http://ir.bdu.edu.et/handle/123456789/15879 2026-08-27T21:45:33Z http://ir.bdu.edu.et/handle/123456789/17030 School Improvement Program in Secondary Schools of The Amhara Region: an Assessment of Preparation, Practice, Implementation, Challenges, and Opportunities Desalegn, Ejigu The School Improvement Program (SIP) is central to Ethiopia’s strategy for educational quality, yet regional adoption remains inconsistent. This study investigated SIP preparation, practices, challenges, and opportunities in Amhara Region secondary schools using a pragmatist stance and an Explanatory Sequential Mixed-Methods design (QUAN → QUAL).In the quantitative phase, data were gathered from 1,152 teachers, 84 students, and 84 School Improvement Committee (SIC) members via 5-point Likert scale questionnaires. Analysis included one-sample t-tests to measure implementation against the expected mean (3.0) and One-Way ANOVA to identify perception gaps. The qualitative phase involved semi-structured interviews with 10 principals and documentary reviews. Thematic analysis explained statistical trends, while content analysis evaluated the alignment between SIP documents and school realities.The findings revealed significant readiness challenges, with mean scores (M = 2.175, p < .001, d = - 2.51) falling well below expectations, indicating under-preparedness. Reported practices reflected symbolic compliance rather than substantive reform; schools prioritized administrative checklists over pedagogical improvement. A critical 65% funding deficit forced leaders to divert academic resources toward urgent infrastructure repairs, reducing principals to clerical managers rather than instructional mentors. Furthermore, contextual mismatches existed, as SIP frameworks ignored local linguistic realities and agricultural cycles.Despite these hurdles, community resilience offered key opportunities. Informal support systems, such as Iddir associations and alumni networks, sustained schools by offsetting budget shortfalls. Ultimately, SIP implementation was found to be compliance-oriented, producing structural changes without deep pedagogical impact.To address these gaps, the study proposes a Phased Implementation Model requiring a minimum infrastructure baseline before evaluating advanced teaching practices, decentralization of SIP toolkits to reflect local language and culture, and the hiring of school office assistants to reduce administrative burdens, thereby enabling principals to prioritize instructional leadership 2026-04-01T00:00:00Z http://ir.bdu.edu.et/handle/123456789/17021 The Influence of Teachers’ Full-Range Leadership on Student Engagement in Public Universities of the State Of Amhara: The Mediating Role of Student Trust in Teachers Yalalem, Assefa In recent years, the study of various forms of teachers’ leadership, student trust and engagement has gained increasing attention because these constructs are critical for understanding student success. However, investigation of how these constructs interact to shape students’ learning, particularly in the Ethiopian higher education contexts, remains underexplored. Addressing this gap, this study investigates how teachers’ full-range leadership influence student engagement in public universities of the regional state of Amhara, Ethiopia, with an emphasis on the mediating role of student trust in teachers in this relationship. Employing a mixed-methods research approach with a sequential explanatory design, the study involved 734 participants, including 719 undergraduate students (for quantitative data) selected through multistage stratified sampling and 9 undergraduate students and 6 university teachers (for qualitative data) selected through purposive sampling. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using self-reported questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. While the quantitative data were analysed through descriptive statistics, one-sample t-test, and structural equation modelling, the qualitative data were analysed through thematic analysis. The study findings reveal that a moderate level of student engagement is often characterised by compliance with academic and institutional requirements. Regarding teachers’ full-range leadership, transformational leadership behaviours were strongly evident, which developed through ethical conduct, inspiration, and intellectual stimulation of students. Whereas transactional and passive/avoidant leadership behaviours received moderate and modest level ratings, mainly characterised by encouraged students’ conditional engagement and little support, respectively. Relatively, a higher level of student trust in teachers was evident, which developed through teachers’ competence, emotional support, and consistent treatment. The structural model findings further revealed that transformational teacher leadership behaviours show a significant, moderate and strong positive influence on student engagement and student trust in teachers, respectively, suggesting the effectiveness of transformational leadership behaviours for student engagement and trust in teachers. Conversely, transactional teacher leadership behaviours show a non-significant negative influence on student engagement and a significant, modest positive influence on student trust in teachers, suggesting a lesser contribution of teachers exhibiting transactional leadership behaviours for student engagement and trust in teachers. Passive/avoidant teacher leadership behaviours, on the other hand, show a non-significant positive influence on student engagement and a negative influence on student trust in teachers, reflecting a negligible contribution to both student engagement and trust in teachers. Additionally, student trust in teachers shows a significantly large and positive influence on student engagement, reflecting a very strong relationship. It also plays a partial mediating role in facilitating the influences of transformational teacher leadership behaviours on student engagement. Nevertheless, no mediating roles do student trust in teachers play in transforming the influence of transactional and passive/avoidant teacher leadership behaviours on student engagement. In conclusion, these findings underscore the importance of nurturing trust-based student-teacher relationships as a pathway for translating effective teachers’ leadership practices, particularly the transformational and, to a lesser extent, the transactional ones, into meaningful student engagement. 2026-06-01T00:00:00Z http://ir.bdu.edu.et/handle/123456789/17015 The Influence of Leadership and Organizational Culture on Teachers’ Organizational Citizenship Behavior among Public Universities in the Amhara Regional State: The Mediating Role of Learning Organization Berhan, Kefyalew The purpose of this study was to investigate how leadership and organizational culture influence teachers’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in the public universities in the Amhara Regional State, with learning organization practices serving as a mediating variable. A quantitative research approach was employed, using a descriptive and correlational cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected from 647 teachers and analyzed through one-sample t-tests, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling using AMOS software. Results showed that teachers generally demonstrated high levels of OCB, with courtesy emerging as the strongest dimension. Among leadership styles, only transformational leadership significantly and positively predicted OCB, while transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership together explained 11% of its variance. Within organizational culture, mission had a stronger positive effect than the negative impact of adaptability, and together the traits explained 22% of OCB variance, indicating a large effect. Learning organization dimensions explained 34% of the variance, with personal mastery identified as the strongest predictor. Transformational leadership demonstrated the most positive but largely indirect influence on OCB, transactional leadership contributed modestly, and laissez-faire leadership negatively affected OCB. Both leadership and organizational culture affected OCB primarily through the mediating role of learning organization, with systemic team learning offering a contextual adaptation of Senge’s framework. Demographic analysis revealed significant differences in OCB across university generations, particularly between first, second, and third-generation universities, Overall, the findings highlight that fostering teachers’ discretionary behaviors requires an integrated approach aligning leadership, organizational culture, and institutional learning systems. The study advances theory by underscoring learning organization as the central mechanism linking leadership and culture to OCB, while recommending that universities strengthen learning cultures and reform bureaucratic structures. Future research should employ longitudinal and mixed-methods designs to establish causality and enhance generalizability across diverse higher education contexts. 2025-12-01T00:00:00Z http://ir.bdu.edu.et/handle/123456789/16076 The Prevalence and Effect of Principals’ Destructive Leadership Behavior on Teachers’ Organizational Commitment: The Case in the Secondary Schools of Amhara National Regional State Belachew, Temesgen This study aims to investigate the prevalence and effect of principals' destructive leadership behavior on teachers' organizational commitment in secondary schools within Amhara National Regional State. An explanatory sequential design was employed, combining both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The sample comprised 1257 secondary school teachers and 10 interviewees, selected through multistage stratified and purposive sampling techniques, respectively. Data was collected using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data analysis involved one-sample t-tests, factorial MANOVA, Pearson correlation, and linear regressions, while qualitative data was analyzed using a narrative approach. The findings indicated a notable prevalence of destructive leadership behavior among principals in Amhara's secondary schools, with laissez-faire leadership being the most common type. The overall commitment level of secondary school teachers was found to be low, but they demonstrated moderate affective commitment, indicating an attachment to their respective schools. Moreover, perceptions of destructive leadership behavior differed among teachers based on gender. The study revealed a significant negative relationship between principals' destructive leadership behavior and teachers' organizational commitment. The findings also demonstrated that there was a negative relationship between all dimensions of principals‘ destructive leadership behavior and each element of teachers‘ organizational commitment. Furthermore, destructive leadership behavior significantly predicted organizational commitment and emerged as a significant predictor overall, explaining 44.4% of the variance in organizational commitment. Among the different elements of DLB, laissez-faire leadership behavior was the strongest predictor of affective, continuance, and normative commitments. Therefore, the study concluded that the decline of teachers‘ OC, which had a return effect on students‘ academic achievement and quality education, was due to the impact of principals‘ DLB. Based on the study findings, it is recommended to provide training for secondary school principals, strengthen follow-up and monitoring mechanisms, build constructive leadership behavior, and elevate the commitment levels of secondary school teachers. 2024-10-01T00:00:00Z