Representations of School Leadership and Management in Africa: A Postcolonial Reading

Perhaps one of the most scathing critiques on school leadership and management literature in Africa is its reliance on western models that do not quite fit the context, hence a lack of relevance. In this article I present a postcolonial reading of the representation of school leadership and management literature in Africa. The analysis suggests that school leadership and management literature in Africa is represented in deficient ways that do not promote indigenous ways of developing leadership and management knowledge and practice within the local education contexts. It argues that knowledge that is located in cultural and indigenous discourse might be more effective and more sustainable. A postcolonial understanding of educational leadership and management that acknowledges the cultural context as presented in this article builds on postcolonial scholarship, thereby addressing a gap in educational leadership and management. The paper ends with proposals for counter representations.