The Development of an Internal Supervision Model by Applying Contemplative Approach to Enhance the Emotional Quotient of Teachers in Small Secondary Schools in the Eastern Region

Abstract

Problems of educational supervision off-sites can be classified in terms of those that are related to organization and shortage of supervisors. Thus, educational institutions must organize their mentoring and supervising activities and become more independent. The purpose of this research was to develop and evaluate effects of using an internal supervision model which applies the contemplative approach to promote emotional intelligence of teachers in secondary schools in eastern Thailand. The research design was divided into 3 phases as follows: 1) investigating current status of internal supervision in 65 small-sized secondary schools in the eastern region; 2) developing a supervision model based on lessons learned from the best practice school and interviewing experts; and 3) evaluating the model by experimenting with a pilot school. A questionnaire, a content checklist, in-depth interview questions and the model guideline were used in data collection. The statistics were employed in data analysis including mean, standard deviation, and t-test. Results showed that the current situation regarding internal supervision in small secondary schools in the eastern region in overall was at a high level and the top three aspects were planning, assessing and implementing; respectively. The development of internal supervision model using the contemplative approach to promote the teachers’ emotional intelligence according to the manual consists of 3 main units: deliberation, deep listening and meditation. Each of these units has four sub-components: concept, objective, schedule of activities and evaluation tools. The evaluation of possibilities and suitability from experts found that the model was appropriate and possible at high level. Also, the teachers who participated in the training course exhibited a high level of satisfaction. They had the average score of emotional intelligence higher after using the model at .01 level of statistical significance. Findings of this study can be beneficial for school administrators, supervisors and teachers can gain new insights to develop teachers’ emotional intelligence in teaching and learning process. Finally, students will have indirect effects in learning how to develop “inner wisdom" through deliberation, deep listening and meditation which result in promoting their intellects.