A Study on the Practice of Distributive Leadership in Debre Markos Town Government Secondary Schools, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

The purpose of this study was to assess the practice of distributive leadership in case of Debre Markos Town government secondary schools, Amhara Region. The study carried out using descriptive survey research design employing both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. Data was collected from 3 government secondary schools in Debre Markos Towen using questionnaire, interview and documentary analysis. The participants included 106 teachers and 3 school principals. The 106 teacher respondents were selected using simple random technique and 3 school principals’ were selected using purposive sampling technique. Structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from 106 participants. Interview and documentary analysis was also used to obtain in-depth (qualitative) information on a number of selected issues. The quantitative data analyzed using a relevant statistical package SPSS version 20. One sample t-test computed for dual purpose to detect the significance difference between mean scores and the acceptance or rejection of hypothesis. The finding of the study revealed that, the perception of teachers and school principals was high towards the practice of distributive leadership in the schools and the leadership task is distributed to the staff members to the extent that staff members sett directions, develop people, redesign the organization and manage instructional programs. Despite their practice the leadership role that teachers and school principals played were clearly defined but not communicated. The school principals have used both group and individual empowerment techniques to strengthen distributive leadership. Finally, the researcher recommends as the school principals should have to: distribute the leadership tasks informally (i.e informal distributive leadership), should have to communicate the leadership roles that principals and teachers play in the school to the whole staff members, should have to use reward to strengthen distributive leadership and build instructional knowledge and skills, create opportunities for collaboration, involve teachers in School Decision Making, interpret Results and Provide Feedback to sustain the development of distributive leadership practice in the school.