School principals play key role in mobilizing resources to run teaching and learning. However, theirrnpreparation as related to their work place duties and responsibilities is questionable. The theoreticalrnassumption for this study is then, school leadership preparation need to be situated to the actual schoolrncontext linking campus training to field-based experiences.rnThe main purpose of the study was to explore the link between leadership preparation and work demandsrnof school principals in secondary schools of Ethiopia and identify challenges associated with principalrnpreparation that could hinder principals from providing effective leadership and provide the necessaryrnrecommendations.rnThe schools are found in majorcities of Amhara, Oromia, Afar, and Benishangul-Gumuz nationalrnregional states and in Addis Ababa City Administration. The respondents include six categories-â€˜woredaâ€™rneducation office responsible person, relevant person from Ministry of Education and department heads ofrnprincipal preparation universities as well as principals, middle level managers and teachers in thernrespective schools. Documents such as Education and Training Policy, Education Sector DevelopmentrnPrograms, National Principals Professional Standard, curriculum frameworks and staff minutes were thernsecondary data. The method employed was QUAL-quan model which can best be described asrnpredominantly qualitative augmented by quantitative methodology. And the sampling techniques usedrnwere combination of purposive sampling, cluster-sampling, availability sampling, stratified sampling andrnsimple random sampling.rnThe main findings of the study were that while principals welcomed instructional leadership as a standalonerncourse in the MScL program, time of delivery (being summer), richness of the content in terms ofrnrelevance, commitment of the trainers and changing nomenclature of the degree to MScL (as theyrnbelieved it limits job opportunity) were among the challenges affecting delivery of the courses. It wasrnalso found out that there were frequent program change, three times in less than half a decade, inrnprincipal preparation program.From the multifactor ANOVA model, region of the respondents werernfound to have statistically significant effect on the composite scores at 5% level of significance. It wasrnalso found out that there was no job description specifically set for principals consolidated in a singlerndocument.rnThe main conclusions of the study were that the preparation of school principals is both inadequaternand in part, unrelated to the increasing work demands of principals in Ethiopia. The system alsornlacks a clear framework and leadership successive planning to bring the best applicants to thernoffice and to remove those who are incompetent. The complex and multi-faceted role of schoolrnprincipals is not clearly defined.rnFinally, the major recommendations provided are the need to re-center the profession to focus on studentrnlearning and situate leadership development in work settings. It is also recommended to establishrnNational Council/ Forum which may be called Ethiopian Education leadership Council/Forum (EELC/F)rnconstituted from university preparation programs, MoE, local education office, principal andrnprofessional organizations such as Teachers Association which facilitates nesting of universityrnpreparation programs in the local context.The duties and responsibilities of principals scattered inrnvarious documents should be pooled together in a single document and an independent course isrnrecommended to be designed and provided in the university preparation program. Since involvement ofrnprincipals in out of school activities is inevitable, it is recommended that such activities should be part ofrntheir duties considering as community service with not more than 20% of the 40 working hours per weekrnas civil servants.