Across Africa, secondary schools sit at the heart of national development ambitions, yet too many learners pass through their school years without acquiring the foundational knowledge, competencies, and confidence they need to thrive.
While many factors influence learning, global and regional evidence is unequivocal on one thing: effective school leadership is one of the strongest drivers of improved learning outcomes, second only to classroom teaching quality.
In systems where resources are often limited and classrooms overcrowded; the role of the school leader becomes even more pivotal. In a working paper on school leadership in Africa, published in 2022, Tony Bush and others, noted that multiple African countries show that schools with strong leadership teams achieve significantly higher learning gains, better teacher attendance, stronger safeguarding practices, and more supportive learning environments.
Conversely, weak school leadership and management are strongly associated with low academic performance, high dropout rates, and persistent inequities, particularly for girls and other marginalized learners.
Yet despite its importance, school leadership remains one of the most neglected levers in secondary education reform. Critical gaps include:
One, limited training and preparation, where fewer than one in five secondary headteachers in many African countries receive any formal leadership training before or after appointment.
Two, weak instructional leadership in numerous systems where headteachers spend less than 20% of their time supporting teaching and learning, despite this being the strongest lever for improvement.
Three, inconsistent management capacity. Evidence from school reviews across the region shows that poor timetabling, weak performance management, general school performance data, including learner attendance and performance, and teacher attendance are recurring challenges.
Four, equity and safeguarding gaps showing that without strong leadership, schools struggle to create safe, gender-responsive environments, leading to higher dropout rates for girls and vulnerable learners.
The consequences of neglecting school leadership are visible in learning outcomes. In an article on improving foundational learning in Zambia, Africa Practice (2024), revealed that more than 80% of students leave lower secondary education without basic proficiency in literacy or numeracy, a crisis that disproportionately impacts rural schools with the weakest leadership structures.
To transform this picture, leaders must be equipped to center the learner in every aspect of school operations. This includes strengthening instructional leadership to ensure every classroom delivers high-quality, learner-centered teaching. In addition, the leaders need to be equipped with the skills to create safe, inclusive environments where girls and boys feel supported to learn and participate fully to promote equity.
Furthermore, school leaders must have the capacity to use data to diagnose learning gaps early and tailor support to individual learner needs. Finally, there is also significant value in building high-trust relationships with teachers, parents, and communities to reinforce shared accountability for learning.
When leaders are supported, trained, and empowered, entire school systems begin to shift. Teacher motivation rises, learner engagement increases, safeguarding strengthens, and academic results improve. Most importantly, learners, especially those in underserved communities, gain a fair chance to achieve their full potential.
In short, improving secondary education in Africa is not possible without investing in the people who shape the daily experiences of learners. School leadership is not just an administrative function; it is the engine of learning, equity, and opportunity.
For instance, PEAS (Promoting Equality in African Schools) has consistently shown how strong and effective school leadership does lead to strong learning outcomes in underserved and remote schools in Uganda, Zambia and Ghana.
In the 2025 Uganda Certificate of Examination (UCE) results, PEAS achieved an outstanding 99.9 percent pass rate, surpassing the national average by 0.25 percentage points. Across our network of 30 secondary schools, 3,328 students sat for the examinations (1,595 boys and 1,733 girls), reflecting both strong enrolment and exceptional learner persistence.
These results are not accidental; they are the product of deliberate, disciplined investment in strengthening school leadership and instructional delivery. PEAS schools have demonstrated that whole school improvement is most powerful when leaders are equipped with clear and consolidated data to help them identify priorities, monitor progress, and take timely action.
These achievements affirm the simple truth that when school leaders are empowered, supported, and equipped to drive high-quality teaching and learning, young people thrive. PEAS will continue to build on this momentum, deepening our leadership development, strengthening learning systems, and ensuring every learner, in every PEAS school succeeds.
Dr Fay Hodza is the PEAS global senior director programmes and Eriah Lule is the communication officer of PEAS Uganda
