School leadership is not teaching applied to administration—it is its own profession
In Gaborone, Botswana, African education ministers gathered last week to formally recognize what reformers have long argued: that leading a school is a distinct vocation, not merely the next step for a seasoned teacher. At the 13th Conference of the Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities, a ministerial communiqué gave school leadership its own professional standing — with dedicated standards, preparation, and career pathways. The decision crowns years of continental advocacy and positions leadership, not just instruction, as a pillar of Africa's educational future.
- Across Africa, school principals have long been appointed as rewards for good teaching — a system that leaves leadership underprepared and education systems fragile.
- The African Centre for School Leadership brought its Continental Mapping Report directly to ministers in Gaborone, turning evidence into political commitment in a single conference.
- A wave of parallel endorsements — from Kenya's Education Management Institute, francophone nations, and the 2025 ADEA Triennale in Accra — gave the Gaborone resolution the weight of a continental consensus.
- Ministers have now granted school leadership regulatory legitimacy, opening the door to dedicated training programs, career structures, and accountability frameworks modeled on those for teachers.
- The hard work begins now: the African Centre for School Leadership will monitor whether this communiqué becomes budgets, programs, and pathways — or remains a well-worded aspiration.
In Gaborone last week, African education ministers made a quiet but consequential decision: running a school is its own profession, not simply what a good teacher does next. The commitment came through a ministerial communiqué issued at the 13th Conference of the Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities, held May 5 to 6. For years, school leadership across the continent has been treated as a natural promotion for experienced educators. The ministers have now moved to change that.
The shift reflects a growing recognition that effective school leaders do something distinct from what effective teachers do — shaping whether teachers stay or leave, building conditions for professional growth, and driving learner outcomes. These are leadership skills requiring dedicated preparation, not teaching skills applied to administration. The communiqué named school leadership as critical to teacher retention, professional performance, and the development of competencies across education systems.
The African Centre for School Leadership had been making this case for years. Its officials, Dr. Leila Abdullahi and Chantal Kabanda Dusabe, presented evidence from the Continental Mapping Report directly to ministers and policy stakeholders in Gaborone, securing a place for school leadership at the center of policy conversation. The resolution sits atop mounting momentum: Kenya's Education Management Institute endorsed the same report in April, a francophone Spotlight Report made a parallel case for French-speaking nations, and the 2025 ADEA Triennale in Accra identified school leadership as one of eight pillars for transforming African education.
Botswana's President Duma Gideon Boko, who opened the conference, called for a unified continental approach to teacher development and professional standards. His country's Minister of Child Welfare and Basic Education, Kebuang Nono Kgafela-Mokoka, stressed that transformation requires partnerships among governments, regulatory agencies, and international partners. AFTRA's President, Ebby Mubanga, added that no single country can strengthen the teaching profession alone — continental collaboration is what makes change possible.
The African Centre for School Leadership has committed to tracking how member states translate the resolution into actual policy and practice. A communiqué is a beginning, not an ending. The difficult, unglamorous work of building professional systems — budgets, training programs, career structures — is just starting.
In Gaborone last week, the education ministers of Africa made a quiet but consequential decision: they agreed that running a school is not simply what a good teacher does next. It is its own profession, requiring its own training, its own standards, its own career architecture. The commitment came wrapped in formal language—a ministerial communiqué issued at the 13th Conference of the Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities, held May 5 to 6—but the shift it represents is substantial. For years, across the continent, school leadership has been treated as an extension of classroom teaching, a natural promotion for experienced educators. The ministers have now moved to change that.
The decision reflects a growing recognition that effective school leaders do something distinct from what effective teachers do. They shape whether teachers stay in the profession or leave it. They influence how well students learn. They build the conditions for teachers to improve their craft. These are not teaching skills applied to administration. They are leadership skills, requiring dedicated preparation and sustained investment. The communiqué acknowledged all of this explicitly, naming school leadership as critical to teacher retention, professional performance, learner outcomes, and the development of competencies across education systems.
This is not a sudden awakening. The African Centre for School Leadership, a regional advocacy organization, has been making this case for years. Two of its officials, Dr. Leila Abdullahi and Chantal Kabanda Dusabe, came to Gaborone to present evidence from their Continental Mapping Report on School Leadership Initiatives in Africa. They spoke directly to ministers and policy stakeholders, building the case piece by piece. AFTRA—an intergovernmental body that brings together education ministries and national teaching regulatory authorities across the African Union—provided the platform. By securing a ministerial commitment in the conference communiqué, the Centre succeeded in moving school leadership from the margins of policy conversation to its center.
The timing reflects momentum that has been building throughout 2025 and into 2026. In April, senior technical officials at Kenya's Education Management Institute endorsed the same Continental Mapping Report and its recommendations for coherent, well-resourced school leadership systems. A francophone edition of the Spotlight Report Series—produced in collaboration with the African Union, UNESCO's Global Education Monitoring Report, and Côte d'Ivoire's Ministry of National Education—made a parallel case for stronger instructional leadership in French-speaking countries. The 2025 ADEA Triennale in Accra identified school leadership as one of eight critical pillars for transforming African education systems. The Gaborone resolution sits atop a growing pile of evidence and advocacy.
What the ministers have done, in practical terms, is give school leadership regulatory and professional legitimacy. By recognizing it as a professional track governed by standards and accountability frameworks similar to those for teachers, they have created space for dedicated preparation programs, career pathways, and professional development. Botswana's President, Duma Gideon Boko, who opened the conference, called for a unified continental approach to teacher development and professional standards. He argued that African education systems must adapt to evolving global realities and that leadership—at both school and system levels—would be central to that adaptation.
The work now moves to implementation. The African Centre for School Leadership has committed to tracking how member states translate the ministerial resolution into actual policy and practice. Botswana's Minister of Child Welfare and Basic Education, Kebuang Nono Kgafela-Mokoka, emphasized that this kind of transformation requires partnerships among governments, regulatory agencies, and international development partners. AFTRA's President, Ebby Mubanga, made a broader point: no single African country can strengthen the teaching profession alone. Collaboration, shared evidence, and sustained continental coordination are what make education transformation possible.
What happens next depends on whether the ministers' commitment translates into budgets, training programs, and career structures on the ground. The resolution is real, and it is significant. But a communiqué is a beginning, not an ending. The real work—the difficult, unglamorous work of building professional systems—is just starting.
Notable Quotes
No single African country can independently strengthen the teaching profession; collaboration, shared evidence, and sustained continental coordination remain essential for meaningful education transformation.— AFTRA President Ebby Mubanga
African education systems must adapt to evolving global realities and leadership at both school and system levels will be central to that transformation.— Botswana President Duma Gideon Boko
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does it matter whether school leadership is seen as a separate profession rather than just a promotion for good teachers?
Because if you treat it as a promotion, you're assuming the skills transfer. You're saying: excellent classroom teacher, therefore excellent principal. But those are different jobs. A teacher manages thirty students. A principal manages dozens of staff, budgets, community relationships, instructional systems. The skills don't automatically carry over.
So what changes if you professionalize it?
You can design dedicated training. You can set standards for what a school leader should know and be able to do. You can create career pathways that don't require someone to leave teaching to advance. You can invest in ongoing development. Right now, across much of Africa, a teacher becomes a principal with little preparation and little support.
And the ministers agreed to this at one conference?
They committed to it. That's different from implementation. But it's significant because it signals direction. It says: this is how we're going to think about school leadership going forward. It gives advocates and practitioners permission to build systems around that idea.
Who pushed for this?
The African Centre for School Leadership has been making this case for years. They brought evidence—a Continental Mapping Report showing what's happening across the continent. They had allies: Kenya's education officials, UNESCO, the ADEA. By the time the ministers met in Gaborone, there was already momentum.
What happens now?
The Centre will track whether countries actually change their policies and practices. That's the hard part. A ministerial commitment is one thing. Building training programs, rewriting job descriptions, creating career structures—that takes years and money and political will.