Leadership and Management Development Programmes in Cameroon for primary school leaders

In both developed and developing countries poor performance of head teachers is detrimental to school effectiveness, with consequent economic costs amounting to billions of dollars every year. These costs are perhaps particularly keenly felt in developing countries, where demand for a workforce that is proficient in globally relevant competencies is especially acute, but where the effective school leadership that can help to deliver this educated workforce is especially patchy. One of the contributing factors to this poor performance is a lack of structured leadership development programmes. The paper, therefore, explored the factors pertinent to effective school leadership development programmes in Cameroon. This paper is based on the results from a Leadership and Management Development Questionnaire (LMDQ) survey that was done in Cameroon as part of a bigger research project. The results indicate that the central educational agencies, schools and school leaders in Cameroon recognised the importance of ensuring that central policies and support, schools’ internal policies, and their continuous professional development (CPD) opportunities for aspiring head teachers, are closely aligned with international best practice, particularly through the establishment of a structured leadership development programme for aspiring head teachers.