Development of the Ethiopian school leadership: foundation, self-dependence, and historical erratic evolution

ABSTRACT

Educational leadership has been an integral part of the Ethiopian traditional education. Nonetheless, the nation’s school leadership evolution started with the deployment of the first principal in Ethiopian western type school a century and a decade ago. Since then, Ethiopian school leadership evolved through seven distinctive phases: principalship evolved into separate position, Ethiopian replaced expatriate staff, principal preparation initiated, albeit enlargement of the task, principals’ preparation reduced, principalship deprofessionalised, principals’ preparation reemphasised, and PGDSL preparation started. During the evolution, the dominant model of decision making for initiating school leaders’ development programmes was political command. Unfortunately, those decisions didn’t involve educational stakeholders and, most often, it didn’t incorporate the will and concerns of the principals’. Furthermore, evolution of the school leadership was erratic in that it fluctuated back and forth rather than consistently advancing forward. Hence, school leadership of the nation couldn’t contribute what it must contribute to the Ethiopian education.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethiopian school principals
• expatriate staff
• principal preparation
• school management committee
• deprofessionalisation

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr Madanu Shantha for her help in language editing and Mr Mekonnen Kejela for his assistance in editing the manuscript. I would also like to extend my indebtedness to anonymous referees whose comments shaped the paper.

Disclosure statement

I have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tesfaye Gemechu Gurmu

Tesfaye Gemechu Gurmu is a lecturer at department of Educational Planning and Management, Institute of Education and Behavioural Sciences, Ambo University. Previously, he was a teacher and the school principal at primary school, educational programme officer at district education office, vice head and head at zone education department, and teacher educator at teachers’ training college.