Gaborone, Botwana, 6th May – Ministers of Education from across Africa have made a landmark continental commitment to strengthen school leadership training as a specialised professional track — distinct from the teaching profession but fundamentally linked to its effectiveness. The commitment is contained in the ministerial communiqué from the 13th Conference and 15th Roundtable of the Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities (AFTRA), held in Gaborone, Botswana, from 5th to 6th May 2026.
The communiqué affirms that effective school leadership is a key determinant of teacher retention, professional performance, improved learner outcomes and competency acquisition — and signals a shift in continental thinking from treating school leadership as an extension of teaching, to recognising it as a profession in its own right requiring dedicated standards, structured preparation, and sustained investment.
For the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL), whose mandate is built on precisely this argument, the outcome represents a significant policy advocacy milestone.
The ACSL was represented by Dr. Leila Abdullahi, Director of Research and Programme Delivery, and Chantal Kabanda Dusabe, Technical Lead. The two colleagues engaged ministers of education directly — introducing ACSL’s continental mandate, presenting the case for school leadership as a specialised profession, and drawing on the findings from ACSL’s Continental Mapping Report on School Leadership Initiatives in Africa to anchor the advocacy in evidence.
The AFTRA platform was a deliberate and strategic choice. As an intergovernmental body comprising Ministries of Education and national teaching regulatory authorities from across the African Union, AFTRA convenes the exact audience — ministers, regulators, and policy architects — whose decisions shape how school leadership is defined, resourced, and governed within national education systems. Engaging at this level, and securing a ministerial commitment in the resulting communiqué, reflects ACSL’s approach to advocacy: targeted, evidence-based, and focused on the moments when political decisions are made.
The Gaborone commitment adds to a pattern of deepening continental recognition of school leadership that has been building through 2025 and into 2026. Earlier in April, senior technical education officials at the 1st International Conference of the Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI) in Nairobi endorsed the ACSL Continental Mapping Report and its call for coherent, well-resourced school leadership systems. Also in April, the francophone edition of the 2025 Spotlight Report Series — launched with the African Union, UNESCO GEM-R, and the Ministry of National Education of Côte d’Ivoire — reinforced the instructional leadership agenda in French-speaking Africa. Equally, the 2025 ADEA Triennale in Accra, last September, placed school leadership explicitly among the eight pillars required for education transformation across the continent.
The AFTRA ministerial communiqué adds regulatory and professional legitimacy — a commitment not just to supporting school leaders, but to treating school leadership as a distinct professional track, governed by the same standards and accountability frameworks that define the teaching profession itself. ACSL will continue to track implementation of this commitment and to support member states in translating it into national policy action.
The AFTRA conference, convened under the theme “Recasting Teaching as a Collaborative Profession: Implications for Africa” and hosted by the Ministry of Child Welfare and Basic Education in collaboration with the Botswana Teaching Professionals Council (BOTEPCO), was officially opened by the President of the Republic of Botswana, Advocate Duma Gideon Boko. In his address to open the session, President Boko called for a unified continental approach to teacher development and professional standards, stressing that African education systems must adapt to modern demands and that leadership — at the school level and the system level — is central to that adaptation.
Minister of Child Welfare and Basic Education, Kebuang Nono Kgafela-Mokoka, framed Botswana’s hosting of the conference as a statement of commitment to the continent’s education future, noting that partnerships between governments, regulatory bodies, and international partners are indispensable to raising standards and transforming the profession. AFTRA President Ebby Mubanga reinforced the conference’s core thesis — that teaching as a collaborative profession cannot be strengthened by any single country working alone, and that collective effort, shared evidence, and sustained continental coordination are the only path to meaningful transformation.
