"How do you manage under-performing students?"

Responding to this question from the group that visited the Dar es Salam School in Tanzania on 12th May 2025, the Head Teacher said;

"First, we have student-led meetings. The students write anonymous views, which I analyze, and I identify challenge areas. I then meet with the teachers and agree on the course of action. I then give feedback to the subject teachers, and we also meet with the parents. We have created WhatsApp groups for teachers as part of using technology for peer learning and exchange of ideas. We have therefore adopted the learner-school-parent triangle."

This interaction is a good example of instructional leadership within a distributed structure, the sort we intend to promote on the Leaders in Teaching (LIT) initiative. The reason for this isn’t far-fetched. Research confirms the link between strong school leadership and student learning outcomes. A landmark study by Leithwood et al. (2004) found that school leadership is second only to classroom teaching among in-school factors that affect student achievement. More recently, the World Bank (2022) drew insights from Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria to show that school leadership quality correlates directly with learning outcomes. Leaders who lack instructional focus often preside over weak teaching practices and poor student performance. Other studies by UNESCO, VVOB, RTI, and the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) further underscore this point: School leaders shape instructional quality, influence teacher motivation, and create conditions for student success.

But often, teachers and school leaders do not receive the sort of training they need to excel at school leadership. This was equally evident from the responses of some of the school heads we spoke to in Tanzania.

For instance, the second visiting group inquired about any formal leadership or school management trainings from the Head Teacher of Karibuni Secondary School, in Temeke Municipal Council, Dar es Salam.

“Have you had any formal training in management, administration, or leadership before becoming Head of this school?”

“No”, she replied. “I rely on observations from my predecessors and insights from fellow teachers and parents.” 

Across Africa, teacher training curricula – both pre-service and in-service – have not sufficiently addressed the leadership competencies a teacher needs to deliver quality learning or run a school that nurtures the next generation of leaders. The school leadership gap could be one of the hidden drivers of poor learning outcomes across the continent and needs to be corrected if we are to improve learning outcomes sustainably.

Lessons from Tanzania Karibuni and Dar-es-Salam Secondary Schools

Between 12th – 16th May, we joined colleagues in Tanzania for the kick-off meeting for the Leaders in Teaching Tanzania (LIT-TZ) project. A key part of the schedule included school visits. We visited two schools (Karibuni Secondary School and Dar es Salam Secondary School) to observe firsthand how leadership can make or break learning outcomes.  

Founded in 2019 with 1,045 Form One students and just 24 teachers, Karibuni now educates 1,334 students (617 boys and 717 girls) with a teaching staff of 44. The school offers 11 subjects across 21 classes averaging 63 students per class – a challenging context by any standard. Despite these constraints, the school achieved a 78% success rate in national exams in 2022, rising to 92% in 2023, and maintaining 87% in 2024. How? Through strategic leadership actions such as: 

• Remedial programs on evenings and Saturdays to help struggling learners
• Monthly assessments to track progress and close learning gaps
• Recognition and rewards to motivate students and teachers
• Weekly academic review meetings for instructional planning
• Parental engagement to boost learner support at home
• Psychological support for students facing stress, poverty, or trauma 

Meanwhile, Dar es Salam Secondary School has 912 students with 42 teachers (11 male and 31 female). Some of the subjects taught include Cookery, Business Studies, French, Textile, and Sowing Technology. One of the challenges is the teaching of Mathematics where the school accepts volunteers. The teaching load is 28 subjects per week, but most of the teachers are below this number, giving enough time to prepare, develop assignments, and link with the learners. The school achieved a 100% performance in the last Form 4 examinations, with 100 out of the 171 students scoring Division 1. The calm and peaceful environment helps to retain teachers. The school has also a teacher motivating initiative: it gives Tz Shs 10,000 to the subject teacher for each student who scores an “A” in a subject, and Tz Shs 5,000 for a “B” score. The school is currently discussing the possibility of including for those who get a “C” score in the STEM subject, depending on the budget, because a score from “A” to “C” is considered a good performance.

The school gives a high priority to discipline, where teachers conduct a student character analysis on a random day when the students are gathered, and each teacher analyses the student. This helps the teachers to have a conducive environment with the learners. During graduation, students with good or improved character are awarded certificates. There is also a referral structure where parents are also involved, for undisciplined students. The school also participates in continuing professional development seminars for teachers at the ward and district levels. There are also communities of practice sessions at the municipal level, as well as departmental meetings chaired by the Deputy Principal.

These approaches reveal a crucial truth: Leadership is not just about administration and bureaucracy, it’s about shaping school culture, driving accountability, and supporting both learners and teachers.

These two schools are part of the 5,857 secondary schools in mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, and part of the 350 schools in Dar es Salaam. The challenge is to define what effective school leadership looks like – and scale it nationally. This is the central goal of the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) over the next six years in Tanzania and across Africa, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, Educate! Teach United and TEN/MET who will push for improvements in school leadership across the four pillars (Train, Recruit, Motivate and Lead). VVOB and ACSL will be focused on the LEAD pillar.

The LIT initiative will work the Tanzanian government to sustainably tackle weak policy frameworks on school leadership, poor working conditions and heavy workloads for teachers, gender gaps in school leadership, limited training and support for new headteachers and address evidence and data gaps on school leadership. The LIT initiative will highlight, support and scale promising practices that are yielding results and creating impact. The overall aim is to support government in Tanzania and across Africa to invest in strong, visionary school leaders who can improve learning and lead with purpose, resilience, and instructional focus.

School leadership remains a critical component in enhancing the quality of education in Africa. To improve educational outcomes in Africa, we must take school leadership seriously. This means recruiting, training, supporting, and holding teachers and school leaders accountable – not just to manage, but to inspire, transform and groom the next generation of pupils. The insights from Dar es Salam and Karibuni Secondary School’s journey are a small but powerful example of what is possible. With the right vision, support, and strategy, school leadership can be the engine that powers Africa’s education renaissance.