An ethnographic or anthropological perspective is useful for the reexamination of the assumptions and taken-for-granted nature of the practice of supervision. An indepth survey of literature on supervisors illustrates supervisory roles and the existence of a separate "supervisor culture". Specifically, the relationship between novice teachers and…

Findings of a study that examined novice supervisors' understandings of supervision are presented in this paper. Data were collected from 110 graduate-level students enrolled in an introductory supervision class. Four themes emerged from students' definitions of supervision-domains, relationships, traits, and tasks. The most surprising finding was…

Describes and interprets the processes that supervisors currently use in conference, relying on anthropological linguistics and other qualitative techniques. Reconstructs a contextual definition of the supervisor conference and suggests some implications for future supervisory study and practice. Supervisors' controlling behaviors make collegial…

Discusses types of authority (bureaucratic, personal, technical-rational, professional, moral, cultural, and ideological) and their implications for teacher supervision. Supervision is a helping profession, in service of the teacher. The heart of supervision lies in its relationships and its mission to improve the total teaching/learning…

Ethnographic methods and conversation analysis were used to examine five teacher-supervisor conferences and their contexts. Passive, collaborative, and adversarial teacher conference roles were constructed in the conference process. Implications for supervision, educational leadership and reform, and teacher recruitment and placement are…

Summarizes results of a study offering both retrospective and prospective views of supervision, based on graduate students' definitions of supervision. Four emergent themes included the domains of supervision, supervisory tasks, supervisory relationships, and supervisor traits. Findings suggest that aspiring supervisors confuse administration with…

Anthropologically informed examination of instructional supervisors and supervision could reveal functions beyond counseling, teaching, and training. A literature review highlights a cultural dimension of supervision. An ethnography of supervision would elucidate the roles of supervisors just as training supervisors in ethnography could help them…

This report describes a "culturally contexted" conversation analysis approach to the study of naturally occurring speech in supervisory conferences. The supervisors and teachers were participants in a graduate program for beginning teachers, and the conference's purpose was supervisory evaluation of teachers' classroom performances. Ethnographic…