School leaders are the cornerstone of any successful education system, shaping the environment where effective teaching and learning flourish. Based on the findings of an empirical review of research on school leadership, effective leadership in schools is crucial for tackling the root causes of the learning crisis affecting the African continent, including unprepared students, poor teaching quality, weak school management, and a focus on educational inputs that fail to enhance learning.

Recognising this, the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) is dedicated to advancing effective school leadership across the continent, building on regional expertise and experience. By fostering partnerships, cultivating networks, and promoting co-creation and mutual learning, the ACSL tackles educational challenges with a collaborative and comprehensive approach.

In a significant step towards this mission, from 12 – 15 June 2024, the ACSL team, together with its partners from Rwanda, Kenya and Ghana, embarked on an important learning visit to Ghana. This visit which included a two-day workshop and school learning was an opportunity to delve into Ghana’s successful practices in school leadership, reinforcing the critical role of partnerships and shared learning in driving improvements across Africa’s education landscape.

Why Ghana?

Having made significant strides in promoting school leadership for quality education, Ghana provided an ideal setting for this exchange. The Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA), a UNESCO Category II Centre in Ghana, is renowned for its excellence in educational research and training educational planners, administrators, and leaders. Its commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 aligns perfectly with the ACSL’s mission. The IEPA’s efforts in advancing effective school leadership in Ghana and the broader West African region made it an exemplary partner for this learning visit.

Ghana’s progress in school leadership

In July 2023, IEPA, alongside its counterparts in Rwanda and Kenya, completed a comprehensive school leadership mapping exercise. This exercise highlighted Ghana’s significant achievements in promoting school leadership. These include piloting the National Education Leadership Institute (NELI) to create a dedicated pathway for developing school leaders, providing blended professional development in transformative leadership, and establishing the National Professional Education Leadership Qualification Framework to guide academic institutions in training school leaders. The Ghana Education Service (GES) and the National Teaching Council (NTC) also play an active role in supervising and appraising school leaders.

Leadership is the cause. All others are effects

During the workshop discussions in Accra, it was highlighted that leadership is fundamental, influencing and determining various organisational outcomes. Leadership is the key driving force behind various outcomes, whether they are positive or negative. On one hand, this implies that, in school contexts, effective school leadership can lead to success, motivation and overall positive results as far as school performance is concerned. Poor school leadership can result in failure, demotivation, and low educational outcomes, on the other hand. Therefore, there is a strongneed to nurture and foster effective school leadership, not just leadership.

Dr Michael Boakye-Yiadom is the Director General of the Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA). He believes school leadership is very important in the effective management of every school. “Many of the things we see in the school system, such as not achieving learning outcomes, absenteeism etc., are mainly the effect of bad leadership. If you get your leadership right, most likely all the other things will be better,” he said. Dr Boakye-Yiadom closed his remarks by citing Professor Stephen Adei’s popular statement that says, “Leadership is cause, everything else is effect.” Indeed, effective leadership is paramount to sustainable success in every sector, including in education.

Power of partnerships

The visit emphasized the importance of collaboration among education stakeholders for achieving effective school leadership and enhancing learning outcomes. Participants learnt that by working together, they can leverage their collective expertise and resources to address complex challenges and improve school leadership practices.

While reflecting on this visit, Dr Fay Hodza, the Regional Coordinator of the ACSL said, “This visit has once again reinforced Hellen Keller’s popular idea that “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” He further said, “in the context of supporting school leadership in Africa, national efforts alone are limited in impact, but when education actors collaborate at the regional level—sharing knowledge, resources, and strategies—they can drive significant improvements in school leadership and ultimately enhance learning outcomes across the continent.”

Retirees programme

This Ghana’s innovative programme engages retired school leaders driven by the motto “we’ve retired but are not tired”, in mentoring and coaching new leaders, ensuring continuity and the transfer of valuable experience. The IEPA organises training for retirees to ensure they can perform their responsibilities effectively and are up to date with current trends in the education sector and school leadership.

Community involvement

Participants visited St. John’s Catholic Basic School in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem district to observe how Right to Play and Sabre Education integrate play-based learning into the curriculum. At this school, the Leadership Communities of Practice (LCoP) mobilized parents to improve learning conditions, demonstrating the power of community engagement. The LCoPs, initiated through a project by VVOB, Sabre Education, Right To Play and AfriKids, bring together District Early Childhood Education (ECE) Coordinators, teachers, school leaders, and School Management Committee (SMC) members to enhance school leadership and support play-based early childhood education in Ghana.

LCoP members regularly visit schools to address concerns. This year at St. John’s Catholic Basic School, they successfully mobilized parents to fund new chairs and tables for ECE learners and resolved the lack of electricity in kindergarten classrooms through parent engagement.

Emmanuel Abaidoo, a former teacher at St. John’s for 36 years, now leads the School Management Committee (SMC) and remains active in the LCoP. “Children learn as they play. We’ve painted classrooms and are working on a playground to create a welcoming environment for the children,” he said.

Community members also contribute based on their professions. Philomena Kwawolah, a hairdresser and LCoP member teaches kindergarten learners about personal hygiene. “I teach them how to care for their bodies, including their head and hair, to prevent infections,” she said.

Alumni programme

The team also visited St Augustine’s College in Cape Coast, engaged directly with the school leaders as well as administrative and teaching staff and discussed various aspects of leadership within the school context. They gained insights into the administrative challenges and strategies employed by the school leaders to manage operations effectively.

One of the best practices highlighted is St. Augustine College’s alumni programme. This ensures continuous support from graduates, with contributions made every 25 years. This means that every year, a new cohort reaches its 25th anniversary since graduating, consistently returning to significantly contribute to the school’s development in various ways, such as renovating the school infrastructure, buying new desks and other needs of the school.

Key partners represented in the learning visit included government partners from Rwanda, Kenya, and Ghana. In addition, representatives from VVOB and Mastercard Foundation also participated in the visit. The Government of Rwanda was represented by the University of Rwanda-College of Education, the Government of Kenya was represented by an official from the Ministry of Education and Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI), while the Government of Ghana was represented by officials from the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service (GES), National Teaching Council (NTC) and the Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA).

The ACSL partners’ learning visit highlighted the critical role of partnerships in enhancing school leadership across Africa. By learning from Ghana’s experiences and sharing insights, the coalition aims to foster effective school leadership, ultimately improving the quality of education on the continent.

The ACSL is a coalition of partners in Africa committed to the promotion of effective school leadership by bringing together organisations that offer professional development services, research, and policy advice on effective school leadership.

In August 2023, a transformative project called “Strengthening Play-Based Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Ghana through Leadership Communities of Practice” was launched by four partners, namely VVOB-education for development, Sabre Education, Right To Play, and AfriKids. The initiative aims to create ‘Leadership Communities of Practice (LCoP),’ bringing together District ECE Coordinators, teachers, school leaders, and selected School Management Committee (SMC) members to enhance school leadership and support play-based early childhood education in local communities in Ghana. 

Supported by the Jacobs Foundation, this 18-month project has established Leadership Communities of Practice in three districts across Ghana: Ho West district in the Volta Region, Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem district in the Central Region, and Binduri district in the Upper East Region.  

In this project, each Leadership Community of Practice consists of communities from two schools, one rural and one urban, that meet every two months to tackle specific challenges in their school community. Guided by trained facilitators, members collaborate to identify the needs for implementing quality play-based learning in kindergarten classrooms. Through shared leadership and inquiry, they develop community-based solutions.

Partners’ learning visit

The four partner organisations have been collaborating virtually each month to share experiences and learn from each other as they facilitate the project implementation in different districts. On June 10-11, 2024, they organised a field visit to the Ho West district to: 

• Review the project’s progress 
• Observe Leadership Communities of Practice sessions in practice 
• Identify best practices and challenges 
• Collect evidence for qualitative research on strengthening play-based ECE through LCoP.

Embracing the project model

Thirteen staff members from the partner organisations visited the District Director of Education for Ho West, Paulina Slyn Eworde Gobe, and the Volta Regional Director of Education, Francis Yaw Agbemadi.

Mr Francis commended the partners and the district for their efforts in bringing quality, equitable, and accessible education to Ghanaian children through the Leadership Communities of Practice project. “Anyone who invests in education is interested in transforming our future, as education continues to remain the solution to the world’s problems,” he said. He expressed his commitment to extending the project to other districts in the region, ensuring more learners benefit from the model. “Even if there are not enough resources, we are ready to offer additional support to cover other districts,” he added. 

Community commitment

In Ho West, the two school communities that come together to form the LCoP are Abutia Kpota Primary School and Kpedze Primary School, both of which have kindergarten children. The team visited Abutia Kpota Primary School, a rural school with over 500 learners, and met with LCoP members from both school communities during their fourth session. Previous sessions had identified and addressed issues affecting early childhood education, with inadequate and inappropriate furniture in kindergarten classrooms being a priority.

As a result, the school now has appropriate chairs and tables for all kindergarten learners, and the classrooms have been painted to create a more attractive and friendly learning environment. Additionally, the district received technical support from Right To Play on play-based learning, along with coaching and mentoring for teachers. These skills have helped teachers enhance their practice and improve learning outcomes.

During the visit, the team was welcomed with drumming, dancing, and cultural displays. They then toured kindergarten classrooms to observe lessons and witness the community’s transformation efforts firsthand. The team also visited Abutia Kpota Chief Togbui Tsali IV, who pledged his community’s full support in promoting the LCoP model. “As long as I’m alive, I will never let the project die,” said Togbui Tsali IV, who is currently writing a thesis on Communal Spirit/Labour for his master’s degree.

Reviving the communal spirit

Priscilla Walters, Head of the ECE Unit, Ghana Education Service (GES), joined the team and expressed gratitude to the partners for initiating the project and commended the district for embracing it. She appreciated the community engagement through LCoP, which she believes is reviving the communal spirit for the promotion of quality teaching and learning. “We are going back to our roots,” she said.

Project impact

Overall, the LCoP project has had a positive impact on all the implementing communities in the three selected districts, including Komenda – Edina – Eguafo – Abirem, Ho West, and Binduri. Communities have seen the need to support their children’s education rather than always waiting for government interventions. Enrolment has increased, classrooms are print-rich and both schools now have the recommended furniture for learners. Parents frequently visit schools and hold briefings with teachers on their children’s academic progress. Specifically in Ho West, government education officials have embraced the project model and have assured its extension to all schools in the Ho West district and the entire Volta region, following its observed successes.

The LCoP project is also in line with the African Centre for School Leadership(ACSL)’s goal to collaborate with key partners in the education sector to build a supportive school leadership system and improve teaching and learning outcomes. The ACSL is a coalition of partners in Africa coordinated by VVOB, the Association for Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and Education Sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA). The learnings from the project will ultimately benefit the Centre by enhancing its understanding of effective school leadership approaches and competences relevant to the African continent.

The African Centre for School Leadership supports governments and other educational stakeholders in Africa to help build robust school leadership systems that strengthen teaching and improve learning outcomes for all. 

Find out here what the African Centre for School Leadership can mean for quality education in Africa and how you can engage. VVOB’s most important resources on school leadership are included too. 

ACSL in a nutshell

Governments in Africa have made great strides to ensure access to basic education. But ‘being in school’ does not equal ‘learning’, and the quality of education indeed remains a challenge. School leaders are essential to tackle this, as research shows that effective school leadership contributes to better teaching and learning through setting direction, empowering and developing teachers, and leading teaching and learning. 

Governments and other stakeholders in the education sector can call on the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) to help build robust school leadership systems that strengthen teaching and improve learning outcomes for all. Building constructively on the review by Bush et al (2022) shared above, the ACSL works with partners on 4 key areas to ensure quality school leadership systems: 

1. Development of school leadership policies and guidelines and effective and scalable professional development programmes for school leaders. This requires engaging with governments across the continent to put the strengthening of school leadership systems as a step towards quality education high on the policy agenda. 
2. Delivery of professional development programmes for school leaders through supporting professional development providers. To have an impact, continuous professional development (CPD) programmes for school leaders should: 
   • have a long-term focus
   • be embedded in national education systems
   • be offered to a significant number of school leaders 
3. Monitoring, evaluation and research on the effectiveness of school leadership and school leadership development. The ACSL will institute a continent-wide research programme to address the limited knowledge base on school leadership in Africa and develop tools for consistent monitoring and evaluation of CPD initiatives on school. 
4. Knowledge mobilisation, advocacy and sector coordination through multi-stakeholder dialogue. The Centre will become the ‘go-to’ place for research and information on school leadership in Africa, and build a strong school leadership network that bring together scholars, policy makers and practitioners interested in school leadership and leadership CPD on the African continent. 

The ACSL promotes effective leadership at all levels of the education system, but its priority focus is on schools and their school leaders. 

Download the concept note for the ACSL

Read on below the visualisation of the ACSL’s theory of change.

How you can engage with the ACSL

For more information or further contact, reach out to our committed team through info@africancentreforschoolleadership.org

• If you’re a representative of an African government: The ACSL is set up to strengthen the capacity of school leaders to spur increased learning outcomes on the continent. Reach out if you want to collaborate and discuss how the ACSL can support your government to direct the focus of school leaders on learning outcomes.  
• If you’re a government affiliated provider of continuous professional development for school leaders in Africa: The ACSL is a point of reference for home grown, evidence-based approaches and strategies to strengthening school leadership capacity. Reach out if you are keen to share insights on your work and develop good practices for the region. 
• If you’re a funder interested in investing in a key driver for SDG 4 in Africa: The ACSL is currently seeking partnerships with donors and investors who share our belief and vision of school leaders as key drivers of learning outcomes and are interested in investing in this area on the African continent. 

Empowering school leaders and developing their capacities are key actions to allow them to establish systems that enable teachers to continuously improve their practice and galvanize the whole community to support students’ hopes and dreams

DR. VALENTINE UWAMARIYA, MINISTER OF EDUCATION OF RWANDA

Read Dr. Uwamariya’s full speech announcing the ACSL at the 13th Policy Dialogue Forum of the International Task Force on Teachers on 2 December 2021 here. 

VVOB and school leadership in Africa

The ACSL builds on the experience and expertise of VVOB and the Ministry of Education in Rwanda on promoting effective school leadership.

Starting from a set of five standards of what constitutes effective school leadership, Rwanda has put in place a CPD support system for school leaders, consisting of a certified initial course for school leaders delivered by the University of Rwanda – College of Education, and complemented by professional learning communities for school leaders. This support system leads to better performing school leaders and an improved culture of teaching and learning in schools.  

For this approach and the innovative blended modalities for delivery of professional development, the Government of Rwanda received recognition from the African Union twice, during the Innovating Education in Africa Expo in Dakar (2018) and Gabarone (2019). 

To this day, VVOB is working closely with the Ministry of Education in Rwanda on effective school leadership. The LEAD project (2022-2026) focuses on strengthening the competencies of school leaders to rely on and use data to improve teaching, learning and school-based teacher professional development. But as the video below shows, VVOB’s partnership with the government to strengthen the school leadership system goes back quite some tiIn Kenya too, VVOB’s priority focus in its collaboration with the Ministry of Education is on school leaders. The INCREASE project (2022-2026) supports school leaders in junior secondary education to acquire strong instructional leadership skills and organise quality teacher professional development at school-level, thus supporting the effective implementation of the new competence-based curriculum. 

Journey Of Promoting Effective School Leadership In Rwanda

More resources and news about school leadership in Africa

• Working paper by VVOB (2023): Building a Consensus on School Leadership for Quality Education in Africa
• Press release by The Rwanda Ministry of Education and VVOB in Rwanda (2023): Shaping the future of school leadership in Africa
• Blog and video by VVOB in Rwanda (2022): Initiating the African Centre for School Leadership  
• Press release by VVOB in Rwanda (2022): Stakeholders rely on new African Centre for School Leadership to build consensus around effective leadership 
• Chapter in Education Reimagined: Leadership for a New Era by WISE (2022): Effective School Leadership: a Path Towards Institutionalisation (pp. 38-39) 
• Joint op-ed by VVOB and Mastercard Foundation (2021): School leaders can shape Africa’s future 
• WISE blog (2020): Strengthening Instructional Leadership in Rwanda: A Collaborative Effort 
• Blog on UNESCO IIEP’s Learning Portal (2020): Shared leadership, coaching and mentoring: Key ingredients to create a positive school environment in Rwanda 

From the 26^th to the 27^th of February 2024, VVOB-education for development convened a two-day consultative workshop with partners in Naivasha, Kenya, organised by the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) to shape the future of education in Africa through effective school leadership.  

The African Centre for School Leadership is a coalition of pan-African organisations and governments dedicated to promoting effective school leadership through collaboration on professional development, research, and policy advice in the education sector.

The workshop objectives

The workshop brought together regional and country-level organisations, governments, and partners who share the goal of advancing quality education on the continent. Together, we:

• Gathered inputs to validate draft documents including a framework for school leadership in Africa, a practice brief on blended school leadership professional development, as well as an advocacy, knowledge mobilisation, partnerships and sector coordination strategy of the Centre
• Reviewed progress and sustainability plans and discussed scaling the activities of the Centre from the current three countries to 12 by 2030
• Presented preliminary findings of research on school leadership competencies in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Welcomed new members to the ACSL Foundation Phase Project Steering Committee
• Strengthened commitment to support the ACSL efforts to promote school leadership

At the regional level, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), Education Sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA), and the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) were represented. At the country level, representatives from the following organisations participated in the workshop – the Ministry of Education in Kenya and Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI), the Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA) from Ghana, the Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB) and the University of Rwanda-College of Education (UR-CE) from Rwanda.

The initiative to establish the African Centre for School Leadership is a testament to our collective commitment to advancing education and driving positive change in our communities

DR ELYAS ABDI

A message from partners

Addressing the workshop participants, Dr Elyas Abdi, Director General of Early Learning and Basic Education at the Ministry of Education in Kenya, commended the initiative to advance effective school leadership and pledged the Ministry’s full support to the Centre’s work in Kenya and beyond.

“When you are not feeling well you go to a doctor. S/he prescribes medicine, and you are fine. But education, being a social science, there is no particular prescription. It requires a multi-faceted approach, and this is where leadership comes in. The initiative to establish the African Centre for School Leadership is a testament to our collective commitment to advancing education and driving positive change in our communities,” said Dr Elyas.

He also reconfirmed his commitment to advancing the Centre and its ambitions: “This Centre represents a bold statement forward in our quest for excellence, equity, and inclusivity in education. So, for us in Kenya and on behalf of the Ministry of Education, I want to assure you of our commitment and support in advancing this Centre’s work.”

Sven Rooms, VVOB’s General Director, described the workshop as a platform for engaging in meaningful dialogue, exchanging best practices, and collaboratively devising strategies to advance effective school leadership on the African continent.

“Together, we can explore innovative solutions, learn from each other’s successes and challenges, and lay the groundwork for a brighter future for education in Africa,” he said.

The African Centre for School Leadership

The African Centre for School Leadership works with governments and governmental agencies in the education sector to build supportive school leadership systems that strengthen teaching and improve learning outcomes and well-being for all. The Centre does this by using the best available expertise in the region to deliver high-quality continuous professional development services, research, and policy advice.

Currently in its foundation phase (2022-2024), the Centre is implemented through a series of projects that are coordinated by VVOB, focusing on three countries: Rwanda, Kenya, and Ghana. The ambition is to expand activities and partnerships from the current three countries to 12 by 2030.

At the regional level, partners will collect, disseminate, and share best practices from partner countries. Within countries, the Centre will support and collaborate with coalitions that reflect the same interplay between policy, practice, and research. The outcome of this double-tiered approach will strengthen school leadership support systems at the regional and national levels, and stronger leadership practices in schools. Ultimately, the goal of the Centre is to positively impact the quality of education for students of all ages across the continent.

The Centre expects to reach about 7,000 in-service and aspiring school leaders by 2027. This number is expected to increase, reaching more than 18,600 by 2030.

Currently, the ACSL is supported by the Mastercard Foundation, the Jacobs Foundation, and the Global Education Monitoring team of UNESCO to run its activities from May 2023 to October 2024.

Learn more about the African Centre for School Leadership.

With two years of compulsory and free kindergarten (KG) education introduced in 2008, and a new KG national curriculum and teacher training package based entirely around play-based learning, Ghana is now an African leader in early childhood education (ECE).

Despite this enormous progress, challenges persist. KG classrooms remain overcrowded, and many teachers have never received formal training in the play-based method. Teacher professional development opportunities are limited, leading to poor understanding of the play-based curriculum. Learning often remains rote-based, with minimal creative activities. As a result, almost 80% of children in Ghana still do not acquire basic literacy and numeracy skills by the end of primary school (UNESCO, 2022).

Research shows that play-based learning at kindergarten level is the single most effective learning approach for a child’s brain development (UNICEF, 2018). Hands-on education through playful activities in bright and stimulating classrooms is how young minds are moulded and a lifelong love of learning is instilled.

To help address some of the diverse challenges in Ghana’s ECE sector, VVOB, Sabre Education, Right To Play, and AfriKids, have launched a new project called ‘Strengthening Play-Based Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Ghana through Leadership Communities of Practice (LCoP)’.

This 18-month project has been set up with support of the Jacobs Foundation and aims to establish groups called ‘Leadership Communities of Practice’. These bring together district educational, school, and community leaders, with the aim of strengthening school leadership to support play-based ECE in local communities in Ghana. These learning societies will be critical for key members and leaders within the learning community to share ECE knowledge and insights, thereby promoting collaboration and professional development in the sector.

The Leadership Communities of Practice will form a critical support network for Ghana Education Service officers, teachers, parents, and school & community leaders. The pilot project is being introduced in the Ho West district, Volta Region, Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem district, Central Region, and the Binduri district, Upper East Region.

The Ghana government sees quality ECE as a critical component of their Education Strategic Plan 2018-2030. To further reach this vision, Ghana’s ECE policy was developed to advance the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial growth of all 4 and 5-year-old children, with the national KG in-service teacher training package (INSET) launched in July 2023. With a quality, play-based teacher training programme now in place, the government aims to nationally scale the training to over 48,000 KG teachers in all 261 districts across 16 regions of Ghana.

This innovative new teacher training methodology will revolutionise the way Ghana’s kindergarten children learn by equipping teachers with the knowledge and skills needed to create engaging and stimulating learning environments. The content is designed to promote critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity, and create playful learning landscapes that nurture the full potential of every Ghanaian child. The Leadership Communities of Practice will support this ground-breaking programme.

Kicking off the project

In August 2023, the LCoP partners met for a four-day inception workshop in Accra, Ghana, to map out the project work plan, including aims, locations, monitoring & evaluation frameworks, and a blueprint for training LCoP facilitators.

Speaking to the workshop participants, Ms Vida Barbara Ntow, National Director of Early Childhood Education, stated: “In essence, the community, including parents and local stakeholders, is a vital support network that can enhance the educational experience for young learners. When educators, families, and community members collaborate, they create a powerful foundation for learners to thrive academically. Thanks to all four partner organisations for their continuous support and ideas for helping early childhood education in Ghana.”

According to Lucy Ama Berma, Programme Manager at Sabre Education, the inception workshop “allowed our partner organisations to come up with some fantastic ideas that will drive this project towards achieving our ultimate objective of enhancing play-based ECE in the selected districts and beyond.”

“It was a fantastic learning opportunity”, Lucy added.

Training the project facilitators

From 9 – 16^th October 2023, LCoP facilitators, including district education officials, ECE coordinators, and community leaders, met in Accra. They discussed concepts integral to play-based learning, such as inclusive education, the integration of technology, and fostering social-emotional development through positive learning environments.

The training focussed on how school management committee (SMC) members can influence, mentor, and inspire teachers to play their role towards the improvement of learning outcomes. A key focus was also on the roles and responsibilities of the facilitators, with one participant stating:

“The training helped me understand the influential role of leaders and the importance of play-based learning in kindergarten.”

Chantal Kabanda Dusabe, Technical Lead of School Leadership at the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) at VVOB, was a participant in the facilitator training session. She believes that addressing challenges faced by education systems in Africa, especially at ECE level, requires strong school leadership systems:

“This leadership goes beyond the school level to involve even community leaders. I am excited to play a role in this collaborative effort to strengthen play-based learning in ECE through Leadership Communities of Practice. I am happy to see the LCoP facilitators’ commitment to fulfilling their roles within their respective communities and districts”. 

The Leadership Communities of Practice project forms an integral part of Sabre Education and partners’ support of the government’s national scaling plan, which aims to open up the life-changing impact of play-based learning to millions of children across Ghana. Projects such as these which champion leadership in schools and communities are critical for strengthening early education systems at district, regional, and national levels.

The LCoP project is also in line with the overall objective of the African Centre for School Leadership to collaborate with key partners in the education sector to build a supportive school leadership system and improve teaching and learning outcomes. The learnings from the project will benefit the Centre as to increase insights into school leadership approaches and competences that are relevant to the African continent.

As we continue the LCoP project into 2024, project partners will continue to deliver exciting outputs, including stories of change for project participants and an overview of learnings across the project stages. Partnerships such as these are integral to Ghana continuing its trailblazing path towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4.2: universal access to quality early childhood education.

Kigali, Rwanda – Wednesday, 30 March 2022—In close partnership with the Government of Rwanda, the Mastercard Foundation and the Belgian Government, VVOB-education for development initiating the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL), an initiative by and for African and African-based partners.

The Centre, a multistakeholder initiative, is currently in its foundation phase and will be hosted by the Government of Rwanda, a key strategic partner. The ACSL is set to support African governments to build a supportive school leadership system with the objective of improving teaching practices and, in turn, learning outcomes.

The Centre will focus on promoting effective leadership at various levels in education systems on the continent. Drawing from evidence on the effects of school leadership, supportive educational leadership at policy level will enable effective and scalable professional development of school leaders, resulting in more effective school leadership . Effective school leadership, in turn, will support effective school-based teacher mentorship and support, resulting in improved quality of teaching, learning and learning outcomes.

“The aim of this Centre is to support governments in Africa to promote effective school leadership, and improve quality of teaching and learning outcomes. We need to have a Centre that provides support on continuous professional development of school leaders who will join the leadership in different schools,” says Dr Valentine Uwamariya, Rwanda Minister of Education.

In the run-up to the establishment of the Centre, a review of empirical evidence on school leadership in Africa took place. This review on school leadership in Africa offers insights in what constitutes effective school leadership on the continent, based on empirical evidence. The review considers the key competencies and practices that are associated with effective school leadership, the key features of effective and scalable continuous professional development (CPD) for school leaders as well as on how local, national and regional policies promote or inhibit school leaders’ leadership practices in Africa.

The empirical evidence review on school leadership in Africa can be found here.  

In a next step, a representative panel of policy makers, CPD providers, experts and development partners were brought together on the African continent from 30^th to 31^st March 2022, to discuss this empirical research and to build a consensus on what constitutes effective school leadership on the continent. It was also an opportunity to share the Rwandan experience in promoting effective school leadership.

“The biggest challenge in ensuring effective school leadership relates to the preparation and selection of school heads and principals.  For schools to be well led and managed, principals require specialist preparation as instructional leaders.  Selection of principals should be based on professional suitability, not administrative or political criteria” said Dr Tony Bush, Professor of Educational Leadership at University of Nottingham (United Kingdom).

“The quality of leadership in schools has a direct impact on the quality of basic education that children receive in any country. Therefore, it is imperative that school leaders have access to continuous professional development (CPD) to enable them to effect positive change. However, in many African countries, there are lack of structures to enable provision of such support to school leaders,” said Pauline Essah, Director of Research and Insight at Education Sub-Sahara Africa.

“The African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL), to be hosted in Rwanda, will be well-placed to contribute to bridging this gap. This is due to ACSL’s intent to support African governments to establish and scale up evidence-based education leadership systems that will be tailored to local needs, particularly with respect to strengthening the capacity of local CPD providers who train and support school leaders. This approach of co-developing solutions to challenges identified should help to improve and sustain the quality of education and learning outcomes for children in participating African countries, for the benefit of Africa and the world,” she added.

About VVOB

VVOB-education for development is an international non-profit organisation with 40 years of experience in quality education. Through capacity development, VVOB provides support to ministries of education in Africa, Asia and South America to improve (initial) professional development of teachers and school leaders in early childhood, primary, general secondary, and technical and vocational education.

For more information on VVOB, please visit: www.vvob.org

About the Mastercard Foundation

The Mastercard Foundation works with visionary organizations to enable young people in Africa and in Indigenous communities in Canada to access dignified and fulfilling work. It is one of the largest, private foundations in the world with a mission to advance learning and promote financial inclusion to create an inclusive and equitable world. The Foundation was created by Mastercard in 2006 as an independent organization with its own Board of Directors and management. For more information on the Foundation, please visit: www.mastercardfdn.org

For Press Inquiries

Etienne Ntawigira
+250 788 791 586
etienne.ntawigira@vvob.org

Ilse Flink VVOB-education for development in Rwanda
Chantal Kabanda Dusabe VVOB-education for development in Rwanda

The Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB) has a strong vision to ensure that all schools have a quality school leader in place who supports teachers and holds learners’ aspirations high.  As school leadership reform has nudged towards the top of policymakers’ agendas, the provision of continuous professional development (CPD) to school leaders in Rwanda has also expanded. Since 2016, VVOB – education for development, an active member of the WISE ALL-IN community, has been working with REB and the University of Rwanda – College of Education (UR-CE) to capacitate school leaders as instructional leaders. Through two complementary CPD modalities – a one-year blended training diploma program and participation in professional learning communities facilitated by Sector Education Inspectors – school leaders are taken through the key building blocks of effective school leadership whilst also developing cross-cutting skills like gender-responsiveness, inclusive education, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). 

So far, more than 1,200 school leaders have been trained in 17 out of 30 districts. A recent external evaluation shows that the impact on the daily practices of school leaders is very promising. The CPD modalities are expected to scale up to the remaining districts so that all school leaders in Rwanda have what it takes to be effective instructional leaders. 

Changes in leadership beliefs and practices

In Rwanda, school leadership is traditionally top-down, with teachers accountable to headteachers who are, in turn, accountable to their hierarchical superiors at the district level. Changing this mindset and introducing shared leadership is an important element of REB’s vision of competent headteachers.  After taking part in the training program, school leaders have a better understanding of the value of shared leadership, and they change their perceptions towards it. Importantly, these changed beliefs translate into changes in practice. Some school leaders make time in the school timetable so that school-based mentors can set up communities of practice of subject teachers and organize formal induction programs for new teachers. Others create platforms for shared decision-making such as School Improvement Planning teams. As a result of this evolution towards shared school leadership practices, teachers, in turn, indicate having more decision-making power when it comes to school improvement planning and more autonomy in lesson planning and assessments. Teachers feel more valued and motivated and can approach their school leaders without fear of rejection or reprisal.

“I used to think that I am the center of everything in the school, but after studying about sharing responsibilities, I learned that everyone is responsible for every activity in school. If something is not right, everyone in school has the right to comment about it or come to me and say ‘this is wrong, let us change it’ . . . I have become more friendly with the teachers due to this collaboration and working together.” Headteacher, Rwandan Secondary School.

“There are leaders who thought that evaluating a teacher means focusing on what they do wrong, and punishing them. But, after the training, they have understood that evaluating a teacher means to advise and guide, not to threaten.” School-based Mentor, Rwandan Secondary School.

Key ingredients of effective CPD for Rwandan school leaders

What makes the CPD modalities for school leaders in Rwanda effective? There are many reasons, all of which are interlinked. At VVOB, we think the six key ingredients are:

1. Enabling policy environment: Improving the competencies of school leaders is high on the agenda of the Rwandan Ministry of Education and several policies have been developed to that effect. The CPD modalities put in place by VVOB and partners are aligned with these policies to ensures buy-in at different levels of the education system (Ministry, districts, and schools).

2. High need: To date, school leaders in Rwanda do not need to hold a specific school leadership certificate or diploma to qualify for their position. As a result, most Rwandan school leaders did not receive any training specific to their role when entering the profession. The combination of CPD modalities now provides what is often their first opportunity for deep, collegial reflection and renewed practice.

3. Design and content: The one-year training program and structure of the professional learning communities for school leaders have been carefully designed, building on the latest evidence on school leadership, the Rwandan professional standards for effective school leadership, and on principles for effective adult learning. The training program has been contextualized in collaboration with REB and UR-CE.

4. Strong, equitable partnerships: The partnership in place between REB, UR-CE and VVOB is long-standing, with clearly defined mandates and responsibilities for each stakeholder.

5. Synergetic effects: The two CPD modalities are not implemented as standalone activities. Other actors in the education system are targeted simultaneously, including through training on Educational Mentorship and Coaching for School-Based Mentors and Sector Education Inspectors and training on Educational Mentorship and Coaching for STEM subject leaders. District officials are trained in Effective School Leadership together with school leaders.

6. Iterative learning cycles: School leaders are trained in cohorts. After each cohort, the training program is improved based on the latest monitoring and evaluation (M&E) data. Data is collected on four levels: reaction, learning, behavior and results following the Kirkpatrick evaluation of the training framework. This allows for a deep analysis of results and enables program staff and partners to look at the challenges from different angles.

Download the midline evaluation of the ‘Leading, Teaching and Learning Together in Secondary Education in Rwanda” for free.

Content from a Premium Partner Mastercard Foundation

OPINION By Rica Rwigamba (Country Head, Rwanda, Mastercard Foundation) and Marianne Kiggundu (Country Programmes Manager Rwanda, VVOB ? education for development)

More children and young people in Africa have access to schooling, but unfortunately, being in school does not automatically result in learning at school. The continent faces a “learning crisis” that jeopardizes economic growth and the well-being of its citizens. Too many young Africans are lacking the skills needed to thrive in the future, yet these young people represent the potential and future of the continent. To tap into the opportunities of a rapidly changing continent, Africa’s young people need a relevant education which can help them develop 21st century skills. This requires robust investment in many aspects of the education system, including effective school leaders across the continent.

Young Africans can transform the region and create lasting economic change, but they need to be equipped to do so. To solve the learning crisis and allow young Africans to thrive and achieve their full potential, four critical pillars must be addressed:

1. prepared learners
2. quality teachers
3. inputs and monitoring focused on learning
4. and effective school leaders

Effective school leadership enables the three other pillars to come together. School leaders are responsible for the effective management of the school, providing academic leadership and strategic vision. Effective school leaders are especially important in schools serving the most disadvantaged and can support equity, inclusion, and community involvement. School leaders play a key role in influencing the motivation and capacity of teachers to deliver quality education in part by creating a supportive school climate and environment. School leaders provide mentoring, supervision, professional support, and guidance for teachers. They can identify strengths and weaknesses of their teachers and provide support for continuing development. Good teachers in turn, are central to enabling student learning and success.  Effective teaching inspired by the best leadership are at the heart of the learning process and are the most important school-based factors for improving learning.

In fact, research has clearly shown that school leadership accounts for up to 25% of variation in students’ learning achievements, second only to classroom teaching. A study by the World Bank found that the most effective school leaders achieved the equivalent of three extra months of learning per year, compared to their least effective counterparts.

Surprisingly, the school leadership level is often forgotten in education reforms in spite of the potential for impacting the success of students. The underutilisation of school leadership is even more surprising when we acknowledge how cost-effective it is for tackling the learning crisis.

Weak school leadership capacity remains a reality in many countries. A recent report on Secondary Education in Africa by the Mastercard Foundation offers important insights as to why. In Sub-Saharan Africa, limited school leader capacity reflects a historical legacy of seeing a school leader as a purely administrative role. Instead of appointing staff for their educational leadership capacities, promotion processes for school leaders were often exclusively based on social or political networks. This also explains the striking underrepresentation of women in school leadership positions in many of these countries, when compared to the proportion of female teachers. Generally speaking, women are underrepresented in educational decision-making bodies, such as boards and ministries.

Mastercard Foundation

More children and young people in Africa have access to schooling, but unfortunately, being in school does not automatically result in learning at school. The continent faces a “learning crisis” that jeopardizes economic growth and the well-being of its citizens. A robust investment in many aspects of the education system is needed, including effective school leaders across the continent.

Clearly, a fundamental shift is required. Training just one school leader could potentially improve the learning outcomes of all students in that school. This study calculated the expected return on investment of management training for learner outcomes and found that it is one of the most meaningful in education reform.

School leadership can be strengthened by providing professional development opportunities for school leaders. Good practices already exist, such as the programme implemented by VVOB and Mastercard Foundation in Rwanda. As part of the Leaders in Teaching initiative, we work closely with the Government of Rwanda to strengthen school leadership in secondary education. The programme started in 14 districts of Rwanda and will now be scaled up to all 30 districts. Even in these difficult circumstances of COVID-19, the ICT-enabled model for professional development of school leaders allows us to reach large numbers of beneficiaries.  Professional development of school leaders is provided through certified courses in effective school leadership and through professional learning networks of school leaders. Through iterative learning cycles, we are learning what works best while implementing the programme. An early impact evaluation showed improvements in learning among teaching staff, and more collaboration between the schools and wider community. A midline study highlighted that there is increased support for professional development of teachers in schools where school leaders have been trained.

With this increasing evidence available on what works and how, we are looking forward to taking a next step in strengthening school leadership across Africa. Existing innovative approaches on school leadership, such as the Rwanda case, which was recognized by the African Union as a top innovation should be further tested and scaled in other African contexts. . Strengthening in-service teacher mentorship and support has also been identified as key policy challenge in the KIX Africa 19 regional hub.

Based on more than a decade of experience in strengthening effective school leadership in Rwanda, we can leapfrog reforms in other African contexts and generate the impact African young people deserve. Existing school leadership standards can be contextualized and current professional development trajectories for school leaders can easily be adapted to new environments. We believe that this will truly make a difference for education in Africa, and can help the continent fulfil its potential as a region where everyone has the opportunity to learn and prosper.

Authors:

Rica Rwigamba (Country Head, Rwanda, Mastercard Foundation) and Marianne Kiggundu (Country Programmes Manager Rwanda, VVOB – education for development)

Chapter in “Education Reimagined: Leadership for a New Era” (pages 38-39) by WISE
Author: Chantal Kabanda Dusabe, Strategic Advisor in School Leadership for VVOB – education for development

INTRODUCTION

There is strong consensus within the international education community that effective school leadership is key to leverage the broader education workforce for better learning and more resilient education systems. However, school leaders’ roles and responsibilities are often still too contained to administrative or supervisory activities. The shift towards instructional leadership at school level can be facilitated through the professional development of school leaders to undertake instructional leadership and by providing the necessary tools, and by strengthening decentralised educational leadership capacity.

RWANDA IMPORTANT ACTIONS

In Rwanda, the government set out on a path in 2008 to firmly institutionalise such effective, instructional school leadership with the support of VVOB – education for development. Five important actions (in somewhat chronological order), over the course of nearly 15 years – not an unusual length of time for nationwide scaling – have led to this success and can inspire similar endeavours.

1. Set up a dedicated unit within existing structures To consolidate and sustain progress already made in pilot projects on school management and administration before 2008, Rwanda’s Ministry of Education and VVOB began looking at how and where to set up a department responsible for school leadership more broadly. In 2011, this collaboration led to the formal establishment of the School Leadership and Management Unit within the Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB). The unit is mainly responsible for the quality of school leadership and management in basic education and, more specifically, for continuous professional development, peer learning, and the monitoring and evaluation of school leaders. A taskforce on school leadership, co-chaired by REB and VVOB, coordinates efforts of all partners in the education sector.

2. Define a common framework for ‘effective school leadership’ One of the first major accomplishments of the Unit was the formulation and introduction of evidence based professional standards for school leaders:

• Creating strategic direction for the school
• Leading learning
• Leading teaching
• Managing the school as an organisation
• Working with parents and the wider community

These five standards describe in detail the key roles, responsibilities, functions and necessary competences to be an effective school leader. They set a common framework for the recruitment, assessment, certification and professional development of school leaders.

3. Invest in accredited professional development of school leaders and government officials In 2013, work began on developing a system to extend professional development to school leaders and government staff at a decentralised level across the country, taking into account the abovementioned five standards. VVOB, REB and the University of Rwanda-College of Education (UR-CE) joined forces to design two continuous professional development (CPD) modalities. These were

• a CPD diploma course on Effective School Leadership, aimed at equipping school leaders with the competences needed to fulfil their roles. By 2021, around 3,000 school leaders had successfully completed the program, officially accredited by UR-CE
• additional CPD support in professional learning communities (PLCs) of school leaders, aimed at bridging the gap between the theory, policy and practice of effective school leadership, and at creating a forum for sharing good practices. By 2021, VVOB had trained close to 400 government officials at a decentralised level, to facilitate these PLCs and coach the school leaders participating in them.

4. Reach more school leaders online As points 1 and 2 show, scaling is about more than ‘reaching numbers’. However, numbers are important, especially if the issue at hand impacts many individuals, as effective leadership does. When it comes to reaching many people, ICTmediated learning has some obvious advantages. The government of Rwanda is also keen to harness the power of ICT.

In 2019, VVOB redeveloped the original training programs for school leaders for delivery in a blended modality by UR-CE lecturers. Future and current school leaders who want to obtain a diploma in Effective School Leadership can now learn the content online from their workplace or at home through a user-friendly interface. The limited face-to-face sessions are dedicated to deepening the understanding of the content through peer learning and interactive exercises, with offline alternatives for contexts of limited connectivity.

5. Promote distributed leadership in schools As effective teaching is the school-based factor with the greatest direct impact on learning outcomes, VVOB and REB also look to teachers to take up leadership roles. School-based mentors and school subject leaders, for example, are teachers selected by their peers to act as teacher leaders: they are expected to show personal leadership in professional development; they coordinate school-based CPD; they support new teachers; they stimulate reflection through lesson observations and feedback; and they are general coaches and mentors to support their colleagues in becoming better teachers. The support of the school leader for the school-based mentor remains, however, a key determinant for successful teacher leadership. Through this trajectory of institutionalising effective school leadership at different levels, VVOB started building an evidence base to demonstrate that the model ‘works’ and to gain eminent support within Rwanda – and across the African continent.