The attitude of basic school mathematics teachers towards instructional supervision in Cape Coast Metropolis

Abstract

The study aimed at investigating the attitude of basic school mathematics teachers towards instructional supervision in Cape Coast Metropolis. The population for the study comprised the basic school mathematics teachers, headteachers and circuit supervisors in the Cape Coast Metropolis. A total sample size of one hundred ninety-eight (198) was used. This was made up of 168 teachers, 24 headteachers and 6 circuit supervisors. The sampling techniques employed to select the schools and the respondents for the study were stratified and simple random sampling methods. The stratified and simple random sampling were used to select the schools from the various school types (below average, average and above average achieving schools) while purposive sampling was used to select the teachers, the headteachers and the circuit supervisors. The instrument used for the study was questionnaire. One set of questionnaire was for teachers and the other set was for headteachers and circuit supervisors. A reliability coefficient of 0.87 and 0.81 were obtained for teachers and headteachers and circuit supervisors questionnaires respectively using the Cronbach‟s Alpha. The statistical tools used for the data analysis were descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation and frequency counts and “the One-way ANOVA inferential statistics”. The study found that basic school mathematics teachers had positive attitude towards supervision in all the various school types. Again it was found that attitudes of teachers in the average schools were better than the above-average schools. It is therefore recommended that supervision should be continued and be geared towards professional development of teachers so as to help improve and sustain their positive attitudes.