Investigating the self-reported professional development activities of school leaders in Ghanaian rural basic schools

In Ghana, research has shown that educational reforms over the years have ignored the importance of school leadership development, and there are currently very few reform initiatives that address the need to develop the leadership proficiencies and skills of school leaders. This study sought to investigate how school leaders, who include headteachers, assistant headteachers, and form masters, in such contexts develop their leadership skills following their appointment into their new roles. A mixed-methods approach was employed in gathering both quantitative and qualitative data concurrently from three groups of leaders in the basic schools of one rural educational district in Ghana. Results from the study showed that the professional development activities (PDAs) that the leaders employed for their development were mostly informal and self-directed learning methods. There were only limited formal leadership development programmes for the leaders working within any of the rural district basic schools represented in the study. The study concludes that to strengthen school leadership in basic schools in the selected district, educational authorities would need to learn from international best practice to initiate sustainable PDAs to strengthen the leadership capacities of leaders to promote effective teaching and learning in schools.