Scratching the Knowledge Base Surface of Ministry of Education (MOE) English Teacher Supervisors in Iran

Based on the expert observation that the teacher “supervisor’s role is, in part, culturally defined” (Bailey, 2006, p.6), and the perceived gap that few supervisors receive formal training, in the current study, the researchers report on the views of Ministry of Education (MOE) teachers and supervisors in the Iranian context as to what constitutes the knowledge base of supervisors. Having conducted qualitative content analysis on the data gleaned from interviews with the teachers and supervisors and open-ended questionnaires, we came up with a framework of supervisory skill/knowledge domains – one encompassing public relations skills, subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and contextual sensitivity. The results show that teachers by and large, by voicing their discontent with current supervisory routines, opt for humanistic supervisory procedures. The study, hoping to be taken up with more supervisory knowledge base studies, ends with advice on building supervisory preparation courses into existing teacher development programs.