Public schools, including those in Gulu District in northern Uganda, are facing an increasingly competitive and dynamic educational environment as well as numerous challenges such as a general public demand for quality education.

The research project “Educational Leadership Styles and Transformation of Primary Education in Gulu District, Northern Uganda” recognises the important role of good leadership for the success of primary school reform in Gulu District.

The project objectives are:

1. To assess the current quality of education in primary schools in Gulu District
2. To examine the leadership styles applied by the different primary school headteachers
3. To compare the leadership styles applied by the headteachers with the quality indicators of their schools
4. To identify the best leadership style

This project will help to identify the good leadership style through which quality universal primary education is provided for all children in Gulu District. Consequently, with good leadership, a feeling of comradeness will exist among teachers, norms of achievement will be set by the headteacher and the school will gain legitimacy in the community.

Through good leadership of the schools, primary school children in Gulu District will be equipped with adequate competencies in literacy, numeracy and science. Dropout rates will reduce through a conduisive learning environment. The project can lead to the establishment of a centre for leadership development in the pilot schools from which the other schools can learn.

This research will consider a period of 13 years, from 2006 to 2019, a period the researcher would call post-conflict period. The year 2006 was when Acholi sub-region started to feel peace after two decades of insurgency. The Insurgence was considered by many as having had negative influence on educational achievements.Collaborative research will be piloted with four schools: Layibi Primary School, Mary Immaculate Girls’ Primary School, Gulu Primary School and St. Peter’s Primary School, Laroo.

Participants will be members of management committees, parents, teachers’ associations executive members, headteachers and their deputies, non-teaching staff and a select pupils.

Other particicipants will include the District Education Officer, Gulu, Gulu City Education Education Officer, inspectors of schools, Gulu University staff, students of Master of Education in Education, Planning, Management and Administration, and partner professors from Denmark as Supervisors and Co-researchers.