Practices And Challenges Of Leadership In Private Kindergartens In Bole Subcity

This study aimed at assessing the Practices and Challenges of Leadership in the PrivaternKindergartens of Bole Sub City, in Addis Ababa. The research problem examined howrnkindergarten principals enact and experience their leadership, the leadership styles employed,rnthe way they held their position, the challenges they encounter and the assistance they getrnfrom education offices. To this end, a descriptive survey design was used and the researchrnemployed various data collection tools and processed primary and secondary data sourcesrnusing qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques. Nine kindergartens were randomlyrnselected using multi stage sampling technique and all the teachers (one hundred twenty),rnprincipals (nine principals) responded to the questionnaires. In depth semi structuredrninterview were conducted with kindergarten principals, 4 cluster supervisors and 1 earlyrnchildhood expert at the Woreda and Sub city level respectively. The key findings were:rnkindergarten principals’ used facilitative leadership style though unintentionally. They werernnot adequately trained in the area of leadership and early childhood education. Mostrnprincipals’ held their position by promotion from the teaching profession. Thus, they feelrnincompetent and lack confidence. The principals have faced many challenges related withrninsufficient school resources, diverse early childhood staff combinations, lack of training inrntheir context and leadership and miscommunication between management teams. The clusterrnsupervisors and early childhood experts were not trained in early childhood education orrnleadership; they were also tightly scheduled to supervise first and foremost primary andrnsecondary schools. The research concluded, kindergarten principals were not independentrnleaders. They have no power in decision making. Their leadership skill was found to be veryrnpoor. It can be said below the international standards. Consequently, the followingrnrecommendations were forwarded. Kindergartens principals’ personal effort and enthusiasmrnfor leadership should be accompanied with strong encouragement and continuous supportrnprimarily by their own school management. Sufficient in-service training or workshops shouldrnbe provided by the city administration offices for principals, head of schools, clusterrnsupervisors and early childhood experts. The education offices need to assign early childhoodrneducation and managements trained supervisors. The Ministry of Education should openrnearly childhood education and management field of study and short term training programs atrnthe universities and colleges.rnKey Words- early childhood education, preschool, kindergartens, early years

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