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Appendix 1: The QUEST Project
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
- Chapter
- Additional Information
TheQUESTProject RESEARCHINGSUPERVISION The data used in the handbook is derived from the QUEST project for the Quality Enhancement of Supervisin g Teaching . Our proposa l t o the Universit y Grant s Committe e i n Hong Kon g specified th e following goals: • t o develop a framework fo r the improvement of supervisory skills; • t o define the processes of existing teaching practice supervision ; • t o identify what student teachers see as supportive supervision and problems they encounter in existing practices; • t o facilitate and enhance the development of supervisors through the production of a set of workshop materials to be used by those involved in teaching supervision . Our research plan was structured around the following stages: • a questionnaire study of a sample of supervisors focusing on their identification of problem situations encountered in supervision; • a questionnaire stud y o f a sample of student teacher s focusing o n their identification o f problem situations encountered in supervision; • a n intervie w stud y o f a sample o f supervisor s focusin g o n thei r respons e t o specifi c supervision situations; • a n interview stud y of a sample of student teachers focusing o n their response to specifi c supervision situations; • a series of detailed case studies of supervision in practice; • a computer-assisted codin g of the data and a qualitative analysis of the findings. 190Bette rSupervision,BetterTeaching:AHandbookforTeachingPracticeSupervisors Our principa l intentio n wa s t o attemp t t o se e supervisio n throug h th e eye s o f bot h supervisors and student teachers. In particular, we sought to identify a number of issues that both group s considere d t o be especiall y problemati c i n practice . Experienc e suggest s tha t supervisors functio n throug h th e us e o f a number o f largel y unwritte n rules , an d w e wer e anxious t o codif y thes e rule s i n suc h a way tha t the y woul d assis t ne w an d experience d supervisors to become more proficient. It was essential that we went beyond the professiona l know-how gained through firsthand experience and that we should gather data systematically as the basis for guiding future practice . ...