Instructional supervision : perspectives of middle school fine arts teachers

Abstract

The study examined the perspectives of six middle school fine arts teachers and their experiences with instructional supervision to understand what they needed and wanted from their supervisors in order to refine their artistic methods of teaching. Purposeful sampling was used to select six middle school fine arts teachers from three school sites in a large school district in central Georgia. Data from two semi-structured interviews were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Data from each case were analyzed separately and then across cases in which three common themes emerged: 1) Fine arts teachers believe that supervisors must be knowledgeable in the fine arts to help teaches improve, 2) The gap between the ideal and the reality of supervision in practice was wide for fine arts teachers, and 3) Fine arts teachers’ artistic needs and wants are marginalized. Marginalization was due to accountability concerns, namely the arts are not included on standardized tests and part-time administrators provided supervision, and as such, supervision was considered "nonexistent" and "distorted" by the participants. Findings also indicated that to assist middle school fine arts teachers improve, instructional supervisors must understand the "world of the fine arts classroom," narrow the gap between the ideal and what is practiced, and be trained to observe fine arts classrooms with a "larger lens" in light of accountability.