SCHOOL SUPERVISION AND EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT In NIGERIA

EDM 806

SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT
SCHOOL SUPERVISION AND EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA
Course Content:

i) Introduction
ii) Meaning of school supervision
iii) Historical trajectory of school supervision in Nigeria
iv) Reasons for school supervision
v) Characteristics of school supervision
vi) Who is a Supervisor?
vii) Qualities of a good supervisor
viii) Supervisory skills needed by a supervisor
ix) Principles of school supervision
x) Types of school supervision
xi) Kinds/Types/Classification of Eternal Supervision
xii) Advantages of school supervision
xiii) Challenges of school supervision in Nigeria
xiv) Meaning of school inspection
xv) Differences between School Inspection and supervision
xvi) Meaning management
xvii) Meaning of educational management
xviii) Functions of educational managers in Nigeria
xix) Importance of Educational Management
xx) Practical Approach to Educational Management in Nigeria
xxi) Challenges of educational management in Nigeria
xxii) Solutions to the challenges of educational management in Nigeria
xxiii) Conclusion
xxiv) References

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Introduction

The provision of educational services does not just occur without putting in place adequate
measures to ensure the realization of the fundamental objectives of education. Hence, school
supervision is an essential educational management control mechanism or pillar that ensures the
maximum achievement of the objectives and goals of education. In fact, any school administrator
without adequate supervision or supervisory strategies cannot escape failure. This is because; an
average staff lacks initiative and ingenuity for the effective discharge of daily activities in the
school. Therefore, school managers are expected to provide routine leadership by constantly
raising the consciousness of staff about the primary objectives of the school through advice and
technical or professional help to ensure that every staff most efficiently pursue his/her daily task.
It therefore follows that, beside the adequate provision of teachers, classrooms, libraries,
laboratories, textbook, funds etc. effective school management cannot be guaranteed without
effective school supervision. It is therefore essential to state that, school supervision and
educational management are the two sides of the coin. Consequently, supervision and
educational management are inextricably intertwined as supervision is a management function.

The importance of school supervision lies in the need to enhance quality assurance in education
in pursuant to the Sustainable Development Goal 4, SDG vision 2016-2030 which projects an
all-encompassing inclusive and equitable quality education for the promotion of lifelong learning
opportunities for all. Additionally, a host of interested education stakeholders such as parents,
government, opinion leaders, and donors among others always seek justification for their direct
or indirect investment on education as well as the question of why education should remain top
government priority amidst other competing sectors scrambling for scarce resources. Hence,
school managers at all levels are expected to ensure constant improvement of the quality of
educational service delivery in school during teaching and learning process through effective
supervision. This is because school managers, other heads of schools including teachers’ job will
produce the desired results on the students who are the products and process for which the school
is established when the right kind of supervision logistic is employed in schools and colleges
(Egbebi & Harbau, 2019).

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However, school supervision in Nigeria has evolved from the period western form of education
was introduced in Nigeria. At its early stage, school supervision was tagged inspection.
Although, Ogunsanya in National Open University (2019) argued that, supervision and
inspection are synonymous and barely an issue of semantics/diction with supervision having
American roots while, Inspection has its root from British English. But many Nigerian scholars
hold the opinion that supervision is the new order or modern approach to school supervision
while inspection is perceived as the old order which assumed a directive, dictatorial, coercive,
judgmental and undemocratic pattern which was later moribund due its ineffectiveness. Painting
the hostile nature of school inspection exercise in the words of Egbebi and Harbau (2019), in
the past years school inspectors jumped over the window of a classroom for inspection. One
could only imagine the awe and apprehension this action invoked in both teachers and students
and how it destabilized teaching and learning process in school. This unprofessional practice was
as a result of the utilization of quacks that had no formal exposure to pedagogic principles and
practices, who rather posed as threat to teaching and learning process instead of improving it.
Gradually, practitioners, and research evidence disclosed the negative impact of this method on
the teacher, learners and general teaching and learning process thus, advocating for a democratic,
teacher and learner friendly method (supervision) which further enhance teaching and learning
process. On the other hand, in modern supervision, according to Scheneider and Keith in
Ogusaju (1988) programmes, principals and supervisors serve as skilled resource persons
possessing skills which aid administrators, teachers, parents and Children in providing an
educational programme which will eventually improve the quality of living in the communities
in which they live and work. Taking a close observation at the present day educational system,
you would notice some desirable changes that have taken place both instructionally and
methodically.

Recall that, school supervision and educational management are essentially inseparable
educational concepts and practices. This is because; more often than not the responsibility of
school supervision falls directly on the school manager, administrator or principal. This position
was further consolidated by Eye, Netzer, and Krey in Ogunsaju (1988) who posit that, school
supervision is a phase of school management which focuses primarily upon the achievement of
the appropriate instructional expectations of educational systems. Similarly, Mbiti (1974)

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perceived supervision as one of the basic requirements in administration that concerns the tactics
of efficient and proper management. These claims clearly show the strong nexus that exist
between supervision and educational management. However, a lay reader could ask the question;
what is educational management?

Put simply, educational management refers to all the activities undertaken by an individual or
group of individuals saddled with the responsibility of policy making and the integration of both
human and material resources at their disposal with the fundamental goal of achieving effective
educational service delivery which result in the attainment of the overall goals and objectives of
education. It is a field of theory and practice involving intelligent planning, decision making,
budgeting, evaluation etc. for the efficient application of educational resources to yield optimum
results. The task of educational management is given to top, middle level and operational
managers in schools, with each level having its specific functions. For instance in Nigeria, this
classification follows the following sequence – Top management (Minster and commissioners
for education), Middle level management (Local Government Education Secretaries) and
operational managers (principals and teachers). This will be further elaborated in the following
pages. However, it is most essential to state that, at each level of educational management in
Nigeria, there is an inspectorate unit which the line manager delegates his supervisory functions
to. This presupposes that the inspectorate division is directly responsible for the supervision of
education in Nigeria on behalf of the management which oversees the general educational
system at each level, this we shall see as the chapter unfolds.

Meaning of school supervision

Supervision like every other concept in the arts and humanities has been defined in various ways
by different scholars and practitioners. In fact, the term lacks a universally acceptable definition
as many scholars with different epistemic underpinnings at different point in time tend to define
the term based on their intellectual insights at the moment or based on the purpose it is to be
applied. However, gleaning from the literature provides a handful of sound scholarly definitions
of the term- supervision. According to Wikipedia (2020) etymologically, the term Supervision is
derived from two Latin words “super” (above) and “videre” (see/observe). This implies the

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process whereby a higher professional interacts with a junior professional though, in a friendly
and colleagual manner with the aim of improving the effective performance of any task
concerned. The usage of the term higher professional in this context presupposes that, the
supervisor is expected to possess and provide superior knowledge, ideas and methods of
accomplishing the task in question.

Supervision according to Chike-Okoli (2016) can be defined as the process of bringing about
improvement in instruction by working with people who are working with pupils. It involves
stimulating growth and helping teachers to help the learners. It therefore follows that,
supervision is a tool for enhancing teachers’ knowledge, attitudes and skills in teaching and
learning process to facilitate the achievement of educational goals and objectives. Denis in
Eziuzo (2014) perceived supervision as the act of providing leadership through a process
designed to help staff gain greater competence and overcome some barriers so as to improve job
performance. In the words of Ogunu (2000) supervision is the process of overseeing the
activities of teachers and other staff in the school system to ensure that they conform with
general accepted principle of education in order to achieve education goals. Similarly, the
Department of Elementary School Principals of the National Education Association in USA,
defined supervision as a four point programme involving:
1. The appraisal of specific learning situations to ascertain the needs of children and the
efficiency of instruction.
2. Technical service to teachers in form of instructional aides, specific suggestions for
improvement of instruction, and assistance in pupils diagnosis and measurement.
3. Research for the purpose of curriculum instruction and revision, and for the improvement
of materials, techniques, and methods of instruction.
4. Professional leadership and cooperation with teachers through individual and group
conferences, through stimulation to further professional study, and through cooperative
development of some programme of in-service education (Eziuzo, 2014).
In the view of Falender and Shafranske in Onyeike (2016) supervision is a distinct professional
activity in which education and training aimed at developing science-informed practice are
facilitated through a collaborative interpersonal process. It involves observation, evaluation,
feedback, the facilitation of supervisee self-assessment and the acquisition of knowledge, and

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skills by instruction, modeling and mutual problem solving. From the foregoing, it can be
deduced that supervision is the technical collaborative process of interaction between the
supervisor and the teacher with the aim of improving on the instructional delivery competence of
teachers to ensure effective teaching and learning in school. It takes the form of a flexible
relationship of mutual trust, respect, and integrity that takes into account the learning needs of
the teacher, as well as initiating the process to facilitate professional development through series
of well-planned programmes aimed at enhancing the quality of professional services offered by
teachers to the students.

Supervision is regarded as one of the major functions which the principal should carry out in
order to achieve the objectives of the school and to enhance the quality of the teaching-learning
process. In order to perform this effectively, Principals as supervisors should be trained to
improve their supervisory practices through intensified workshops and seminars. Babayemi
(2006) opined that a school principal must not only be trained in the act of administration but
must be well-acquainted with the principles that guide and control administrative processes. As a
chief executive, the principal owes it as a duty to modify the attitudes of staff and motivate them
to put in their best at achieving educational goals through an effective teaching-learning process.

Historical trajectory of school supervision in Nigeria

The introduction of Western education in Nigeria started with the establishment of the first
primary school by the missionaries at Badagry, Nigeria in 1842. At this time supervision was
carried out by lay men who were non-professionals and untrained. Supervision was basically an
administrative duty concerned with ensuring that teachers do their job. The role of supervisors
was to observe teacher, evaluate the performance of the teacher and take appropriate action.
Their activities involved inspecting, checking, telling, rating and monitoring. As more schools
were established in Nigeria, missionaries supervised their own schools using laymen in the
church to serve as supervisors or inspectors. It was with the appointment of Rev. Meltcalf Sunter
as Her Majesty’s inspector of schools of the West African settlement in 1882 that government
began to indicate interest in education standards and school inspection. According to Udida
(2015) the first education ordinance of education of 1882 marked first government attempt to

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regulate schools through inspection of schools and subsequently appointed Henry Car in 1889 as
the first indigenous Inspector of schools for Lagos colony.

During the first quarter of the twentieth century, there was unprecedented expansion and
restructuring of the inspectorate service with the appointment of a Director of education and
three zonal inspectors of schools in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of school
inspection. These changes were partly influenced by the prevailing scientific management
approach to supervision National (Open University of Nigeria, 2016). The Mcpherson
constitution established the Western Region Inspectorate service which which was ablew to
expand its scope of activities and made credible impact on the education standards of the region.

In 1973 the federal inspectorate service was established, this agency was independent of the
Federal Ministry of Education, it made significant impact in the quality of teaching and learning
process in schools. However, it is worthy to not that from pre-independence, to independence
and event up to early 70s, school inspectors still adopted the judgmental, fault- finding,
undemocratic, method of school inspection. Not until recently have we noticed a dramatic shift
from this pattern to modern supervision, which is built under democratic principles of
collaboration, collegiality, and willingness to help the teacher improve on their instruction. This
change can be attributed to the use of professionals as supervisors. Today, ministries of
education at Federal, state and Local level have an inspectorate department saddle with the
responsibility of carrying out supervisory services to maintain the standards of education and
ensure quality of teaching and learning process in schools at all levels.

Reasons for school supervision

There are several reasons for school supervision but particularly its primary objective is to
enhance quality of education by ensuring conformity to basic standards of operation of the
academic and non-academic component of school. It also ensures the creation and maintenance
of a conducive atmosphere for teaching and learning to thrive, which results in productivity in
the school system and the society at large. Specifically, Onyeike (2016) outlined the

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reasons/purpose for school supervision as codified in the Universal Basic Education (UBE)
programme manual to include:
1. Improvement of teacher morale: improving the morale of teachers is one of the essential
reasons for school supervision. This is because many teachers sometimes loss focus of
their job and or are not motivated to putting their best in the job because some many
challenges in school and at home therefore, the purpose of the supervision is to encourage
and stimulate the teacher to be enthusiastic about his job thereby improving overall
teachers job performance.
2. Discovering teachers’ ability: supervision exercises if not for any other thing helps the
supervisor to discover the capacity of various teachers. This helps the supervisor to
provide technical advice to the management on training needs, placement, promotion, and
general job description for each teacher in the school.
3. Provision of technical help to teachers: this is why a supervisor is expected to be a senior
experienced and more knowledgeable than the teacher for the purpose of providing
technical assistance to school and teachers in areas of teaching and learning difficulties,
instructional material preparation/improvisation and utilization of new instructional
technique, innovations in teaching among other things.
4. Encourage regular training and retraining: earlier in the introduction we mentioned that
the supervisor seeks to discover skills, talent as well as appraise the instructional
competence of the teachers. After ascertaining the capacities and weaknesses of all
teachers the supervisor recommends to management the training need for each staff
through conferences, in-service training, refresher courses, seminars, workshops among
others to ensure that teachers are abreast with the current trends in their career.
5. Promotes spirit of professionalism in teachers: school supervision is aimed at ensuring
that teachers imbibe the spirit of professionalism to their jobs by working efficiently and
effectively to enhance school productivity.
6. Guide the teacher in the use of instructional materials: school supervision is designed to
help the teacher to be more resourceful in the choice, preparation and utilization of the
most suitable instructional materials and information communication technology to
facilitate teaching and learning process in the classroom.

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However, Chike-Okoli (2006) advanced nine teacher improvement purposes of school
supervision to include:
1. Ensuring that teachers to their job effectively
2. Enable them to function effectively on their job
3. Providing professional information to teachers
4. Guiding teachers to the sources of instructional materials
5. Provide technical assistance to teachers when required such as preparation and use of
teaching aids.
6. Ensuring that discipline is maintained in the classroom.
7. Maintaining high morale among teachers
8. Suggesting ways of improving teaching performance.
9. Providing an opportunity to discover teachers with special abilities or qualities.

Non-teacher purpose of school supervision

Note that supervision is an all-encompassing quality assurance school improvement exercise that
is not only limited to teachers alone but it also concerns with all aspects of school life including
non-academic staff, school structures and facilities among others. This helps the supervisor to
interact with the environment where teaching and learning takes place and thus make informed
decisions, recommendations and reports for general improvement of the learning environment.
Scholars like Kalule and Bouchamma (2013) put forward the following purposes of non-teacher
school supervision.
1. To determine the general wellbeing of schools: School supervision helps to investigate
the disciplinary, financial or educational problem confronting schools.
2. Improve school administration: School supervision is carried out in order to ensure a
better school administration and organization of school activities for improved
productivity in school.
3. To determine cost/benefit: Education is one of the largest sectors in Nigeria and it involve
huge expenditure therefore some aspects of modern school supervision focus on
cost/benefit analysis of the general educational institution so as to save the government or

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 private individuals from running into complete fiasco in the operation of educational
institution.
4. Bridge the Gap between Teachers and the Ministry of Education: School supervision acts
as the eyes and ears of the ministry of education in various schools. They serve as a
bridge between the teachers who are on the field and the ministry of education at the
federal level, state and local government level.
5. Ensure efficiency and effectiveness in fund utilization: school supervision helps to ensure
that funds meant for public and private schools are efficiently and effectively utilized for
the attainment of the goals and objectives of education.
6. Accreditation/recognition of school: school supervision is done to approve schools for
public examinations in Nigeria; these exams include the West African School Certificate
examination (WASCE) and National Examination Council (NECO) etc. again school
supervision could also be carried out to assess the readiness of a new school for academic
activities. This is often a holistic assessment of school facilities, instructional resources,
non-curricular activities space, qualification of teachers among other things. its objective
is to ensure that available school resources conform to educational specification and
guidelines.
7. Recommendation for grant and loans: School supervision leads to the recommendation of
schools for payment of Grants in Aid to schools either from international organizations,
private bodies or voluntary agencies.
8. Supervision provides the opportunity to assess the moral tone of school.
9. It also provides feedback to educational planners and policy makers: for instance a
planner may have designed a school environment for five hundred (500) students but few
years after the school was operational the influx of student exceeds the carrying capacity
of the school structures. It is by supervision the planner will know that there is need for
review and or extension.

Characteristics of school supervision

Osburn (2012) outline five basic characteristics of school supervision to include:
1. Cooperation: parties in the educational process should offer suggestions and provide
useful services to the separate supervisory administrative staff which will have little

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 effect. In reality supervisory duties of all should be in cooperation and not separate by the
parties involved. Without maximum cooperation the purpose of school supervision will
be defeated because it is expected to be a mutual process where all concerned
unanimously make efforts to improve teaching and learning practices in school.
2. Integrated: Supervision has a singular motive of ensuring that all units of the school
follow a single direction in the pursuit of one goal to avoid wastage of time, effort and
resources in the achievement of goals. This implies that school supervision seeks to
harmonize the objectives and missions of various school component units and streamline
them into central overall school goals and objectives.
3. Science: Supervision should be specially structured, fully based on controlled teaching
and learning process to ensure that the results will offer suggestions to make a consistent
readjustment of it with keen looks at training more adapted and effective learners.
4. Flexible: School supervision must be flexible and not rigid like traditional inspection. It
should be amenable to change and future adjustment.
5. Standing: the action of school supervision should not suffer interruptions and not be
permanent in the sense, should also encourage those in the teaching learning process.

Who is a Supervisor?

According to Ogunsaju (1988) a supervisor is a mediator between the people and the
programme. In the words of Eya and Leonard (2012) a supervisor is anyone assigned with the
function of helping teachers to improve on their instructional competencies. Supervisor,
according to Hazi (2004) in Egbebi and Harbau (2019) can be defined as any certified individual
designated with the responsibility for the direction and guidance of the work of teaching staff
members. It therefore follows that, the supervisor has the responsibility of assisting the teachers
by means of providing professional advice and help to enhance better instructional delivery.
From the foregoing, a supervisor can be defined as a well experienced and professionally trained
individual with higher knowledge and capacity to provide specialized technical help and advice
to teachers with the view of improving and building teachers skills for effective and efficient
performance of their duties in school.

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Qualities of a good supervisor

Olorunfemi (2008) highlighted the qualities of a good school supervisor to include:

a) He must have enough energy and good health
b) He must have good leadership style
c) He must have the capacity to get along with people
d) He must possess sound knowledge and be technical in his field
e) He must develop positive attitude towards management, and
f) He should have good communication skills.
On his part ogunsaju (1988) advanced the following qualities of a good supervisor:
a) He should be honest, objective, fair and firm.
b) He is open and democratic
c) He is approachable
d) He is creative, imaginative and innovative
e) He is a good listener and observer
f) He must be friendly, courteous, and consistent in his interaction with teachers and others
g) He should be an educational facilitator

Supervisory skills needed by a supervisor

Supervisory skills refers to a skill set or competencies a supervisor must possess to effectively
and efficiently carry out his or her duties and responsibilities. Pajak (2009) observed that these
skill-mix consist of technical, managerial and human relations skills. He further evolved twelve
typologies of supervisory skill that modern supervisors must possess to include:
1) Community relations: a good supervisor must be able to broker sound and productive
relationships between the school and the community.
2) Staff Development: an effective supervisor must have the required skill to facilitate
teachers’ professional development.
3) Planning and change: a supervisor must have the capacity to plan and initiate change and
innovations in the school for continuous improvement.

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 4) Communication: the supervisor must have effective and good communication ability.
5) Curriculum: the supervisor must possess knowledge of curriculum development,
coordination and integration of the curriculum for effective implementation.
6) Instructional programme: support and coordinating efforts for to improve the
instructional programme.
7) Problem solving and decision skills: the supervisor should have great problem skill to
enable him resolve the instructional difficulties of teachers.
8) Research and programme evaluation skill: A supervisor is expected to have good
research skills to keep him abreast with the new trends in the field and practice of his
profession then can he provide the desired leadership. Additionally, the supervisor must
have strong programme evaluation skills to enable him critically assess the strength and
weakness of school programmes to help him write a good report, make informed
decisions, and offer useful advice to teachers and administrators for school programme
improvement.
9) Observation and conferencing: the supervisor is expected to have good observational
skills and ability to organize and effective post- supervision conference with teachers to
provide them with reasonable feedback to teachers based on classroom observation.
10) Motivation and organizing: the supervisor must possess to skill needed to stimulate
teachers to develop a shared vision and achieve collective aims.
11) Personal Development: this skill helps the supervisor to reflect upon individual teachers’
personal and professional competence.
12) Service to Teachers: the supervisor must possess the skill of improvisation of
instructional materials and resources with locally sourced equipment and provide
assistance to the teaching and learning.

Principles of school supervision

Ogunsanya in National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) outlined the following principles to
be adopted for effective school supervision:
1. There should be short-term, medium-term and long term planning for supervision.
2. Supervision is a sub-system of the school organization.

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 3. Supervision is a dynamic and cooperative enterprise in the school system.
4. All teachers have a right and the need for supervision
5. Supervision should be conducted regularly to meet the individual needs of the teachers
and other personnel.
6. Supervision should help to clarity educational objectives and goals for the principal and
the teacher.
7. It is the responsibility of the class teacher to ensure that his class receives adequate
supervision regularly
8. It is equally the responsibility of the principal to ensure that his school receives adequate
supervision regularly.
9. Supervision should help to improve the attitudes and relationship of all school personnel in
order to facilitate the realization of school goals and objectives.
10. Supervision should assist in the organization and implementation of curriculum
programmes for the learners.
11. Supervision should help the school to develop good report with the neighboring
communities.
12. Supervision should help to interpret or clarify government policies.
13. Supervision must be adequately provided for in the school annual budget.
14. Supervision can be improved through educational research.
15. Supervision should help teachers supply the latest research findings on education relevant
to their teaching.
16. The ultimate goal of supervision is to achieve an improvement in the quality of learning
by the learners.
17. Supervision from within and outside the school complement each other and are both
necessary.
18. Supervision from outside is strengthened a defective where supervision within the school
is regularly carried out.

Types of school supervision

Jaiyoba (2006) in Eziuzo (2016) identified two major types of school supervision namely:

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 1. Internal Supervision
2. External Supervision
Internal Supervision: this is a form of supervision which employs internal staff members of a
school to provide supervisory service to staff within the same school. This form of supervision is
usually a routine daily administrative effort toward ensuring that teaching and non-teaching staff
of school live up to expectation daily by performing their duties most effectively and efficiently.
It is more often than not carried out by the principal, vice principals, heads of departments, and
other senior and experienced teachers designated by the principal to do so by way of mentoring.

External Supervision: this is a form of supervision carried out by officials of the inspectorate
division of ministry of education whether at Federal, State or Local government levels. As the
name implies (“external”), these officials are not resident in the school unlike in internal
supervision. They provide routine inspectorate supervisory services to school through regular
school visitation. Those saddled with this responsibility include: Chief Inspectors of Education,
Deputy Inspectors of Education, Zonal Inspectors of Education among others.

Kinds/Types/Classification of Eternal Supervision

Full Inspection: Full inspection is a form of supervision where a team of inspectors arrive a
school to inspect it in its entirety (Adeniji, 2009). It is the supervision of every aspect of the
school life. This include the teaching staff, non-teaching staff, subjects taught in school, school
records, equipment, school plant, and overall organization of the school, etc. This is carried out
to know the level of of school performance in the area of curriculum implementation (Eziuzo,
2016). The principal is usually adequately informed in advance before the visit. Egbebi and
Harbau (2019) outlined aspects of concerns during full inspection to include:
i) The school physical facilities and equipment for teachers and students’ use to
determine their adequacy or inadequacy and whether or not they are in good shape or
condition.
ii) Look at students’ works to determine their standard.
iii) Inspect the teaching of some teachers to ascertain the quality of instructions.
iv) Look at the school record books to see whether or not they are being properly kept.

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 v) Look at staff strength to determine its adequacy or inadequacy.
vi) Evaluate the general administration of the school.
After the exercise which in some cases last for one week, the inspectors write a full report of the
inspection, which will later be discussed with the principal. At the end of the exercise inspectors
take time to address teacher emphasizing their strengths and weaknesses as well as key areas of
urgent administrative intervention. Egbebi and Harbau (2019) observed that the interval of full
inspections is about every 3 to 5 years.

Routine Inspection: this is a brief visit at specific intervals with the motive of familiarizing the
inspectors with the day to day affairs of the school. In this kind of supervision the supervisor
does not write any formal report, it merely for sight-seeing but brief verbal comments could be
on staff situation, record of attendance of staff and students, other school records, physical
facilities like library, laboratory, technical workshop among others are usually inspected.

Follow-Up Inspection: Eziuzo (2016) observed that, this type of supervision is carried out to
assess the actions taken on the recommendations and suggestions made in the supervisor(s)
report during the full inspection exercise. This type of inspection focuses on ascertaining the
effect of the previous recommendations on the school, whether its implementation is yielding
positive results. In this type of visit the inspector checks for level of compliance by teacher to the
previous recommendations and give further suggestions for improvement as the case may be.

Partial Inspection: this form of inspection is limited in scope. It is not comprehensive like the
full inspection. This implies that it does not involve all aspects of the school as well, it does not
make use of a team of inspectors. It can be a walk in to the school by any educational official
like commissioner for education, Chairman of State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB),
Local government education secretary etc.

Sample Inspection Visit: this type of inspection, the principals is not usually informed the
inspector just randomly samples some school to visit at a specific point in time to check schools’
compliance to standards and ministry’s rules and regulations. According to Egbebi and Harbau
(2019) during this visit, the note of lesson of teachers are checked including scheme of work and

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other school records in terms of adequacy of preparation. It is also aimed at checking whether
students are given enough written work, whether assignments and test are marked or not,
whether corrections done by learners are properly checked by the teacher before the next lesson.

Certificate Inspection: Eziuzo (2016) maintains that this type of inspection is meant for
teachers that are to be upgraded for one reason or the other. And that it is useful for confirmation
of appointment at the end of the teachers’ probation period, which is usually two years from the
date of first appointment.

Special Investigation Visit: Egbebi and Harbau (2019) opine that this of inspection is usually
carried out following report of professional misconduct bordering on disciplinary, financial or
educational problems. Take for instance the case little Precious that became famous for being
flogged by a teacher for not paying illegal fees in Edo state, the his Excellency- the governor of
the state set up a special investigation visit to the school for details to ascertain whether the head
teachers was collecting illegal fees or not. Members of such investigation are appointed by the
minister or the commissioner for education.
Cases to be investigated include students’ disobedience, administrative mismanagement,
embezzlement of school funds, corruption, riot and demonstration, rape, cultism, and other social
vices. It is always accompanied with official report to the commissioner for education or
appropriate organ of government for careful study and necessary action.

Advatages of School Supervision

The benefits of school supervision include:

1. Proper school supervision helps to identify and prevent poor performance in the school
system. It identifies areas of improvement for both staff and staff as well as the entire
school to enhance productivity.
2. Effective school supervision provides a clear vision of the relationship that exist
throughout the school.

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 3. Effective school supervision can help to recognize and resolve possible problems, such as
staff fatigue, exhaustion and tiredness before those problems become detrimental to
school productivity.
4. School supervision helps school staff to become proficient and makes them feel
supported and appreciated.
5. Effective school supervision combined with a practical feedback mechanism can result in
better employees or supervisees who are more integrated, energized and part of the
group.
6. Effective school supervision ensures the safety of hardworking staff within the school
system. It gives them a sense of being cared for by the supervisor whether or not their job
is performed rightly. And that the system is making efforts to help them improve on their
job.
7. School supervision helps the staff to have a clear knowledge of the job expectation and
helps teachers to understand the norms and culture of the school.

Challenges of school supervision in Nigeria

There are several challenges affecting the effective supervision of schools in Nigeria, a few will
be presented here as follows:
1) Inadequate/unavailability of school supervision resources; there is a noticeable dearth of
school supervision materials like vans, computers, information communication
technology (ICTs), stationery among others. This adversely affects the efficient and
effective supervision of schools in Nigeria.
2) Financial Constraint: the problem of lack and or inadequate funds to facilitate school
visitation, as well as provide the necessary help to teachers by purchasing and providing
them with appropriate instructional materials remains a big limitation to effective
supervision of schools in Nigeria.
3) Insufficient and qualified supervisory staff: another major challenge to effective school
supervision in Nigeria is the utilization of supervisory staff who are not professionally
trained supervisors. Sometimes there is a misconception that any graduate of education
could carry out school supervision but this is not true as many graduates of education in
departments order than Educational Management have never taken a single course on

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 school supervision and they cannot provide the required professional help expected of a
supervisor. Additionally, there is short supply of school supervisors thus few supervisors
are a very large area of coverage which they cannot cover each school even in an entire
school year.
4) Opposition to Supervision by teachers: many teachers still perceive supervisors as
inspectors whose best effort is to find faults and therefore, many teachers tend to resist
supervision to the disadvantage of the learners.
5) Lack of Internal School Supervisory Administrative Structures: Many schools in Nigeria
lack internal mechanisms or structures for school supervision; therefore no teacher is
supervised until there are visitors from the ministry of education. This leads to poor
school productivity.
6) Poor communication skills: Many supervisors are not always polite with their comments,
teachers are adults and if correction from supervisors must be taken seriously, they must
be made politely with respect for the teacher. When impolite comments are used, the
teacher feels embarrassed and not respected thereby devastating the morale of the teacher
and general job performance.
7) Poor Economic Conditions of Teachers: irregular and poor pay package of teachers
makes many teachers irritated by so much disturbance of supervision and tend to seek
other less demanding well-paid jobs.

Meaning of Inspection
To inspect means to investigate, find fault, ascertain that all is in line with expected standards, it
also means to examine a thing carefully, critically or officially on visit to make sure that rules
and standards are observed (Nwaneri & Ikwuegbu, 2016). According to United Nations
Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Nwaneri and Ikwuegbu (2016)
inspection is the process whereby a school is examined and evaluated as a place of learning in
such a way that advice is presented for its improvement and will be embodied in a report.
UNESCO’s definition once again, has justified the claims earlier made in our introduction that
inspection and supervision are synonymous given that it emphasizes the process of ‘advice’ as
against the perception of many scholars that it connotes a dictatorial, judgmental, coercive fault
finding exercise. Therefore, one could conveniently say that these practices falsely associated

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with the term represented and are the relics of the ancient period of supervision/inspection. The
purposes of inspection include:
a) To ensure that standards are adhered to
b) To make ensure the application of prudence in the expenditure of public funds in running
the school
c) To provide a forum for constructive advice to be provided in a bid to improve the quality
of teaching and learning
d) To make available to appropriate authorities the true position of human and material
resources in a report
e) To stimulate the provision of guidance in the display of desired educational practices.
f) For the purpose of getting government attention for establishment of new schools.
g) To highlight the deficiencies in the system to enhance operational improvement
h) For recognition of school as certification of school to conduct standardized examinations
like WAEC, NECO, NABTEC BEC etc.

Difference between Inspection and supervision.

S/ INSPECTION SUPERVISION
N
1. Formal Less formal
2. Focus on monitoring and evaluation of Focus on maintaining and improving
performance performance
3. Usually carried out by an external agent Usually carried out by an external and internal
that is the inspectorate department etc. agent
4. Aim at changing all factors affecting the Aim at changing the instructional practices
behaviour of the teacher e.g methods, techniques affecting teaching
and learning.
5. Facilitate and reinforces teaching/learning Explores, encourages and supports teaching
activities and learning activities
6. Less frequent Frequent
7. Usually planned ahead of time Usually well planned or sometimes unplanned
8 Done by a team of inspectors comprising Done by individuals and a team of
of individuals supervision
9. Reports are usually negative in tone Reports are always constructive and discussed
with teachers and follow up at the earliest
possible time
10. Judgmental in nature Advisory in nature
11. undemocratic Democratic and collaborative
Source: adapted from Federal Ministry of Education, Inspectors’ Manual (2001).

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Meaning of Management

The primary motive of establishing any formal organization is to pursue and achieve a set of
predetermined goals and objectives. No matter how sufficiently an organization (whether
educational, religious, economic, political in nature) is supplied with human and material
resource without a strong management organ, it is bound to fail. Therefore, management is an
essential element in determining the success or failure of any organization. An ineffectively
managed school will be a safe haven for truancy, conflict, delinquency; poor academic
performance thus resulting in general unproductivity is in school as well as failure to achieve the
overall aim, objectives and goals of education in the long term. This is because management is
the human factor in an organization, saddled with the responsibility to stimulate and motivate the
human resource as well as harness the material resources towards the attainment of the much
desired organizational goals and objectives.

Many scholars have grappled with providing suitable definition for management but again, like
all concepts in the humanities it remains open to further and or future definitions by as many
scholars as might be interested in the concept. This is because; your conceptual perception of the
term may differ from everyone else. However, some working definitions will suffice here.
Uchendu and Akuegwu (2016) defined management as the process of pooling resources together
using human effort for the purpose of achieving organizational goals and objectives. To World
Consulting service (n.d) Management is the process of reaching organizational goals by working
with and through people and other organizational resources. It can be said from the foregoing
that, management involves the process or series of activities such planning, organizing,
supervising, directing, coordinating, and leading directed toward achieving organizational goals
through the intelligent application and deployment of available human and material resources.
As stated ab-initio, management is a wide field of study which has given birth to several
branches such as Educational Management, Financial management, human resource
management, business management, sports management, estate management, hospital
management among others. However, our interest as educationist is educational management.

Meaning of Educational Management

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Simply put, educational management can be defined as the application of management principles
to the field and practice of educational leadership for the attainment of educational goals and
objectives. It can also be seen as the process of planning, organizing, directing and coordinating
available educational resources with the intent of achieving the goals and objectives of
education. The term is synonymous with educational administration. Although some scholars
have made attempts to distinguish between the two terms but more often than not it turns to an
exercise in futility. However, there is a tin line of disparity between the two concepts which we
shall see as we proceed. For purpose of this chapter it will be used interchangeably. According to
Peretomode (2012) Educational management is concerned with the planning and formulation of
educational policies or programmes with a view to achieving educational goals. Okorji (2016)
defined educational management as the process of planning, organizing, directing and
controlling the activities of an institution by utilizing human and material resources so as to
effectively and efficiently accomplish teaching and learning. Babalola (2006) sees educational
management as a concept that goes along with the quest to put the formal education system
under control, regulation or supervision. He further maintained that it involves planning,
organizing, staffing, directing, controlling, coordinating and budgeting.

Functions of Educational Management

Nikam (2010) outlined six basic functions of educational management. They include:

1. Evaluation of school activities in accordance with plans made.

2. Influence and stimulate the available human resource in school
3. It ensure that necessary resources are procured for the achievement of the objectives of
education
4. It organizes the activities of the school with the aim of achieving objectives of school
with maximum efficiency and effectiveness.
5. To integrate the school and its activities into the set-up of the society.
6. It ensures the formulation of sound policies and goals and determine the most efficient
ways for achieving this objectives and goals.

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Additionally, Uchendu and Akuegwu (2016) identified the following functions of educational
management:
1. Planning: educational management ensure the clear definition of the objectives and
determine the best possible ways of achieving the objectives of education. this they do
through gathering and analyzing information, developing alternatives, preparing and
communicating plans and decision in the areas of education.
2. Organizing: this function involves the gathering of necessary facilities, equipment and
staff and assembling them together to hit the ground running for teaching and learning
activities.
3. Directing: this involves the provision of leadership by means of decision making,
instructions/directives, guiding motivating and supervising school personnel in order to
achieve the goals of education.
4. Controlling: this deals with the evaluation of performance, it is achieve through matching
performance with initial plans. It also involves a careful appraisal of performance to spot
deviations as well as carry out necessary.

Importance of Educational Management

Educational management is important in many ways to society and the education industry in
particular.

1. The proper or effective application of the theories, principles techniques and skills of
educational management will enhance the effective and efficient functioning of
educational institutions
2. Effective management of education brings about quality and changes in the educational
system and the society at large.
3. Effective educational management result in good and excellent institutions that provide
specialized training to students to the benefit of students and their immediate society.
4. A careful understanding and application of the principles of educational management
helps individuals and principals to effectively manage scare resources while maximixing
productivity in school.

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 5. The study of educational management builds in an individual sound decision making
skills, communication skills, problem solving skills and team spirit.
6. It helps teachers to acquire good record keeping strategies.

Practical Approach to Educational Management in Nigeria

The function of managing the educational industry in Nigeria falls directly under the jurisdiction
of the ministry of education with all its organs and parastetals which are responsible for the
management, control and supervision of education in Nigeria. The Federal ministry of education
achieves its overseeing role through the state and local government ministries of education. The
ministry of education has different departments/units that are entrusted with various functions to
ensure the goals of education in Nigeria. The National Universities Commission (NUC),
National Board of Technical Education (NBTE), and National Commission for Colleges of
Education (NCCE) are responsible for managing higher education in Nigeria. On the other hand
state ministries of Education and their sundry agencies such as the Teaching Service
Commission (TESCOM) or Post Primary Education Board or School Management Board
manage secondary and primary education respectively.

Ministry of education has five departments which have different functions in the management
and maintenance of standards in schools. These units include: the Inspectorate unit, Planning,
Research and Statistics (PRS) unit; Human Resource unit, Higher Education unit and Science
and Technology unit. The Federal Ministry of Education is headed by the Minister for Education
(Political appointee). The State Ministries of Education are headed by Commissioners for
Education (Political appointees).

The inspectorate unit of the Ministry of Education supervises both public and private schools to
ensure uniformity of standards, and adherence to quality standards in schools. The unit has the
mandate to upgrade schools and call up schools that do not meet up with expected standard. The
planning research and statistics unit is the custodian of school statistics. The number of schools
by local government, enrolment by gender, number of teaching and non-teaching staff. This
information is very critical to planning and general school day to day school management.

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The No 4, 1974 teachers’ commission edict established the Teachers Service Commission
(TESCOM). This body was saddled with the responsibility of appointing, posting, transfer,
promote, dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over teaching and non-teaching staff (Amadi,
2014). For administrative convenience TECOM groups Local Government Areas in Zones. Each
Zone is managed by a Zonal Educational Administrator who reports to the permanent secretary.
TESCOM is made up of three committees headed by full time members. The committees
include: promotion committee, disciplinary committee, and appointment committee.

Challenges to effective educational management in Nigeria

The following are the challenges delimitating against effective management of education in
NIgeria
1. Ineffective leadership: poor leadership by both top, middle, and operational level managers in
schools is a major challenge to effective educational management in school. Many managers in
schools are not trained leaders therefore most of them lack adequate knowledge of basic
leadership skills and practices that help them motivate or inspire staff to effectively undertake
their tasks and responsibility in schools. Hence, their indecision results in lack leadership
structure in schools and poor productivity.
2. Poor funding: one of the major banes to effective educational management is the issue of
poor funding. No organization can operate successfully without funds but contrarily Nigeria and
indeed most developing nations around the globe allocation to education remains abysmally low
thus constraining the capacity of educational mangers to provide requisite material resources
such as basic stationery, water, sewage, buildings, instructional materials and chalks for the
effective and efficient day to day running of the school.
3. Mismanagement of educational resources: another very critical problem to effective
educational management is the issue of poor management of funds and material resources at the
disposal of both teachers and principals.
4. Politicization of Education : Talking about politicization in the sector, the desire to compete
with others, governments at all levels, especially at the state level, attempt to run many
institutions even when they are least prepared to do such. This cause the general fall in the
standard of the initially existing ones and the available budget cannot cater for all their needs.

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In addition, state governments give accreditation to private schools that they know are not well
equipped for teaching, all in a bid to generate more revenue for themselves.
6. Lack of Infrastructure: In past years, schools and other vocational institutions have
collapsed due to abject neglect by governments. Our tertiary institutions having to fall into
dilapidation and products of such schools are not given adequate training to compete with other
products of another country. Many schools lack basic equipment for conducive learning, most
especially for science practical classes, and those that claim to have are managing the old ones.
Hence, the students only learn the theoretical steps rather than carrying out the practical aspect.
Also, the libraries in schools are lacking the needed books, journals and magazines.

Solution to the problems of educational management in Nigeria

1. Effective leadership
2. Good and timely decision making
3. Teacher encouragement
4. Improved education funding
5. Intelligent planning of educational programmes
6. Training and retraining of school managers

Conclusion
The chapter examined the concept of school supervision and educational management with
specific reference to Nigerian education system. We have been able to show that school
supervision and educational management are the two sides of the coin in ensuring effectiveness
and efficiency in school as well as improving the quality of teaching and learning in school. The
chapter highlighted the types of supervision, importance of supervision challenges to school
supervision among others. Additionally, the concept of management as it applies to education
was explored, the functions of an educational manager was carefully examined and the
importance of effective educational management. It is proper to state finally that the success and
failure of our education system depends on how serious practitioners take the issues of school
supervision and general school management.

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