The recent development of instructional supervision in China: A study of the organization and function of the elementary and secondary school teaching and research section

Supervision of instruction is an important educational activity designated to provide assistance for classroom teachers for the purpose of improvement of instruction. This important function, for a long time, did not receive much attention in China due to the influence of the radical political ideology that resulted in educational policies overemphasizing the political and ideological function of education and belittling intellectual or academical goals. The social and political changes since 1977 have had great influence upon educational practice. To improve the quality of education to meet the demand of economic development, increasing attention has been given to the provision of instructional supervision for elementary and secondary school teachers.;This dissertation is a study of the unique role performed by "the elementary and secondary school teaching and research sections". Established by mandate at provincial, prefectural and county educational administration levels, the research sections have developed over the past ten years as the important institutes that organize instructional supervision for elementary and secondary school teachers. This study traces briefly the historical development of this concept, examines the organization of the institutes, the types of activities they are actually performing, the supervisory techniques being commonly employed and daily duties of the researchers. A brief examination of the contributions made by the research sections over the past decade, major problems and issues identified by practitioners is provided. The researcher also presents a brief observation of the major characteristics of the present Chinese practice of instructional supervision and makes a few suggestions for improvement.;This study is a qualitative research. Though interviews and questionnaire were used for collecting data, it is based primarily on a careful analysis of first-hand documents collected from different sources. The whole study is organized in nine chapters. Chapter Two reviews literature of the development of instructional supervision as a field. Chapter Three provides a historical background of the development of school supervision in China. Chapter Four to Eight focus on the major research questions. Chapter Nine concludes the study.