructional supervisors.But there are problems and challenges in instructional supervision.In order to address the different problems and challenges, many countries have initiated processes of their supervision system.Ethiopia is one of the countries that addressed the process of supervision system to improve teaching-learning system and to assure education quality.The need to initiate system of instructional supervision and reduce the challenges that face in the area will improve students' learning and their achievements.
According to [28], in order to improve the teaching-learning process in general and learner's achievement in particular the overall education system should be supported by educational supervision.
According to [17], supervision is the process in which supervisors provide professional support for school principals and teachers to strengthen the teaching and learning process.But there are causes of ineffectiveness in instructional supervision.As stated in Five Years Growth and Transformation Plan and Ethiopian Renaissance (2003 E.C) basically there is no doubt that education sector didn't assure quality education because stakeholders of the sector haven't become effective in their performance meaningfully even though it differs from place to place.[26] mentioned poor facilities in all levels of education to support instruction and weak supervisory and administrative support for school as problem associated with quality.This indicated that there is weak supervisory practice in the region.
It is impossible to say our country's education has made learners to get required knowledge to develop problem-solving skills in its objective, content, access, input, output and student achievement [10].It is obvious that education and training system of the country hadn't created effective supervisory skills in instructional supervisors.The Policy put direction for educational administration to be decentralized and hence supervision becomes democratic which involves the participation of stakeholders who are concerned to take part in planning, decision-making, developing objectives and teaching strategies to improve instructional process [18].
[26] reviewed and summarized from various reports that even though efforts were invested to fulfill skilled man power at each level, the lack of qualified personnel in the region in general and at wereda and school levels in particular was found to be the fundamental problem faced during the implementation of (ESDP) II.Different research findings conducted on practices of instructional supervision in some primary and secondary schools of different regions and zones of Ethiopia had showed that there is lack of awareness in utilizing various supervisory options, lack of continuous training for different leaders and senior teachers who are supposed to carry out supervisory activities at school level and also there is inadequate classroom observation to monitor instructional improvement.
The research finding of [5] showed the gap of supervisors in supporting the real implementation of CPD.The research findings of [1] showed that teachers lack awareness and orientation on the activities and significance of school based supervision in effectiveness of practices of supervisory options matching with the individual teacher's development level, and inabilities of supervisors to apply the necessary process for the classroom observation properly, lack of relevant training programs for supervisors, scarcity of experienced supervisors, lack of supervision manuals in schools and shortage of allocated budget for supervisory activities.
A research conducted by [12] on supervisory practices of cluster supervisors in promoting teachers in teachers' professional competences found that there was lack of adequate professional support for newly deployed teachers in instruction and peer coaching, focus on administrative matters than on academic issues, less mutual professional trust between principals and teachers, considering clinical supervision as fault finding, fear of newly deployed teachers that supervisors will report their weaknesses to the other stakeholders, lack of training, need assessment from the basis of teachers pedagogical gaps, lack of linkage of the schools with the NGOs to financial support, challenges that face from teachers to accept comments, lack of systematic identification of teachers skill gaps and lack of support for teachers on instructional activities.
The findings of the research conducted by [3] on Assessment of Implementation of School Clinical Supervision in Primary Schools of Wolaita Zone showed that the school supervisors were not efficient in assisting teachers in conducting required meetings with teachers in organized conferences and training programs at the school level.The findings of the research conducted by [23] on Practices and Challenges of Educational Supervision on professional Development of Teachers in Addis Ababa showed lack of trained supervisors, low morale and commitment of supervisors and lack of attempts to identify teacher training needs.
A recent study conducted by researchers at the District Leadership Design Lab (DL2) at the University of Washington suggested the specific work practices of principal supervisors to be associated with positive school results.
The researchers of this study noted that principal supervisors matter to improved student learning by working through principals and teachers, specifically, by supporting principals grow as instructional leaders [8].
The other thing that affects supervisory practice is the task supervisors do when they supervise the school's instructional activities.[8] mentioned some of the traditional tasks of principal supervisors.They supervise school leaders, and the buildings they run.They also supervise compiled local policies and state regulations.They spend their time checking these and other administrative tasks rather than academic issues.This recent research suggested that principal supervisors can positively affect student achievement by supporting school principals grow as instructional leaders.By giving right training and support, supervisors can assess and evaluate the current leadership practice of principals.By doing this, they can identify professional learning opportunities which can improve teaching-learning and student achievement.The study also added that supervisors often lack the right training and support to help principals in capacity building as instructional leaders.As most principal supervisors were former principals, they know the burden and complexities of the job, they are not ready to give advice and guide school principals.Instead of leading school, these supervisors must now coach and support principals whose work requires sets of different skills [8].[8] in The Model Principal Supervisor Professional Standards 2015 suggests principal supervisors to shift their supervision from focus on compliance to shaping principals' instructional leadership capabilities.It is shown that they were not provided with the right training and didn't give supportive supervision to principals.
Focus on the compliance and lack of right trainings are mentioned as problems in the study mentioned.If these problems were solved, the instructional leadership capacity of the principal with whom they work would be improved and effective instruction and the highest level of student learning and achievement would be recorded.
Supervisor's effectiveness in supervisory task is a key thing to improve instructional activities in the classroom.To do this, feedback given by instructional supervisors must be timely and specific.To rate teachers' work, supervisors should evaluate as soon as teachers perform their works.Supervisors should not wait until annual evaluation [8].
The objective of giving feedback is to improve performance not to punish weak performance.Instructional supervisors should offer feedback as corrective criticism.But many instructional supervisors are reluctant to give negative/corrective feedback and hence they are not effective in their supervisory tasks.Studies showed that any feedback (positive or negative) result in higher morale and productivity among workers than no feedback [8].
Supervisors are ineffective in their supervisory tasks of giving feedback, correction, criticism, observing teachers' instructions in the classrooms.Observing instruction in classroom is the task many skilled supervisors neglect.The other issue many instructional supervisors neglect is breakdown of communication between supervisors and teachers.
Therefore, this study focuses on investigating professional support, effectiveness and challenges of supervisors, principals and vice principals.Hence it is guided by the following basic research questions. 1.To what extent do instructional supervisors give professional support to teachers of Wolaita Zone Secondary Schools? 2. To what extent are instructional supervisors effective in supervisory tasks? 3. What are the main challenges that exist in the implementation of instructional supervision in Wolaita Zone Secondary Schools?

Objectives of the Study 3.1 General Objective
To assess Practices and Challenges of Instructional Supervision in Wolaita Zone Secondary Schools.

Specific Objectives
The specific objectives of this study are the following: 1.To assess professional support of instructional supervisors to teachers in Wolaita Zone secondary schools 2. To investigate the effectiveness of instructional supervisors in supervisory tasks in Wolaita Zone secondary schools 3. To find out the main challenges that exist in implementation of instructional supervision in Wolaita Zone secondary schools

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
This chapter contains the research design, the research method, sources of data, study site and population, sample size, sampling technique, instruments of data collection, procedures of data collection, methods of data analysis and ethical considerations.

Research Design
Research design is a plan for action that links philosophical assumptions to specific methods [9].According to [14] descriptive survey design gives a better and deeper understanding of the phenomena that helps for fact-finding.It is adequate and accurate to analyze and interpret data.As stated by [7], it helps to gather data at a particular point in a given period of time.This research design helps to describe the existing situation of the issue.This design was selected to examine the current practices and challenges of instructional supervision by survey of opinions of WEO supervision coordinators, instructional supervisors and teachers.

Research Method
In order to assess practices and challenges of instructional supervision, the quantitative and qualitative method was used.The method explores practices and challenges that face instructional supervisors during supervisory activities.It is one in which both quantitative and qualitative methods are used to answer research questions in a single study [9].Quantitative approach is considered to be appropriate because it applies survey in collecting data.
Quantitative data was collected by questionnaire and qualitative data was collected by interview [9].According to [9] interview facilitates to get in-depth data.In this method qualitative data is used to explain or build quantitative results.Therefore, in this study, mixed methods which involve both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed because the methods provide a better understanding of the research problem and questions.

Sources of Data
The sources of relevant data were collected from primary and secondary sources.

Primary Sources of Data
The primary data sources were Woreda Education Office Supervision coordinators, assigned supervisors, government secondary school principals, vice principals and selected teachers.

Secondary Sources of Data
The secondary sources of data were documents of MoE, SNNPRG Education Bureau and ETP of Ethiopia and 2017/2018 report documents of Wolaita Zone Education Department.

Study Site
This research was conducted in Wolaita Zone.Wolaita zone is located in SNNPRS, Ethiopia.The study was conducted in five woredas.6 government secondary and preparatory schools were selected.Its borders are Bilate River in eastern part, Oromiya region in north-eastern part, Lake Abaya in south-east, Omo River in the west, Hadiya zone in the north, Kambata-Tambaro zone in the north-west and Gamo Gofa zone in the south.There are 12 woredas and 3 town administrations in Wolaita zone.The capital town of Wolaita zone is Sodo.Sodo is 330 kilo meters far from Addis Ababa and 156 kilo meters far from Hawassa.The study target schools were: Hembecho, Gurumo Koysha, Shola Kodo, Gacheno, Hobicha Bada and Edo Duguna secondary schools.They are 44, 19, 10, 31, 20 and 57 kilo meters far away from Wolaita Sodo, the capital town of Wolaita Zone respectively.

Sample, Population and Sampling Techniques
There are 68 government secondary schools in Wolaita Zone according to 2010 secondary school reports of Wolaita Zone Education Department. 5 Woredas and 6 secondary schools were randomly selected.In a simple random technique, every population has an equal chance of being included in the study.The names of schools were taken from Wolaita Zone education department and the names of teachers from sampled schools.The names of 15 woredas written in pieces of papers.Pieces of papers were folded and mixed in a small bag and randomly picked up and selected 5 woredas.From 338 teachers 85 teachers were selected by simple random technique.5 WEOSC, 5 assigned supervisors, 6 principals and 9 vice principals were selected by purposeful sampling technique.According to [22] recommended to select 10% to 30% of the total population as an adequate sample for a study.Hence, it was taken 110(30%) from the total population that was 363.
To get reliable data for the study, the sampling techniques used were multilevel relationship sampling techniques.They involve the use of two or more sets of sampling techniques that are extracted from different levels of the study.These techniques involve combining probability and purposeful sampling techniques [9].

Instruments of Data Collection
In this study, questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data regarding practices and challenges of instructional supervision in government secondary and preparatory schools of Wolaita Zone.

Questionnaire
Questionnaire is defined as written form that asks exact questions of all individuals in the sample group, and which respondents can answer at their own convenience [7].The questionnaire is the most widely used type of instrument in education.The data obtained by questionnaires can be more easily analyzed and interpreted than the data obtained from verbal responses.Questionnaires provide greater uniformity across measurement situations than do interviews.Each person responds to exactly the same questions because standard instructions are given to the respondents.Questionnaire design is relatively easy [13].Therefore, questionnaires are to be better to get large amount of data from large number of respondents in a relatively shorter period of time with minimum cost.Based on the objectives of the study and review of related literature, the researcher developed the questionnaire to obtain data.Open-ended and closed-ended items were prepared for data collection.The researcher prepared questionnaires in English language and administered to 6 principals, 9 vice principals and 85 sampled teachers totally to 100 respondents with the assumption that they can understand the language.Closed-ended type items of the questionnaires were prepared to get a greater uniformity of responses to make it easy to be processed.In addition to this, few open-ended type of items were prepared in order to give opportunity to the respondents to express their feelings, perception and intentions related to practices and challenges of instructional supervision in the schools selected.In supporting the above ideas, [13] recommended that the larger the sample size, the more structured, closed and numerical the questionnaire may have to be, and the smaller the size of the sample, the less structured, more open and word-based the questionnaire may be.Hence, closed-ended type of questions have five rating scales, 5=strongly agree, 4=agree, 3=undecided, 2=disagree, 1=strongly disagree.

Interview
The interview is a process of communication in which the interviewee gives the needed information orally in a face-to-face contact with the interviewer.According to [6], the purpose of interviewing people is to find out what is in their mind -what they think or how they feel about something.Semi-structured interview questions were prepared.The questions were prepared in English language.After explaining the purpose of the interview for the interviewees and getting their consent, the researcher interviewed 3 WEO supervision coordinators and 3 assigned supervisors.

Validity and Reliability
The objective of pilot-testing the question is to enable samples in completing the survey.It also helps them to understand the questions.In addition to this, participants can provide their written comments on the survey, According to [29], checking the validity and reliability of data collecting instruments before conducting actual study is the core to assure the quality and reliability of data collecting instrument.According to [9], validity is the extent to which research instruments measure what they are intended to measure.Reliability is the degree to which a research instrument yields consistent results or measures of data when repeated on the same sampled respondents.Based on the objective of the study and review of related literature, the researcher developed questionnaires and made pilot-test by using Cronbach's alpha at Areka Secondary school.For pilot-study 8 teachers were randomly selected.1 principal and 3 vice principals were purposively selected.Totally, 12(10.9%) of sampled population was selected as [22] recommended 10% of total population for pilot-test.The researcher used written comments of pilot-test respondents and the advisor and changed some questions of the instrument.The respondents of pilot test were not included in the main study.The results of pilot-test were shown in table 3 below..927According to [22] the reliability coefficient of 0.8 or more shows that there is a high degree of reliability of data.The reliability of the piloted questions was Cronbach's Alpha 0.924 and it is highly reliable.Therefore, it was used for the study.Based on the responses and written comments given by principals and teachers who were selected for pilot test, some poorly worded and senseless questions were discarded and some were modified.In the questions developed to assess the professional support of instructional supervisors, 1 st , 2 nd , 4 th and 6 th items were modified.The 3 rd item was discarded and replaced by another question.Closed-ended questions prepared regarding the major tasks supervisors do during supervision were 9 before pilot test but after pilot test, one question was reduced.The other questions were modified.Before pilot test, 9 closed-ended items were developed to assess the challenges that face supervisors during supervision.But after pilot test one item was added.The 3 rd item was modified.The 7 th item was excluded and replaced by another question.

Procedures of Data Collection
Data were gathered by questionnaire and interview.First, the questionnaire was developed by the researcher.Then, it was pilot-tested.Some of the participants of pilot test provided written comments.After that, it was commented by advisor.Based on comments given, the Questionnaires were amended.The researcher got letter of authorization/permission from Wolaita Sodo University and gave to study sites and made consent with respondents.Based on the consent made with sampled woredas, schools and respondents, the amended questionnaires were administered to respondents and relevant data were gathered.

Tools of Data Analysis
Data were analyzed in quantitative and qualitative methods based on responses collected by questionnaires and interviews.Closed-ended question responses were tallied, tabulated, filled in to SPSS (version 20) and interpreted.The two extremes of disagreements (strongly disagree and disagree) were merged together.On the other hand, the two extremes of agreements (strongly agree and agree) were also merged together.This was for the convenience of data analysis and interpretation.The interpretation of data was made by using frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation.The percentage was used to analyze demographic profile and personal data of the respondents.
Qualitative data/open-ended questions and interview responses were analyzed using narration.The responses of open-ended and interview questions were organized, compiled and substantiated together with related closedended items.For all five point scales, the mean value of each item was interpreted based on the following mean score results: 1-1.49strongly disagree, 1.5-2.49disagree, 2.5-3.49undecided, 3.5-4.49agree and 4.5-5 strongly agree.Mean score results 1-2.49 were taken for disagreement; 2.5-3.49were taken for undecided and 3.5-5 were taken for agreement.While interviewing, to minimize the loss of information the verbal responses of interviewees were videotaped and transcribed in a note.They were compiled together and analyzed by narration.

Ethical Considerations
To make the research ethical, clear information were given to respondents.Objective of the study were informed in the introductory part of questionnaires and interviews guide to the respondents; and confirmed that confidentiality of responses were protected.Respondents were informed that their participation in the study was based on their consent.The research is not personalized any of the respondent's response during data presentations, analysis and interpretations.In addition to this, all the materials used for this research were acknowledged.

Discussions and Findings
This chapter deals with analysis and interpretation of data gathered on practices and challenges of instructional supervision in Wolaita Zone secondary and preparatory schools.It starts with questionnaire return rate.Next to it, demographic profiles of the respondents were presented.The other things presented in this chapter were the results of findings based on data gathered through questionnaires and interviews from respondents.

Questionnaire Return Rate
The researcher distributed 6, 9 and 85 questionnaires to principals, vice principals and teachers respectively.The following table shows the number of questionnaires distributed and returned.3 above, 6 questionnaires were distributed to principals and 6(100%) were returned.9 questionnaires were distributed to vice principals and 8(88.9%) were returned.85 questionnaires were distributed to teachers and 74(87%) were returned.Totally, 100 questionnaires were distributed.From these, 88(88%) questionnaires were returned .The return rate was 88%.According to [21] 50%, 60% and above 70% response rates are adequate, good and very good respectively.Thus, the response rate 88 % is very good and indicated that respondents cooperated in filling and returning questionnaires.The researcher believes that the responses can provide required information for the study.4 above, 20 (100%) instructional supervisors were males.This implies that instructional supervision of secondary schools is male dominated.2 of interviewed WEOSC were between ages 36-40 and 1 was above 40 years.2 of assigned supervisors were between ages of 31-35 and 1 was between ages of 36-40.3 principals were between ages 31-35.The rest 3 were between 36-40. 1, 5, 2 vice principals were between ages of 26-30, 31-35 and 36-40 respectively.From 74 teacher respondents, 3(4.1%), 28(37.8%),30(40.5%),7(9.5%), 6(8.1%) were between ages 20-25, 26-30, 31-35, 36-40 and greater than 40 respectively.This showed that majority of teachers are between ages 31-35 years and are more matured enough to provide data respondents were asked to rate their agreement levels on professional support of instructional supervisors to teachers in their school.In the response 8(57.1%)principals with the Mean=2.46assured that instructional supervisors didn't give regular professional support to teachers in their school.47(63.5%)teachers with the Mean=2.41showed that they were not supported by instructional supervisors on professional development.On the other hand 5(35.7% principals and 21(28.4%)teachers agreed on the issue.This showed that majority of respondents disagreed in regular support of instructional supervisors to teachers.From this, it can be concluded that teachers were not properly supported by instructional supervisors in the schools they work.In supporting the above idea, research findings of [12] on supervisory practices of cluster supervisors in promoting teachers in teachers' professional competences found that there was lack of adequate professional support for newly deployed teachers in instruction.
In table 5 item 2 above, principals and teachers were asked whether supervisors make face to face contact with teachers and observe instruction to increase professional growth of teachers or not.10(71.4%)principals with Mean=2.43 showed disagreement on the issue.47(63.5%)teachers also assured that they didn't observe teachers in classrooms.3(21.4%)principals and 20(27%) teachers showed agreement.Thus, it can be concluded that instructional supervisors do not make face to face contact with teachers to observe instruction and assist professional growth of teachers.In supporting this idea, [1] found in his research that supervisors are unable to apply the necessary process for the classroom observation properly.But according to [13], the purpose of supervision is promoting face-to-face interaction and building relationship between the teacher and the supervisor.As the findings indicated, supervisors in the study area didn't do face-to-face interaction and classroom observation.
As it can be seen from table 5 item 3, principals and teachers asked whether supervisors encourage teachers to observe each other's classrooms to give feedback to each other.7(50%) principals showed agreement but 5(35.7%) of them disagreed on the encouragement of supervisors to teachers to observe each other's classrooms.52(70.3%)teachers disagreed on supervisors encouragement.16(21.7%)teachers agreed.This showed that majority, 57(64.8%) of respondents assured that instructional supervisors do not encourage teachers.Therefore, it can be concluded that supervisors' encouragement to teachers to observe and give feedback to each other in classrooms was unsatisfactory.
As table 5 item 4 above indicated, principals and teachers asked to rate their agreement level on supervisors' support in creating group discussion and experience sharing opportunity to teachers.10(71.4%)principals and 50(67.6%)teachers totally, 60(68.2%)respondents confirmed that instructional supervisors do not create group discussion and experience-sharing opportunities for teachers.18(20.5%)respondents agreed and 10(11.4%)respondents undecided.From the responses given it can be concluded that supervisors didn't create group discussion and experience sharing programs to teachers.But according to [13], developing the skills of working with groups to solve instructional problems is a very important task of supervision.Therefore, it is the responsibility of the supervisor to set for instructional problem-solving meetings and experience sharing programs among teachers to improve instruction.
Principals and teachers were asked to respond in rating their agreement for the question whether or not supervisors train teachers in pedagogical issues and in the importance of instructional supervision in table 5 item5 above.12(85.7%)principals with Mean=2.07 and 50(67.6%)teachers with Mean=2.30confirmed that instructional supervisors didn't train teachers in pedagogical issues and in the importance of instructional supervision.18(20.4%)from the two groups of respondents responded that supervisors train teachers on mentioned points.From this result it is possible to conclude that supervisors didn't train teachers in pedagogical issues and in the importance of instructional supervision.In supporting this finding, [3] revealed that school supervisors were not efficient in assisting teachers in conducting required meetings with teachers in organized conferences and training programs at the school level.
In table 5 items 6 above, principals and teachers responded to the question asked to know whether or not supervisors assist teachers in determining appropriate objectives of the lesson.In the response, 11(78.6%)principals with Mean=3.86 and 24(32.5%)teachers confirmed that supervisors assist teachers in determining appropriate objectives of the lesson.But 43(58.1%)teachers and 3(21.4%)principals disagreed on the issue.From the total 88 respondents, 46(52%) disagreed.From this it is possible to conclude that the implementation of assisting teachers in preparing lesson and determining its objectives by instructional supervisors were not satisfactory.
In the same table item 7, principals and teachers responded to the question asked to know whether or not assigned supervisors support principals to grow as instructional leaders.10(71.4%)principals agreed but 4(28.6%)principals disagreed.44(59.4%)teachers disagreed but 16(21.7%)teachers agreed.From the total respondents that were 88, 48(54%) respondents disagreed on the issue.This shows that assigned supervisors do not support principals to grow as instructional leader.As it was indicated in table 6 item 1, principals and teachers responded to a question they were asked whether supervisors spend their time of supervision by supporting teachers for their professional growth.10(71.4%)principals and 55(74%) teachers disagreed on the point raised.4(28.5%)principals and 12(16.2%)teachers agreed on the issue.From the total of 88 respondents, 65(73.9%)respondents assured that instructional supervisors do not spend their time of supervision in supporting teachers.Based on this result, it is possible to say that the time of supervisors was not used for professional development of teachers as their major tasks.But according to [15], professional development of teachers is the major function of school supervision and school supervisor.It is promoting effective teaching practices, providing for continuous personal and professional growth as well as changing the character of the school and teaching.
Table 6 item 2 shows the response of principals and teachers for the question asked whether supervisors organize and facilitate instructional process to give direct assistance to teacher.9(64.3%)principals with the mean 2.31 and 43(58.1%)teachers with the mean 2.42 asserted that supervisors didn't organize and facilitate instructional process.4(28.5%)principals and 21(28.4%)teachers agreed that instructional supervisors organize and facilitate instructional process.11(20.6%)respondents undecided to respond.
As it was shown in table 6 item 3, 10(71.5 principals and 48(64%) teachers showed their disagreement.20(22%) respondents agreed on the issue.But the result showed that majority of the respondents disagreed on the issue.From this it is possible to conclude that assigned supervisors didn't provide opportunity for curriculum development with teachers.But as stated by [13] curriculum development involves the supervisor providing opportunities for changes in curriculum and materials to improve teaching-learning process.
As it was indicated in table 6 item 4, principals and teachers were asked whether or not assigned supervisor spends time by discussing with principals in administrative issues.14(100%) principals with Mean 4.71 and 62(83.8%)teachers with Mean=4.12 agreed and asserted that assigned supervisor spends the time of school visit by discussing with principals in administrative issues.This indicated the agreement of majority of the respondents.10(13.5%)teachers disagreed and the rest 2(2.7%) teachers undecided.From this one can easily notice that when assigned supervisors visit schools, they spend their time by discussing with principals in administrative issues.
[8] mentioned supporting idea to the above finding.They supervise school leaders, and the buildings they run.They also supervise compiled local policies and state regulations.They spend their time checking these and other administrative tasks rather than academic issues.In contrasting this result, [14] research findings in Bangladesh indicated that supervisor's job needs more academic orientation and greater attention to the teaching-learning process but supervisors focus on administrative tasks that are less crucial and more urgent.
According to table 6 item 5, the responses of principals and teachers for the question asked to answer whether or not assigned supervisor spends time by supervising principals and school building.6(42.9%)principals and 62(83.8%)teachers with Mean value 4.08 agreed on the point raised.Totally, 68(77.3%)respondents agreed.
Table 6 item 6 above indicated that 8(57.1%)principal and 62(83.8%)teacher respondents agreed that assigned supervisors spend most of their time of supervision by taking lists of males and females and writing reports.In supporting this, [8] mentioned some of the traditional tasks of principal supervisors.They spend their time supervising compiled local policies, state regulations and other administrative tasks rather than academic issues.
As it can be seen from table 6 item 7, principals and teachers were asked to rate their agreement level concerning assigned supervisor's comment writing during school visit.The question was to know whether or not assigned supervisor discusses about the comment he/she wrote with concerned bodies or leaves it in principal's office.12(85.7%)principals with the Mean=4.07 and 55(74.3%)teachers with Mean=3.82 agreed on the point raised.Thus, one can conclude that assigned supervisors simply write comment and put it in principal's office without discussing about it with concerned bodies.
Item 8 of table 6 indicated the result of responses given for the question asked to know whether supervisors support teachers in conducting action research or not.11(76.8%)principals with the Mean=1.93 and 55(74.3%)teachers with Mean value 2.18 disagreed on the issue raised.This showed that majority of the respondents 66(75%) disagreed.Based on the result obtained, it can be said that supervisors didn't support teacher in conducting action research.But according to [15], action research allows teachers to evaluate their own thinking and teaching that results in improvements in instruction.
Item 9 of questionnaire in part three is open-ended question which was given to get the opinions of the respondents.It asks the respondents to mention other tasks that supervisors spend their time doing in school.
From 14 principals and 74 teachers returned the questionnaire, 3(21.4%)principal and 27(36.3%)teachers responded to this open-ended question.From total 88 respondents, 30(34.1%)responded to open-ended questions.Thus, it can be said that majority of the respondents did not want to write and respond to open-ended questions.
Principals' and teachers' responses of this open-ended question supported the idea of the responses in closedended questions in table 6 items 2, and 3.They said that assigned supervisors did not give attention to teachinglearning process.Instead, they discuss with principals, PTA and KETB in administrative issues.In contrast to the responses of table 7 item 8, majority of them said that assigned supervisors find faults in the school, magnify and complicate it and report it to WEO.From responded teachers, majority asserted that instead of supporting teachers to grow professionally and develop curriculum to improve instruction, supervisors do administrative tasks such as: discussing with principals, PTA, KETB; checking attendance sheets; asking students some information of teachers' work; visiting students in the classrooms and taking lists of males and females; looking at mark lists.The above responses support closed-ended responses of table 6 items 4 and 6.A few teacher respondents said that assigned supervisors do other task in woreda education office rather than supporting teachers in schools.Some other respondents told that supervisors are unable to assess teachers' need.In contrasting the responses of closed-ended responses in table 6 items 1, 2 and 3, the rest few respondents asserted that supervisors visit teachers in classrooms, motivate and support them for their professional development.They also added that supervisors discuss with students to improve achievement.Therefore, from the responses of majority, it is possible to conclude that the task supervisors do is administrative.The findings of open-ended question responses supported the finding of closedended responses.As it was shown in table7 item 1, 5(36%) principals with Mean=1.93 and 34(45%) teachers showed disagreement for the question given to rate their agreement level whether supervisors lack good communication skills or not.2(14%) principals and 29(40%) teachers agreed on the issue.7(50%) principals and 11(15%) teachers undecided.From this it can be concluded that supervisors have good communication skills.
Table7 item 2 indicated the responses of principals and teachers on the question which asks to rate their agreement level if there is problem in selecting and assigning supervisors.7(50%) principals and 55(66%) teachers agreed on the issue with the Mean=3.21and 3.80 respectively.4(29%) principals and 16(30%) teachers disagreed and 6(6.8%) respondents undecided in the responses.Totally 62(70.5%)respondents agreed that there is problem in selecting and assigning right persons as supervisors so that they are incompetent.This implies that there is problem in selecting and assigning right persons as supervisors.So that, they are incompetent.Opposing this, [12] found that supervisors are alert, competent professionals who are confident in intervening when less experienced workers behave inappropriately.
As it was depicted in table 7 item 3, 14(100%) principals and 46(62%) teachers agreed on their response to the question asked to respond if there is lack of supervision manual in the school.23(31%) teachers disagreed on the issue.The result of the responses assured that there is lack of supervision manuals in the study area.Therefore, one can conclude from this that there is lack of supervision manuals for supervisors to use as guideline.There can be no effective supervision of instruction without adequate instructional materials [11].Modules like supervision guides and manuals are reference materials for supervision.As it is indicated in [28], these materials are very helpful for supervisors and the schools.These materials are guides that can change inspectional visits into a more objective support.The materials also show the target task and focus areas of supervision.
In table 7 item 4, principals and teachers rated their agreement level for the statement, "Supervisors do not properly use their time of school visit."40(54%) teachers and 3(22%) principals agreed on the point raised.9(64%) principals and 26(35%) teachers disagreed on the point.10(11.3%)respondents undecided.Totally 43(48.9%)respondents agreed on the issue.This showed that supervisors didn't properly use their time of school visit.
As it can be seen from table 7 item5, 14(100%) principals with Mean=4.57, and 49(66%) teachers with Mean=3.59 agreed that there is lack of budget, facilities and materials to run supervision.From this finding it is possible to conclude that budget, facilities and materials which are very important were not available to run supervisory activities.There can be no effective supervision of instruction without adequate instructional materials [11].Modules like supervision guides and manuals are reference materials for supervision.As it was indicated in [28], these materials are very helpful for supervisors and the schools.These materials are guides that can change inspectional visits into a more objective support.The materials also show the target task and focus areas of supervision.In addition to this, lack of budget is taken as a challenge to run supervisory activity effectively.Lack of enough budget results the incapability to run supervisory activities effectively such as in-service training programs for teachers and visiting other schools for experience sharing [28].
In table 7 item 6, principals and teachers were asked to respond if teachers resist supervision and if their resistance is due to lack of awareness about supervision or not.13(93%) principals with mean value 4.57 and 43(58%) teachers with mean value 3.64 agreed that teachers resist supervision.24(32%) teachers disagreed on the issue raised.Only 1(7%) principal couldn't decide.The result indicated that majority of the respondents 56(63.6%)respondents agreed on the point.From this finding it is possible to conclude that teachers resist supervision due to lack of knowledge and awareness about supervision.In supporting the above finding, the research findings of [1] showed that teachers lack awareness and orientation on the activities and significance of school based supervision In table 7 item 7, 14(100%) principals with mean value 4.64 and 38(51%) teachers with Mean 3.54 confirmed their agreement that principals have excessive workloads which hinder supervision in classrooms.26(35%) teachers disagreed on the issue.Therefore, one can conclude from this finding that because of excessive workloads of principals in the office, they couldn't support teachers in classrooms.In supporting the above idea, [14]showed that secondary school principals are so weighed down by routine administrative burden that they hardly find time to visit classrooms and observe how the teachers are teaching.
In table 7 item 8, 42(57%) teachers with Mean=3.60 confirmed that supervisors are fault finders.3(21%) principals also agreed.11(79%) principals and 27(36%) teachers disagreed on the issue.5(7%) teachers couldn't decide.But majority of the respondents 45(51%) agreed that supervisors are fault finders.From this finding it is possible to conclude that supervisors of study area were fault finders.
As it can be seen from table 7 item 9, principals and teachers responded to the question which was asked to rate their agreement level.They were asked whether or not there is lack of right training for supervisors.14(100%) principals with the mean value 4.36 and 50(68%) teachers agreed that there is lack of right training for supervisors.Based on the result, it is possible to say that supervisors didn't get right training.In supporting the above idea, [22] revealed that lack of training for supervisors affects the supervisory practice in the school.In addition to this, [21] pointed out lack of continuous training system for supervisors to up-date their educational knowledge and skills as challenge of instructional supervision.
Item 10 of table 7 indicated the responses of principals and teachers.The respondents were asked to rate their agreement level for the statement, "Principals do not create conducive environment for supervision."14(100%) principals with mean value 1.43 and 34(46%) teachers disagreed on the issue raised.But 32(43%) teachers agreed.
From the two groups responded, 48(54%) disagreed on the issue.Therefore, it can be concluded that principals cooperate by creating conducive environment for supervision.In contrast to this, [22] in his study showed that lack of cooperation from principals negatively affect the practice of supervision.
Item 11 in part four of the questionnaire was open-ended question.The question was provided to respondents to mention other challenges that face assigned supervisors in the schools.Regarding the challenges that face supervisors during supervision, majority of open-ended question respondent principals and teachers in supporting closed-ended responses in table 7 items 3, 5 and 9 revealed that lack of training; lack of budget; lack of knowledge of supervisors on their profession; lack of awareness of teachers on supervision; lack of materials and lack of logistics were the main challenges.In supporting the response of table 7 item 6, the same respondents agreed that teachers were not cooperating to run supervision and they were not willing to be supervised.
The reason they gave for this was teachers have not been supervised for long time.Supporting this, the research findings of [1] showed that teachers lack awareness on the activities and significance of school based supervision in effectiveness of supervisory options matching with the individual teacher's development level, and inabilities of supervisors to apply the necessary process for the classroom observation properly, lack of relevant training for supervisors, scarcity of experienced supervisors, lack of supervision manuals and shortage of allocated budget for supervisory activities.Therefore, the challenges that were identified in open-ended question responses supported the findings in table 7 items 3, 5 and 9 of closed-ended question responses.
The responses of the interview held with WEOSC and assigned supervisors were to support responses of quantitative data analyzed in tables 5, 6 and 7.The responses given by majority of an interview session supported the responses of questionnaire in table 5 item 2. Majority of respondents told that they make face-to-face contact with principals.They revealed that they support principals and principals support teachers.In supporting the idea of questionnaire respondents in table 5 items 5 and table 7 items 9, majority of the interview session participants reported that due to lack of budget, training was not given to teachers and instructional supervisors.The responses the researcher got from closed and open-ended questionnaires in table 6, items 4,5,6 and 7 regarding the effectiveness of instructional supervisors in the tasks they do during their supervision was similar to the majority of interview session respondents.They told that it was more administrative than academic.This showed that instructional supervisors were ineffective in academic tasks.The task they do during supervision was not directly related to their task mentioned in their job description.Questionnaire respondents asserted that principals create conducive environment for supervision but majority of interview respondents said that principals challenge and resist supervision.The main challenges of supervision revealed by majority of questionnaire respondents in table 7, items 3, 5, and 9 were: lack of supervision manuals, lack of budget, lack of materials, teachers' resistance to supervision and lack of training for instructional supervisors.All interview session respondents supported the responses given by questionnaire respondents.
6. Accordingly, the following findings were obtained.1. Concerning professional support of supervisors, the study assured that 55(62.5%)respondents revealed that instructional supervisors didn't give regular and adequate support to teachers on professional and curriculum development areas.Another thing the study revealed was 62(70.5%)respondents revealed that supervisors didn't train teachers in either pedagogical issues or in the importance of instructional supervision.2. Regarding effectiveness of supervisors in their supervisory tasks during school supervision, 65(73.9%)respondents revealed that supervisors didn't spend their time by supporting teachers.76(86.4%)respondents agreed that assigned supervisors spend their time by discussing with principals about routine administrative tasks.This showed that instructional supervisors were ineffective in implementing supervisory tasks.3. The main challenges of instructional supervision revealed were: Problem in selecting and assigning right persons as supervisors.62(70.5%)respondents agreed to this idea.60 (68.2%) respondents asserted that there is lack of supervision manuals in schools to refer.63(71.6%)respondents agreed that there is lack of budget, facilities and materials.In addition to this, 56(63.6%)respondents agreed that teachers' resistance to supervision was a challenge for supervision.This was due to lack of awareness of teachers in benefits and importance of supervision.52(59.1%)respondents agreed that principals were overloaded by routine administrative tasks that made supervisory tasks ineffective.64(72.7%)respondents asserted that there was lack of right training for instructional supervisors

Conclusions
The general objective of this study was to assess practices and challenges of instructional supervision in Wolaita Zone secondary schools.Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn: 1. Instruction can be improved by giving regular and adequate support to teachers in training them in pedagogical and professional issues and in creating their awareness in benefit and importance of supervision.From this, it can be concluded that instructional supervisors didn't give regular and adequate professional support for teachers.2. Instructional supervisors are responsible to carryout effective supervisory tasks which are more academic and