4.5 The supervision system

A final example of socialisation by the bureaucracy is the supervision system. Circuit Supervisors are the main point of communication between the school and the District Office and one of their responsibilities is to support and guide newly trained teachers by a process of regular supervision. Some Circuit Supervisors are praised for the support they give, but many are not and this quotation gives an insight into the way that an emphasis on bureaucratic procedure (the checking of lesson notes, rather than observing teachers) can undermine good teaching and professional attitudes:

...it is somehow due to how the Circuit Supervisors have been supervising the system, in that sometimes we, in the rural areas, we have problems with the lights [...] so in this case, me for example, if I know that I'm not able to prepare my lesson notes, I'd rather read whatever I'm going to teach to get it started so I may be late in preparing my lesson notes, but when they come they collar you that you have to do your lesson notes whether you would have taught that or not. So sometimes some will take advantage of that, they will prepare lesson notes, but they will not intend to teach, prepare maybe in advance. Someone is in our staff, he will prepare sometimes [...] and he has a big bundle of notes and he just transfers the notes. So in this case this person always has the access to [old] lesson notes and he just transfers, but being a new teacher where am I going to get it? [...] So in this way the supervisors are stressing on the lesson notes, the teachers will take advantage, prepare lesson notes and not teach, and go away. [Male teacher in a rural primary school]