The changing role of the circuit education officer

Abstract

The purpose of the present study i s to e l i c i t the information whether the C i r c u i t Education Officers role has changed and whether they are actually performing a useful function within the Educational Administrative System of S r i Lanka. It i s intended to f i n d out whether the rating of the C i r c u i t Education^of themselves is similar or different to the rating of the C i r c u i t Education Officers made by the P r i n c i p a l s and teachers (termed teaching s t a f f ). The main feature of this study i s to explore the p o s s i b i l i t y of the C i r c u i t Education 0fficer*'s role being performed by some other o f f i c e r , perhaps with a different designation i n case the post of the Circuit Education^ceases to exist. The f i r s t chapter of this study deals with the statement of the problem. Although Supervision i s essent i a l to better educational management in schools as also for the improvement of the teaching-learning s i t u a t i o n, the o f f i c e r s appointed for supervision are overloaded with routine administrative work and they hardly find the time for supervision. Hence the deterioration of the supervision work. However the necessity f o r i t remains. Changes i n the role of the C i r c u i t Education Officer have been observed and the study aims to assess the present situation, with the view of making recommendations for the improvement of the quality of Education i n Schools. This chapter also gives i n b r i e f other objectives of the study, i t s delimitations and the methods used to collect information, necessary for the study. IV Chapter two discusses the changing concepts of supervision. Quoting recognized authorities in the f i e ld i t i s shown that the concepts of supervision have changed over the years. Concepts that were present in primitive society were found unsuitable when the societies developed and became complex. Hance the emergence of new concepts When S r i lanka came under colonial domination, the concepts prevalent in the imperial countries influenced t h is country and were adopted in the introduced educational systems. Chapter 3 examines the evolution of the Inspectorate from i t s inception to the present period - to about 1981. Thottegh supervision, was always present the Inspectorate does not have such a long history. It originated under the Dutch and developed under the B r i t i s h . F i n a l l y the Inspectorate acquired the present form in the decade after I960. It was reorganised once i n 1966 and again in 1972 to ;serve the needs that emerged. Changes in designation was brought about in keeping with the development of enlightened concepts of su 'ervision. The School Inspectors were termed Education Officers, the C i r c u i t Inspector was designated ,t&e C i r c u i t Education Officer. The Inspectorate i s now on the threshold of another more r a d i c a l change. Chapter four deals with the changes in the role of the C i r c u i t Education Officer. How the role acquired new dimensions was reviewed along with those new dimensions. Conflict situations in the performance of hfee role were also discussed. V Chapter five i s devoted to the review of the performance of two rna£or dimensions of the r o l e of the C i r c u i t Education Officer. The f i r s t is h i s role in the present p o l i t i c a l set up and second i s h i s role as a Community Leader. These are new dimensions which have emerged since p o l i t i c s became an important factor i n the S r i Lankan society; and also because the educational system is no!..longer considered apart from society today. Chapter six deals with the question of decentralization in r e l a t i o n to the performance of the functions of the C i r c u i t Education Officer. It examines whether the C i r c u i t Education Officer could work better under a decent r a l i z e d set up v/hich would give more scope for the use of his i n i t i a t i v e . It also reviews b r i e f l y the system of school complexes or clusters which are expected to take the place of school c i r c u i t s. The data collected by the questionnaire and the interview method i s analysed in the seventh chapter. The C i r c u i t Education Officersrating of themselves i s analysed i n relation to the variables which could effect the rating. Similarly their opinion i s again considered in r e l a t i o n to the r a t i n g f*$ the teaching staff 9&0&JQ£ them. Chapter eight gives the summary of the dissertation i n brief and also the writers own conclusions and recommendations ;as a poihieErto the future. VI According to the findings of the study i t . i s revealed that there are a number of useful functions which are performed by the C i r c u i t Education Officers, especially i n the f i e l d of co-ordination and administration. It i s also revealed that the C i r c u i t Education Officer i s a useful feed-back o f f i c e r enlightening the government of the deficiencies i n the schools. F i n a l l y i t also reveals that they have very l i t t l e time f o r guidance and classroom supervision. This has made them less acceptable to the teaching staff as capable guides and counsellors. Very l i t t l e research has been done about the functions of these much maligned o f f i c e r s . Though strong opinions have been aired against them an^. unbiased and honest approach to t h e i r problems has not been visualised.