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The origins of the word "Supervision" liken it to a process of scanning for errors or deviations.
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This timeline will chronicle historical perspectives of supervision in education, as represented by Sorenson, Goldsmith, Mendez and Maxwell in [The Principal’s Guide to Curriculum Leadership (2011).](www.sagepub.com/upm-data/6652_sullivan_ch_1.pdf) Please note that all graphics have been verified as royalty free. Some dates are too specific as Timetoast requires you to put an exact date, even when describing an era, timeframe or year in general, ie mid-19th century may appear as August 15th, 1850. August 15th represents a general date.
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1709 - Educational supervisors are supposed inspectors of teacher proficiency and existing standards.
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19th Century- "Ward Board” supervisors, not professionally trained, inspect one room school houses for the maintenance of standards and were not concerned with improvements beyond these standards.
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Mid 19th Century- The new era of educational practice and a move towards streamlining schools is born, but supervision does not change.
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Late 19th Century- As a result of the budding industrial age, a focus on organization and efficiency in school takes place. The Reform Movement sees supervisors monitoring and inspecting schools for efficiency.
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1888 - Superintendant James M Greenwood’s teaching inspections, based on intuition rather than fact, are widely adopted. Generally, teachers are viewed as ineffectual and inept.
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Early 20th Century- Supervisors were viewed as influential and high ranking members of society.
Biases against women supervisors existed and women were only accepted to fulfill an assistive, curricular role to the teacher as ‘special supervisors’, but were not permitted as general supervisors in the school. The role of special supervisor was soon taken over by male general supervisors. -
1913 - Franklin Bobbit releases his supervision theory that reflects a business-like model where supervisors control and direct educational methods and rate teacher efficiency in a scientific way.
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1920s- Democratic methods in Supervision begin to emerge which involved cooperation between supervisors and teacher to improve instruction.
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1930s to 1950s - Scientific Supervision evolves where supervisors assess the teaching situation and create solutions for instruction so that pre-set objectives can be met. Supervisors observe classrooms and suggest improvements in instruction.
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1960s- Supervision as leadership emerges where supervisors take on a guiding more collaborative role with teachers.
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1970s-Clinical Supervision invokes a formal collaboration component in the supervisory procedure that involves a sharing of ideas between supervisor and teacher. The process of the pre-conference, observation and post-conference is realized. Despite this, bureaucratic supervision is still apparent.
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1980s-Transformational leadership where supervisors are dubbed as “change agents” becomes standard. Teacher empowerment grows as teachers are given more say in policies and goals.
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1990s to present- Standards-based reform sees supervisors turning the main focus from clinical supervision to evaluation checklists and more bureaucratic methods of supervision, although the two methods are supposed to be employed together. High-stakes testing informs supervision practices.
