The Roles of the University Supervisor: Perceived Importance and Practical Implications

Abstract

The literature on student teacher supervision has suggested five major supervisory roles, including the Teacher, Counselor, Curriculum Specialist, Coordinator, and Evaluator. In order to determine the relative importance of these roles, a survey was developed and administered to university supervisors, cooperating teachers, and student teachers. In this survey, respondents rated the relative importance of specific behaviors representative of each major role. Overall, the Teacher role was seen as the most important, followed by the Coordinator, Counselor, Curriculum Specialist, and Evaluator roles. However, the three groups of respondents differed somewhat in their perceptions of these supervisory positions, with the university supervisors viewing the Counselor role as the most important, followed by the Coordinator and then the Teacher roles. Implications of these results for supervisory practice are discussed. Anne G. Nerenz (Ph.D candidate, Univers graduate teaching assistant and student teacher ment of French and ltalian, and the Departme struttion at the University of Wisconsin, Madis nsm, Madison) IS a 47 1 1. "A Current Formulation of Client Centered Therapy," SocialService Review. 243 (1950), 442-50.

A survey of world language cooperating teachers: Implications for teacher development

“…A decade that arguably could be described as the transformative period for PreK–12 WL education—as García (), García et al (), Nerenz (), Phillips () contended—the 1980s witnessed the advent of the communicative instruction and proficiency movements together with a growing emphasis on teacher standards. Despite recommendations for improving WLTD (Abbott & Carter, ; Cannon, ; Moskowitz, ; Nerenz, ; Nerenz & Knop, ), no extensive data‐based analysis that was dedicated to the multifaceted contributions of the CT exists from those years. Moreover, it is plausible that the commonly held perception of the CT's contributions as a given had lost credibility because it served to undergird Powers’ (1971) criticism (as cited by Zimmer‐Loew, , p. 29) that WLTD was an “amateur profession.” Anecdotal affirmation of the CT's importance did not end with the onset of a new consensus in WLTD that sought to professionalize teacher education (Phillips & Lafayette, ; Schrier, ; Zimmer‐Loew, ).…”

Training Process Cycles for Special Education Teachers and University Supervisors: A Turkish Context

“…The Roles and Responsibilities of the University Supervisor Candidate: In this study, the university supervisor candidates had roles and responsibilities related to both the university supervisors and the pre-service teachers. These roles and responsibilities included tasks such as teaching, consultancy, evaluating, reporting the process, and coordination, which are stated in the literature (Borko & Mayfield, 1995;Krueger & Joy, 1991;Morris, 1980;Nerenz, 2006). The specific tasks related to these roles and responsibilities are listed below:…”

The TESOL Methods Course

“…Referring to classroom texts and teaching, Pennycook (1989) describes the large gap between the theories of experts and textbooks and classroom practice. Several studies have examined the stated preferences of teachers and supervisors regarding teacher development activities (Ervin & Muyskens, 1982;Nerenz, 1979aNerenz, , 1979bNerenz, Herron & Knop, 1979). More research on teacher needs and classroom practices should be conducted with the goal of more closely relating the content of teacher preparation courses to development needs.…”