Current discussions about supervision in the school practice focus not only on its evaluative and control functions, but also on the developmental and supportive aspects. The origins of these discussions can be found in early 90s since when the paradigm of supervision in the helping professions has been changing. Kadushin (1992) stated three different functions of supervision. Administrative - the promotion and maintenance of good standards of work, where the supervisor has been given authority by the agency to oversee the work of the supervisee. Educational - the educational development of each individual worker in order to upgrade upgrade skill and to encourage reflection. Supervisees may be helped to understand the clients (pupils) better; become more aware of their own reactions and responses; understand the dynamics of the clients´ (pupils´) interactions. Supportive - the maintenance of harmonious working relationships, preventing the development of potentially stressful situations. Smith (2005) highlights some points of supervision in the helping professions: the central focus on the quality of practice, three aspects of the supervision process: administration (normative); education (formative) and support (restorative), particular issues arising from the authority and hierarchical position of supervisors, the aspects of direct observation of practice when in some situations it is a major obstacle to the exploration of practice; in others an aid. Hawking and Shohet (2000) see supervision as a way towards the learning culture, they point out that the core of the process should be a new creative learning, not only an exchange of ideas. Considering supervision in the school practice and in teacher education has been developing within the paradigm described above. Teaching and supervising is discussed as a reflective practice that professionals need to understand and incorporate in their practice (Glickman, Gordon, Ross-Gordon 2004). They find the meaning of supervision in promoting school culture and developing teachers as adult learners , emphasiszing developmental and collaborative aproach to the supervision process. Sullivan and Glanz (2005) consider supervision as a tool to facilitate the development and implemetation of a school vision of learning, supported by the school community. They focuse on supervision as a means to improve classroom instruction. Kothagen (2001) sees the supervision process as a crucial part of teacher education for helping teachers to become reflective and describes supervising the spiral of professional development. Similar expert discussions have occurred also in the Czech Republic. The accent is put on the potential of the supervision process, which might help to improve the quality of school work and teachers´professional development. The authors also focus on evaluative, supportive and educational functions, supervision is seen as an efficient and cheap opportunity how to educate teachers and promote their professional development. However, very little empirical evidence has been brought in order to support these statements. Teachers and headmasters are not trained in the supervision skills, methodical support in this field is missing. The research presented here is a part of the action research with the aim to find the perspective areas for in-service-teacher training and developing teachers´ competences for active and effective participation in supervision sessions. In order to prepare systematic interventions into the current concept of school supervision we decided to start with a reserch question: How do the Czech teachers understand their professional development through the supervision process? The objective was to survey supervision skills of the teachers by means of model supervision sessions. The teachers´attitudes and concepts of preferred parameters of supervision were inquired through group discussions and then compared with theoretical sources.

The research is a part of the project INOSKOP that focuses on systematic work with teachers and principals of 12 schools; its intention is evaluation of teacher educational needs, planning and realization of the development of teacher pedagogical competences, self-evaluation of this realization and creating the open partnership with parents, community and other social partners. (INOSKOP project funded by European Social Fund, state budget of the Czech Republic and budget of the City of Prague.) The research sample is 101 primary and lower secondary school teachers from these schools who were willing to participate on the workshop on supervision sessions. The teachers realized model supervision sessions in small groups where each member was assigned either a role of supervisor, or supervisee or observer. To fulfill the goals of the particular research mentioned above we carried out content analyses of 37 supervision recording forms for observators focused on the supervision skills and 101 supervision questionnaires focused on teachers´ understanding of the supervision sessions they had realized. Furthermore, the ideal parameters of a supervision processed were inquired during afterwords group discussions.

The results of the research help to find the Czech teachers` understanding of the supervision and the understanding of educational needs of teachers in that area. It will be a base for further steps in action research with the aim to find the perspective areas for in-service-teacher training and developing teachers´ competences for active and effective participation in supervision sessions.