SUPERVISORY PRACTICES USED BY TEACHER EDUCATORS IN AGRICULTURE: A COMPARISON OF DOCTORAL/RESEARCH EXTENSIVE AND RESEARCH NON-EXTENSIVE INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare student teacher supervision among doctoral/research extensive and research non-extensive institutions. Results of this census study provide benchmark data on supervisory practices followed by teacher educators in doctoral/research extensive and research non-extensive institutions. The doctoral/research extensive (N=111) and research non-extensive (N=34) teacher educators who participated in the study were predominantly male and most had received formal training on supervision. In addition, these teacher educators devoted, on average, 19% of their academic appointments to supervision, conducted three on-site visits lasting approximately four to five hours, and had served as cooperating teachers for an average of two student teachers. On average, teacher educators from doctoral/research extensive institutions had been university supervisors for 14 years and research non-extensive teacher educators had been university supervisors for 12.5 years. Based on the Supervisory Options for Instructional Leaders (SOIL) Model, respondents from doctoral/research extensive and research non-extensive institutions used components of clinical supervision to a greater extent than they used contextual or differentiated supervision. The most frequently used level of the SOIL Model utilized by teacher educators in doctoral/research extensive institutions was the structured level; however, the moderately structured level was the most frequently utilized by teacher educators in research non-extensive institutions.