PERCEPTIONS OF SUPERVISION PRACTICES BY AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION STUDENT TEACHERS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe student teachers’ perceptions and preferences of the type of supervision they experienced while interacting with their university supervisors and cooperating teachers. Results revealed that student teachers perceived both their cooperating teachers and university supervisors to engage in contextual and clinical supervision practices. Cooperating teachers were perceived to use the nondirective style of developmental supervision, whereas most university supervisors were perceived to use the collaborative style. Most student teachers felt that supervision practices from all supervision models were important, with contextual and clinical supervision being most important. Of the developmental supervision styles, most student teachers preferred the collaborative supervision style. Future studies should examine how supervisor beliefs, supervisory situations, and student teachers’ personal and professional characteristics influence the supervisors’ supervisory behaviors.