LEADERSHIP OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL IN SUPERVISING THE TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS: PERFORMANCE AND PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

This article on the ‘leadership of the secondary school headmaster in supervising the teaching and learning process: performance and perspectives’ is the result of a broader research project carried out as part of the doctoral programme in Educational Sciences, focusing on the process of pedagogical supervision. The research was carried out in a secondary school in the city of Pemba, in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado. In the school under study, in general, the school manager's leadership is centred on bureaucratic and administrative aspects, thus distancing himself from actions aimed at the pedagogical area, such as pedagogical supervision. In this situation, the headteacher's weak leadership from the perspective of supervisory practices can, in a way, have a negative influence on improving the teaching and learning process in the school. This made the researchers curious and there was a need to understand the contours of the situation, which led to the following research question: How does the headteacher of a secondary school lead pedagogical supervision in the teaching and learning process? The aim of the study was to analyse the leadership of the school headmaster in the pedagogical supervision of the teaching and learning process. In order to realise this objective, a bibliographical study was carried out, which brought together the points of view of the different authors who deal with the subject. Thus, the study shows that the biggest challenge facing the headteacher of a secondary school relates to pedagogical supervision to improve the teaching and learning process, which on the one hand is related to his basic (initial) training, which limits him in acting as the first supervisor in an educational institution and by the methodologies of Mozambican secondary education. On the other hand, it is related to the poor organisational culture of internal pedagogical supervision. In this way, there is an urgent need to clarify the main actions of the school manager with regard to pedagogical supervision, and their commitment could contribute to improving the quality of the teaching and learning process.