Supervisão escolar e lideranças intermédias

: um estudo sobre as concepções e práticas dos coordenadores de departamento curricular

Abstract

This thesis aimed to study the dynamics of supervision occurring in the Curricular Departments of state schools, in Portugal. In this respect, we intended to know and understand the processes of supervision of the Department Headteachers in two school clusters, the underlying concepts in their practice, as well as the potential and the constraints they feel in the exercise of their duties. Being a qualitative study, the main instrument for collecting information was the semistructured interview although it has also resorted to the analysis of key internal documents of the two clusters. Data analysis was performed according to the technique of content analysis. We sought to question the subject of study by analyzing it and comparing it with the most current knowledge about supervision, leadership and teaching cultures. The conceptual framework was based primarily on the contribution of the most recent studies on these topics. The literature review covered the areas of supervision, evaluation, leadership and teaching cultures. The main objective of supervision is to monitor the development and promotion of school quality and all who work there. Supervision is a complex task of great responsibility and the supervisor will be responsible to promote the personal, professional and organizational development. The results obtained in this study showed that the work of curricular departments and the way their headteachers assume the role of supervisors is diverse, ranging from schools and within the same school. It is also concluded that the concept and supervisory functions are not completely understood by the headteachers and supervisory practices fell short of what the literature considers essential to achieve the objectives defined. The peer observation of lessons, as a training and collaborative practice of supervision, is not found in any curricular department despite its relevance to the improvement of teacher performance and, therefore, the school improvement. As a result of that, we present some proposals to recast supervisory practices to bring them closer of the conceptual framework proposed by the literature.

Date of Award	7 Apr 2016
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Maria Helena Mendes Carneiro Peralta (Supervisor)