Nonlinear two-dimensional primitive molecular dynamics

It is p ertinent to also discuss the challenges facing supervision of instruction in Nigeria since supervision is a vital tool in enhancing the standard and maintaining quality in Nigerian schools. A lot of problems hinder supervision of instruction, but we are going to discuss the most fundamental ones.

(i) The dearth of qualified and trained personnel: Most of the personnel used as supervisors of instruction in most states in Nigeria do not have the pre- requisites teachers qualification and exp erience.

(ii) Inadequate funds for supervision of instruction: Fund ing has been a major challenge facing not only supervision of instruction but also education in general. The available

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fund to the inspectorate unit in the ministr y of education is not sufficient to carry out the enormous task given to them.

It is becoming increasingly impossib le for inspectorate unit of the education ministries to service and repair vehicles need ed for supervision exercises and even to p ay duty tour allowance (DTA) of supervisors where need be.

(iii) Lack of relevant supervisory competencies: Nigerian supervisors of education are deficient in relevant supervisory skills because there is no

pre-professional or pre-p ractice training for the supervisors.

School heads need to be trained in order to acquire the relevant skills for performing the sup ervisory functions.

(iv). Styles of supervision adopted by supervisors: Some supervisors

still ad opt autocratic, fault-finding styles of inspection. This makes

the school head and teachers become apprehensive. This set of supervisors always assumes master y of the subjects and expect the

teacher to be sub servient to hem. They assume that supervisors have the knowledge and regard the teachers as inferior workers who should take instruction from them without questioning; this will always breed disdain and contempt instead of coop eration.

(v). Low teachers morale: School sup ervisors, school heads and the supervisees do not receive correspond ing or much incentive to enab le them to be totally committed to their jobs. The general belief by Nigerians is that teaching profession is of low esteem.

More than half of the teachers on the job are bidding their time to get alternative emp loyment and opt out of teaching because they are d issatisfied with the job. It is difficult for such a teacher with the mind set that teaching is a stepp ing stone to be totally committed to their job and this could greatly have negative influence on their teaching, thereby making sup ervisor work more tedious.

(vi) Inadequate transport facilities: Sup ervisors of education have often complained of inab ility to cover most of their areas of operation. This is compounded b y inaccessibility of some areas e. g. river ine, nomadic and rural areas where schools are located.

The problem of transportation cannot be sep arated from poor funding of the inspectorate unit in the ministry of education and the state of all Nigerian roads.

(vii) Pre-occupation of school head with administrative duties:

School heads are sometimes occupied with ad ministrative duties to the extent that they have no time for academic leadership. They

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are more occupied with obtaining information from the ministry of education; attend parent teachers association meetings,

maintaining community school relationship at the detriment of supervision of instruction which is one of their primar y d uties.

School heads prefer to travel most time b ecause of self-gain in traveling. This situation makes them toe the grip of the situation in

their schools.

(viii) Attitude of ministry of education officials: During the colonial and post colonial era, funding of schools was based on the submitted reports b y the supervisors of education ab out the development of the schools. Fund ing schools in contemporary times d oes not depend on school p erformance in examinations.

Supervisor s rep ort is now worthless at the ministr y because the reports are not being taken seriously b y the ministry of education officials in the recent past as they were in the colonial p eriod.

(ix) Policy instability: This has to do with frequent change in educational policy without adequate knowledge of the supervisors which often leads to confusion or uncertainty. The sup ervisors are not carried along when policies affecting education are to be changed/amended For example, change of school calendar,

abolition and re-establishment of bodies like NPEC, abolition and re- introduction of private universities etc.

In addition to all the above discussed prob lems, there are so many other problems facing instructional supervision in schools. They are almost inaccessible in areas that includ e:

the location of the schools, inadeq uate data, over utilization of facilities, religious and political problems. These in add ition serve as serious constraints to supervision in the Nigerian educational system.

4.0 Co nclusion

The need for sup ervision is p ertinent to the growth and d evelopment of Nigerian education. This is the main reason why Nigerian government should pay more attention to supervision. The challenges of supervision on the morale of its agents should be seriously addressed. The supervisors should b enefit from regular in-service training in form workshops, seminars, conferences, and other relevant short and long term courses that would expose the supervisors to increased effectiveness and efficiency in supervision

exercise.

5.0 Summary

In this unit, we have exp lained the various forms of inspection we have, they are:

full

general, routine, special, ad visory, recognition and follow-up inspection. We also discussed some of the problems facing supervision in Nigeria. The following prob lems

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are also discussed in the unit: the dearth of q ualified supervisors, inadequate funding, lack of relevant supervisor y competencies, styles adopted b y sup ervisors, pre-occupation of school head, attitude of ministr y of education officials, policy instab ility and enrolment, the location of the school, inadequate d ata, over - utilized facilities, religious and political p roblems.

6.0 Tut or marked assignment

(i) List and explain five forms of inspection

(ii) Identify any five challenges facing of sup ervisory function in Nigeria and suggest possib le solutions to them.

7.0 References/Furt her Reading s.

Adam, J & Dickey, M (1953). Basic Principles of Supervision. New York: American Books

Ajayi, I. A & Ayodele, J. B. (2001). Introduction to Educational Planning, Administration and Supervision. Lagos: YPPS

Anuna, M. C. (2004). Educational Supervision. The Nigerian Experience, .Owerri:

International University Press.

Fafunwa, A. B. (1974). History of education in Nigeria. London: George Allen and Urwin.

Ofoegbu, F.I. (2004). Supervision and Inspection in the Niger ian Education System in Organisation and Administration of Education. Perspectives and Practices.

Benin: Festa.

Ogunsaju, S (1978): Structural organisation and sup ervision of Nigerian primary and secondary schools. Nigerian students international. Vol. No 2, pp.12-13

Wiles, K & John, T,L (1975): Sup ervision for Better Schools. 4th (ed), Engle-wood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice- hall Inc.