Supervision of Private Schools by Rogelio G. Dela Cruz, Ph. D(January, 2007)

It is said that educational leadership thrives on skills of three categories namely: technical skills, human relations skills, and conceptual skills. The first deals with materials, techniques and technology; the second deals with people; and the third deals with ideas. These three skills are used in the supervisory work.

Supervision is an important, powerful and at the same time sensitive instrument in any human endeavor. In education, the primary instrument for the exercise of the supervisory authority is the school visit. This is not only true to public schools but also to the private schools.

Supervision in private schools oftentimes is misunderstood considering that it differs in certain areas from those of in public schools. It is in the spirit and concern that I would like to share some guidelines and pointers for the proper use of supervision in private schools which I have learned from my intelligent and understanding mentors with whom I have worked with. They are as follows:


The school visit should have a definite official purpose.
The visit should have a reasonably flexible coverage.
The visit should generally be unannounced and should be assistance and improvement-oriented.
The school visit should observe traditionally recognized and accepted approaches and procedures.
The visit should result in wholesome working relationship between the office and the school.
The supervisor should be guided by some ethical considerations.
The supervisor should be a personification of simple dignity in appreciable measures.
The supervisor should knowledgeable on policies, regulations, standard and requirements governing private education.
The supervisor should be perceptive and gently persuasive.
A follow up should evaluate the results of previous visitations.
In conclusion, it could be stated that while we possess supervisory know-how, we should maintain pleasant relations with our public, we should have or what we are supposed to have, the ability to use our ideas in creative and innovative fashion, we must also grow in our competencies. In essence we must professionalize and humanize a little more and we must be propelled by a value set with ethical and moral values as we visit the schools under our supervision.