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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. 

Download the working paper ‘School leadership in Africa: a review of empirical research' here

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. 

  1. 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 

  1. 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. 

  1. 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 here

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 ACSL@vvob.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