Secondary school principals’ adaptive leadership practices amid the quality education crisis in Amhara regional state, Ethiopia

This study examines principals' adaptive leadership practices in addressing the crisis of secondary school quality education, using Northouse's Adaptive Leadership Model. Employing the qualitative approach and phenomenological design, five principals for interviews and 12 teachers for focu...

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Main Authors: Abebaw Ayana Alene, Misganaw Alene Tsegaye, Getu Shiferaw Wolle
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-01-01
Series:Social Sciences and Humanities Open
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125000762
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author Abebaw Ayana Alene
Misganaw Alene Tsegaye
Getu Shiferaw Wolle
author_facet Abebaw Ayana Alene
Misganaw Alene Tsegaye
Getu Shiferaw Wolle
author_sort Abebaw Ayana Alene
collection DOAJ
description This study examines principals' adaptive leadership practices in addressing the crisis of secondary school quality education, using Northouse's Adaptive Leadership Model. Employing the qualitative approach and phenomenological design, five principals for interviews and 12 teachers for focus group discussions serve as sources of data. The collected data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings reveal that adaptive leadership is conceptualized as a situational form of leadership that solves problems contextually to overcome complex challenges. Getting on the balcony and giving work back to teachers are well-practiced dimensions, while principals' behavior of identifying adaptive challenges and maintaining disciplined attention are practiced to some extent. Regulating distress and protecting leadership voices are ineptly practiced behaviors. The findings suggest a need for improved adaptive leadership practices to address educational quality challenges. These findings also accentuate the importance of integrating local knowledge with policy frameworks through training principals to have adaptive leadership behavior. The recommendations from this study are significant for policymakers who aim to develop context-sensitive connections of principals, intending to confront tough challenges like the quality education crisis in the Amhara region by developing adaptive leadership competencies.
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spelling doaj-art-36ff05fa629b44bca6864afe5fd1772d2025-08-20T02:37:03ZengElsevierSocial Sciences and Humanities Open2590-29112025-01-011110134910.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101349Secondary school principals’ adaptive leadership practices amid the quality education crisis in Amhara regional state, EthiopiaAbebaw Ayana Alene0Misganaw Alene Tsegaye1Getu Shiferaw Wolle2Department of Educational Planning and Management, College of Education, School of Educational Sciences, Bahir Dar University, P.O. Box 79, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia; Corresponding author.Department of Educational Planning and Management, College of Education and Behavioural Sciences, University of Gondar, P.O. Box 196, Gondar, EthiopiaDepartment of Educational Planning and Management, College of Education, School of Educational Sciences, Bahir Dar University, P.O. Box 79, Bahir Dar, EthiopiaThis study examines principals' adaptive leadership practices in addressing the crisis of secondary school quality education, using Northouse's Adaptive Leadership Model. Employing the qualitative approach and phenomenological design, five principals for interviews and 12 teachers for focus group discussions serve as sources of data. The collected data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings reveal that adaptive leadership is conceptualized as a situational form of leadership that solves problems contextually to overcome complex challenges. Getting on the balcony and giving work back to teachers are well-practiced dimensions, while principals' behavior of identifying adaptive challenges and maintaining disciplined attention are practiced to some extent. Regulating distress and protecting leadership voices are ineptly practiced behaviors. The findings suggest a need for improved adaptive leadership practices to address educational quality challenges. These findings also accentuate the importance of integrating local knowledge with policy frameworks through training principals to have adaptive leadership behavior. The recommendations from this study are significant for policymakers who aim to develop context-sensitive connections of principals, intending to confront tough challenges like the quality education crisis in the Amhara region by developing adaptive leadership competencies.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125000762Adaptive leadershipEducation crisisPrincipalsSecondary school
spellingShingle Abebaw Ayana Alene
Misganaw Alene Tsegaye
Getu Shiferaw Wolle
Secondary school principals’ adaptive leadership practices amid the quality education crisis in Amhara regional state, Ethiopia
Social Sciences and Humanities Open
Adaptive leadership
Education crisis
Principals
Secondary school
title Secondary school principals’ adaptive leadership practices amid the quality education crisis in Amhara regional state, Ethiopia
title_full Secondary school principals’ adaptive leadership practices amid the quality education crisis in Amhara regional state, Ethiopia
title_fullStr Secondary school principals’ adaptive leadership practices amid the quality education crisis in Amhara regional state, Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Secondary school principals’ adaptive leadership practices amid the quality education crisis in Amhara regional state, Ethiopia
title_short Secondary school principals’ adaptive leadership practices amid the quality education crisis in Amhara regional state, Ethiopia
title_sort secondary school principals adaptive leadership practices amid the quality education crisis in amhara regional state ethiopia
topic Adaptive leadership
Education crisis
Principals
Secondary school
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125000762
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AT misganawalenetsegaye secondaryschoolprincipalsadaptiveleadershippracticesamidthequalityeducationcrisisinamhararegionalstateethiopia
AT getushiferawwolle secondaryschoolprincipalsadaptiveleadershippracticesamidthequalityeducationcrisisinamhararegionalstateethiopia