Practices And Challenges Of Principals' Leadership: The Case Of Public Secondary Schools Of Bole Sub-City Administration In Addis Ababa-Ethiopia

This research aimed to explore school principals' leadership practices and challenges in three public secondary schools of Bole Sub-city,in Addis Ababa-Ethiopia.During the investigation of this study,the researcher was conducted by the qualitative approach.During the study,both video and audio an online semi-structured interview was used to gather relevant data.Data was gathered from the selected schools,3 school principals,3 vice principals,3 department heads,2supervisors,2 Bole sub-city education officers,and 3 from Chair Persons of the Parents,Teachers,and Students Association(PTSA).The general overview of the literature review in this study was reflecting on the main concept of leadership and principals' leadership particular.Additionally,the theoretical background on leadership with different styles and skills in general,functions of school leadership,and influences impacting school principals' effectiveness,in particular,are part of this study.It was found out the practices of principals' leadership on vision and goal setting,building school culture,supporting teachers and students,cultivating leadership qualities in others,managing school resources and operations,and leading for continuous instructional and organizational improvement.In practicing leadership,the performance of the schools depended on the principal's creativity and willingness.Based on this study finding,principals' have various challenges in their practices of principal leadership due to different external,internal,and personal factors.These are;lack of decision making,too many routine activities or excess paper works,non-commitment of teachers,turnover of teachers,poor parent involvement,lack of finance and resource.But,the challenges of principals' leadership in schools varied according to schools' existing conditions.Finally,based on the findings and conclusions,recommendations were made on principals can do collaboratively with the concerned stakeholders like students,teachers,parents,educational offices,and other higher position leaders to solve the challenges and to do their work effectively,in turn,encouraging democratic and participatory approach of leadership.Furthermore,from responsible bodies or organizations it needs a strong controlling system on principals,Reducing or sharing the overloaded work of principals to other stakeholders by decentralizing power would help to improve school performance by the effective principals' leadership.