Challenges to effective leadership of urban secondary schools in Bangladesh: A critical study

Studies on school leadership suggest that effective leadership is basic to successful school development and improvement of teaching and learning. Secondary schools in Bangladesh depend on principals as their leaders. Since Bangladesh is now facing the challenge of reforms in secondary education, principals need to acquire current knowledge of leadership theory to give them the theoretical understandings of leadership that are likely to make their schools more successful. The purpose of the study described in this article was to explore how principals of Bangladesh understand leadership theory and investigate the leadership challenges faced in their school contexts. The participants in this study were the principals from four secondary schools in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The findings show that the principals have adequate experiential knowledge for leading their schools but they lack theoretical knowledge of school leadership, as they have not had opportunities to participate in formal leadership training programmes. This article suggests that professional leadership programmes should be provided for principals of secondary schools and that principals should increase self-management in the administration of their schools. The recommendations from this study could lead to more effective leadership in Bangladeshi secondary schools.