COLLEGIALITY AND TEACHERS WORK IN THE CONTEXT OF PEER SUPERVISION

This article describes a study of peer supervision framed within the c ontext of a formal school board-sponsored program called Supervision f or Growth (S4G). In the study I examined the collegial interactions of 4 teachers and their partners in 1 Canadian school and explored the e ffects of collegiality on the teachers' work. Data for the study consi sted of field notes and interview transcripts collected over a 5-month period of participant observation. Results showed that the quality an d quantity of collegial interactions between the 4 teachers and their partners covered a broad spectrum-from frequent and productive to infr equent and superficial. The kind of formality encouraged by the coachi ng cycle in S4G was eschewed by all teachers in the study. Teachers di d not see conferences, observations, and record keeping as essential t o their daily practice. The principal's role in the process was genera lly one of warm encouragement and helpfulness, rather than interventio n Overall, teachers were more receptive to the general idea of helping than to formal notions of coaching or supervision.