The implications of school improvement and school effectiveness research for primary school principals in Ethiopia

In the last twenty years the Ethiopian education system has rapidly expanded, leading to a 500% increase in primary school enrolment. The Ministry of Education (MoE) has sought to address a perceived decline in educational quality through nationally-mandated programmes for school improvement (MoE 2007) and teachers’ professional development (MoE 2004). Such programmes—imported on the advice of USAID, DfID and other development partners—are implemented ‘mechanistically’, without adaptation for societal or organisational cultural contexts. This article reviews empirical research from the last decade, including ‘grey’ literature, in the school improvement (SI) and school effectiveness research (SER) traditions to draw implications for primary school principals in Ethiopia.