Primary school principals’ selection in Ethiopia: The interest of potential candidates in assuming principalship

Abstract The current study sought to explore potential candidates’(PCs’) interest in becoming primary school principals in the towns bordering Addis Ababa in Ethiopia’s Oromia Regional State. The study adopted an interpretive phenomenological design. Participants in the study were ten purposively selected PCs and educational officials. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and document analysis and were analyzed thematically. The study found that PCs are disinterested in taking on the role of primary school principalship. Challenges associated with assuming the principalship, pay indifference to the salary they otherwise receive as school teachers, and a lack of support from local education officials are major factors explaining the disinterest of PCs in assuming the principalship. Therefore, the town education offices have to appropriately support principals and provide them with the necessary capacity development so that incumbent leaders handle the task effectively and potential candidates are attracted to the principalship.


PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
Educational institutions receive, nurture, guide, and help grow every community's most precious asset, its children, and build every nation's future, its human resources.In this endeavor, school leadership is a key ingredient and plays a pivotal role in making education so effective.School leadership sets high expectations, motivates the school community to achieve, makes the school structure work, connects schools to the community and its environment, and mobilizes community support for schools.However, such an impact of school leadership on student learning and on making education a driver of the national economy can only be realized if competent individuals are interested in becoming principals and appropriate individuals are selected for school leadership positions.Thus, school leadership in general, and the interest of competent individuals in the principalship and their actual assumption of the position, are of heightened public interest.

Introduction
Finding replacements for departing principals is critical to ensuring the sustainability of school leadership, which in turn is closely linked to student learning gains (Fusarelli et al., 2018;Peters-Hawkins et al., 2018).Retaining high-performing incumbent principals is a feasible and even costeffective strategy for ensuring the sustainability of school leadership.However, it is not always possible to retain incumbent principals because principals can retire or leave voluntarily.The systems in place can also remove low-performing principals.As a result, vacant school leadership positions arise, demanding a deliberate effort on the part of the education system to fill them through selection process.This requires potential candidates (PCs)to submit themselves to the selection criteria to become school principals (Bush, 2008;Cook, 2014;Parfitt, 2017;Tekleselassie, 2002;Tekleselassie & Villarreal, 2011).However, PCs cannot submit themselves to the selection criteria unless they are interested in becoming principals.
The interest in assuming the school principalship can be conceptualized as "a willingness on the part of a group of leadership aspirants to imagine themselves in more senior roles" (Gronn & Lacey, 2004, p. 405), such as the school principalship.While satisfying the selection criteria is a precondition, those PCs with the relevant qualifications and experience should also be motivated to assume the position.It can be argued that individuals who are motivated to assume principalship can better discharge the task than those without the interest, as the motivation may "result in extra effort and greater productivity" (Leithwood et al in Bush, 2008, p.13).In the Ethiopian context, potential candidates, according to the Ministry of Education (MoE) (2013), are those who exhibit "success in teaching and learning practices" (p. 6) and have the "potential to serve as a school leader" (p.16).
Nonetheless, studies after studies (e.g., Lee & Mao, 2023;Mahfouz, 2020;Russell & Sabina, 2014;Walker et al., 2006;Winter & Morgenthal, 2002) indicate dwindling interest of PCs in assuming the principalship.Their disinterest in assuming the principalship can have several explanations, among which the characteristics of the job and the associated factors take center stage.Long work hours, the complexity of the task, the large volume of relevant paperwork, the demand for the job in individual lives, and the increased demand for accountability are among the frequently cited explanations for (Peters-Hawkins et al., 2018;Prado Tuma & Spillane, 2019).
Empirical studies on educational leadership (e.g., Bush, 2014;Lee & Mao, 2023;Okoko, 2020) often report the scarcity of qualified applicants in sub-Saharan Africa too and divulge the usual criteria for selecting candidates for the principalship based on teaching qualifications and experience (Bush, 2008;Ghimire, 2019).Despite this, the literature lacks content on the PCs' interest in assuming the principalship.Sources such as a 2007 working paper by the World Bank on "Recruiting, Retaining, and Retraining Secondary School Teachers and Principals in Sub-Saharan Africa" in six countries, including Ethiopia, report that leadership selection "does not draw a sufficient number of potential teachers to the profession" (Mulkeen et al., 2007, p. 58).Since this source is now outdated, it may or may not reflect the present status of potential candidates' interest in school principalship.
The current study examines the interest of PCs in becoming primary school principals in the Ethiopian educational context.The Ministry of Education (MoE, 2013, p. 4-5) prescribes that "only those who excel in teaching performance and exhibit the potential to be school leaders would be selected" as school principals.The intention of the Ministry seems to be to bring in PCs with enhanced potential and experience to the school leadership position (MoE, 2013).But the plan is receiving criticism from educational stakeholders for its inability to attract an adequate number of quality applicants to the principalship, which can be due, among other things, to the PC's lack of interest in assuming the principalship.
Originally, teaching or leadership experience of "at least five years" (MoE, 2013, p. 4) was a requirement for selecting primary school principals.The five-year requirement has been reduced to three years, perhaps due to the system's inability to find an adequate number of applicants to staff vacant positions (Gurmu, 2020).However, this change itself also appears to bring another problem.For instance, educational stakeholders at a workshop and training held in 2018 and 2019 in the currently targeted area, in which the first author took part, documented that those who come to assume the post are those with fewer years of service.This contradicts the Ministry's proposal to bring in those who excel in teaching and have significant experience.In the midst of all this gloom, the government recently (2019) raised the service requirement for appointment as a principal to 14 years, despite having previously reduced it from five to three years (Bureau for Public Service and Human Resource Development, 2020).It is thus interesting to know how interested PCs' are in assuming the principalship given this development.
A study by Gurmu (2018) also reports incumbent principals' lack of interest in attending the primary school principals' training, which is the Postgraduate Diploma in School Leadership (PGDSL) (MoE, 2013).Although it is not mentioned in Gurmu's study, their lack of interest could be partly be due to the short-term nature of the training, which does not change principals' qualification levels (Gurmu, 2018;Gurmu & Oumer, 2022;Tekleselassie, 2002).This is additional rationale to study how the PCs' indifference toward the PGDSL translates or does not translate to their willingness in assuming principalship."This also makes it fascinating to study how the PCs' indifference toward the PGDSL translates or does not translate to their willingness to assume the principalship" in the background.This is because educational opportunity attached to principalship is know in the education system to affect the coming of potential candidate to assume school principalship position (Gurmu, 2018;2020).There is also a scarcity of empirical studies on the interest of PCs in this study context.To our best knowledge, no study has exclusively targeted the interests of PCs for school principalship in Ethiopia.This also implies the importance of studying the subject matter in the context of the current study.
The study was guided by the following two basic questions: (1) How interested are potential candidates in towns geographically located in the Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Finfine (OSZSF) to assume primary school principalship?
(2) What explains the potential candidates' interest or disinterest to assume primary school principalship?

Review of related literature
This section of the paper deals with the review of related literature to provide a theoretical basis for the study.An attempt is made to look at literature from the international arena in the first part and from the Ethiopian context based largely on policy texts in the second part of the literature review.

Global practices of school principals recruitment and selection
Having competent school leaders in a principalship position in a sustainable manner is extremely important since the principals are instrumental in fulfilling the educational task of schools.Sustained leadership can be ensured, among other things, by retaining high-performing incumbent principals long enough when they are making great strides in raising students' achievement (Hargreaves & Fink, 2004).Nonetheless, principals are only in charge for a short time (Cook, 2014).While competent principals can leave the position even before their improvement efforts have had a chance to bear fruit for reasons such as transfer, promotion, or taking on other available career opportunities, the system can also remove principals when they are not in a position to elevate students' achievement (Cook, 2014;Hargreaves & Fink, 2004;Juwono & Harly, 2017).Therefore, vacant positions arise and the departing principals must be replaced to staff the vacant positions.
In principle, there are two major strategies available to identify and fill school leadership positions.The first strategy is that the system advertises the position, and PCs submit themselves to the selection criteria.This strategy is frequently utilized by decentralized systems; however, it has been criticized for failing to attract a sufficient number of candidates.This is because it is based on the likelihood of potential candidates coming forward to become principals, and the chance of getting an adequate number is always probable, which can put a smooth leadership succession in jeopardy.The second strategy is a planned approach in which the system deliberately works to identify and develop potential leaders.It increases the likelihood of a smooth leadership succession (Bush, 2008).Since nations are increasingly facing a shortage of PCs (Lee & Mao, 2023), they are considering a planned approach for filling school leadership positions.The paradox is that the notion of a planned approach is more difficult to apply to decentralized systems.It entails centralized leadership development, which is not appropriate for a decentralized system.It can work against the right of other candidates to compete to assume the principalship, since the approach gives system officials the right to hire whom they perceive as having potential (Bush, 2008;Gurmu, 2020).It is also not always easy to identify potential individuals, and those who are identified may not perform well in practice The selection of PCs for the position can't be realized without their having an interest in assuming the school principalship.This is because the system cannot force individuals to become principals.The interest of PCs is conceptualized as their readiness to assume school principalship "along with having confidence in their capacity to perform those roles" (Gronn & Lacey, 2004, p. 405).PC's interest in becoming a principal can be viewed from several perspectives.For example, expectancy theories suggest that PCs can be motivated to take on principalship if they believe that they have the ability and required qualification to deliver the job (e.g., ensure student learning gain), that their competing (willingness and making effort) for principalship will result in their selection as school principals, and that being appointed as principals is rewarding (e.g.salary gain, recognition) (Allen & McCarthy, 2017;Schunk et al., 2014).Individuals' self-perceptions of their ability to perform the job, the potential rewards of becoming a principal, and PCs' motivation (interest) to assume principalship (Marsh et al., 2013) are key issues from an expectancy theory perspective.This can be related to what Liou and Daly (2020, p. 414) referred to as "Self-efficacy" which is defined as "the extent to which one perceives her or his competence [in delivering the job], which may affect her or his. . .personal performance".Theories do not limit the reasons why PCs become principals to material rewards, but extend them to being valued, enjoying being part of something bigger, and being part of something important (Allen & McCarthy, 2017;Schunk et al., 2014).Other theories, such as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, also define motivations or interests in terms of psychological, physiological, and social needs (Deci & Ryan, 2014;Maslow, 2017).This may be related to candidates' need for rewards, personal satisfaction or it may be related to the need to be seen as an important citizen contributing to the betterment of schools and society.Others have distinguished between intrinsic motivation, which refers to motivation to become a principal for its own sake, such as contributing to student achievement, and extrinsic motivation, which refers to becoming a principal as a means to an end, such as gaining benefit (Allen & McCarthy, 2017;Schunk et al., 2014).While more theories of motivation can be presented, the reality seems to be that each theory has its own critique.Added to that, interest can be individualistic and be influenced by contextual factors (Allen & McCarthy, 2017;Deci & Ryan, 2014;Rowley & Harry, 2011;Schunk et al., 2014).
Expectancy theory is the framework chosen for the current study with the belief that it can help better explain the interest of potential candidates in principalship.Overall, PCs must be quantitatively available to be interested in the job in the first place, which itself has certain contextualelement.Then, they must have the necessary skills; be willing/interested in taking on the responsibility of advancing the overall good of the organization; and have confidence in their professional ability to do the job (Cranston, 2005;Northouse, 2016).However, reports from educational settings throughout the world show a decrease in the number of PCs ready to accept principalship, making it harder to fill vacant principalship posts (Lee & Mao, 2023;Russell & Sabina, 2014;Walker et al., 2006).In a situation where provisions are in place for training PCs prior to their appointment, the problem is claimed to be not merely a lack of competent people but a lack of interest in taking on the job (Lee & Mao, 2023;Walker et al., 2006;Winter & Morgenthal, 2002).This means that there are qualified people available, but they are not willing to become principals.The question that can be asked here is: Why are they being trained to be principals if they are not willing to take it on in practice?
The majority of the issues raised above regarding PCs' interest in becoming school principals and the resulting shortage are from the developed world.However, it is unknown whether PCs are interested in taking on principal responsibilities in developing countries such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa.Principals are often selected from among teachers based on their teaching experience (Ghimire, 2019;Gurmu, 2020;Okoko, 2020;Walker et al., 2006).Nevertheless, a 2007 study by the World Bank in six sub-Saharan African countries, reports that "several teachers. . .
[are] not interested in being principals" (Mulkeen et al., 2007, p. 58).This study is outdated now and it is not known whether that is still a trend.Also the availability of PCs' is connected either directly or indirectly with the availability of teachers since school principals are mostly selected among teachers.The problem can be that there is a shortage of qualified teachers (Mngomezulu et al., 2021), and there is an increasing pool of teachers who do not see teaching, let alone leadership, as a career choice (Mulford, 2003).It can be argued that this is also the problem Ethiopia faces as a nation.This will quickly have a quantitative and qualitative influence on PCs for principalship (Walker et al., 2006).This makes it unlikely that the principal position will be filled.It has also been recently reported that "the criteria used in Africa are varied and unreliable" (Ghimire, 2019, p. 89).This may inevitably affect the task of selecting competent educational leaders for school leadership positions.
The expansion of the job, the increasing responsibility and accountability demands being placed on principals, the depletion of resources to run the school business, the necessity to deal with many stakeholders, and the frequent requirement to supervise a large volume of activities are some of the factors that are advanced in explaining the shortage of PCs and their disinterest in principalship (Cranston, 2005;Hargreaves & Fink, 2004;Slater et al., 2018;Walker et al., 2006).All of these concerns might challenge the incumbent principals to handle their jobs.The situation may also translate into the PCs' lack of interest in assuming the principalship as the challenges do not provide them with either the physical or emotional energy to take on the job (Hargreaves & Fink, 2004;Mulford, 2003;Walker et al., 2006;Winter & Morgenthal, 2002).Teachers who are about to enter the profession are aware of the problems that principals face and are thus more hesitant to embrace them.As a result, an increasing number of teachers choose to remain in the classroom rather than take on the role of principal (Rutherford, 2005;Walker et al., 2006).And this does not seem to create favorable situation for filling school leadership position.

The Ethiopian context
The current study is situated in the context of the Ethiopian education system and focuses on primary school principalship.The Ethiopian education system has separate substructures for higher education, technical and vocational education, and general education (MoE, 2009(MoE, , 2022)).The general education subsector of which primary education is a part includes educational arrangements from preschool to grade 12.It is subdivided into primary (1-6), middle (7-8), and secondary (9-12) education.This structure has been implemented quite recently following the recommendation of the Ethiopian Education Development Roadmap, a nationwide study of the education system (FDRE, 2023;MoE, 2022;Teferra et al., 2017).
However, primary and middle educations are still provided in the same institutions and, thus, are administered together.This means that the same principal is responsible for both levels.The total numbers of primary and secondary schools in 2022 are 36,492 and 3,636, respectively, nationwide (MoE, 2022).The number of primary and secondary schools in the region targeted by the current study in 2023 is 203 and 31, respectively, in the public and private sectors.The official age of primary and middle education is 7 to 14 years, and the age of secondary education is 15 to 18 years (FDRE, 2023;MoE, 2022).
In order for these educational institutions to function effectively, school principals must be in place (Abay, 2013;MoE, 20022012a, 2012b).There are currently 51,723 (male 45,980 and female 5,732) primary school principals and 7,523 (male 6,998 and female 525) secondary school principals working in the education system (MoE, 2022).It is worth noting that this figure only includes public school principals; it does not include principals working in the private sector.While a school with fewer than 999 students has only one deputy principal, schools with between 1,000 and 2,999 students and with more than 2999 students are required to have 2 and 3 deputy principals, respectively (Gurmu & Oumer, 2022).Therefore, the number of schools and the number of principals cannot be equal even in the situation where there may still be unfilled positions of principal and vice-principal.In 2019/20 academic year, female primary and secondary school principals constituted approximately 12.4% and 7.5% of the principals' workforce, respectively (MoE, 2020).Although the Ministry is trying to increase the number of female school principals through mechanisms such as setting up a separate temporary program for the training of female principals (Gurmu, 2020), the percentage remains low and requires further efforts from the Ministry and other education stakeholders to compensate.
Evidence suggests that school leadership in Ethiopia is becoming increasingly demanding.First, the size of educational institutions is increasing, and school populations are growing rapidly and becoming more diverse (Gurmu, 2020).Second, the decentralization of education that is being implemented in the system has resulted in the devolution of various reform packages and other responsibilities to schools, increasing the responsibilities of school-level leadership (Faguet et al., 2021;FDRE, 1994).Third, although such decentralized "policy initiatives call for principals to take . . .leadership role[s]," principals are still "understood as local managers of administrative unit[s]" (Mitchell, 2015. p. 330).This can constrain the exercise of school leadership.Fourth, these situations occur without providing schools with the necessary resources and principals with sufficient development opportunities to dive into the ocean of school leadership (Gurmu, 2018(Gurmu, , 2020;;Tekleselassie, 2002).Together, these factors have inevitably increased the responsibilities of school leaders and made school leadership a challenging endeavor.
Globally, the changing role of the principalship and the expansion of responsibilities have been identified as one of the causes of principals being pushed out of the principalship (Lee & Mao, 2023;Peters-Hawkins et al., 2018;Prado Tuma & Spillane, 2019;Tekleselassie & Villarreal, 2011).There is no reason why this should not be the case in Ethiopia.However, data on principal vacancies or turnover are not part of the official annual education statistics in Ethiopia, perhaps due to their temporary nature, making it difficult to know how many schools are in such a state.However, it has been documented that principals' turnover is generally high in Ethiopia too (Abay, 2013), resulting in vacant school leadership positions that need to be filled through a selection process.Another factor may be that incumbent principals are subject graduates, which may predispose them to be subject professionals rather than educational leadership professionals (Gurmu, 2018(Gurmu, , 2020)).This may also lead them to think about how to advance in the line of their subject, rather than working wholeheartedly as principals and thinking about growing in the line of school leadership profession.
In the Ethiopian education system, the selection of school principals is done by the woreda (equivalent to a school district in other countries) or by the town education offices, as appropriate (Gurmu, 2018(Gurmu, , 2020;;MoE, 2013).This means that the selection of principals is not yet decentralized to the schools, although there is a lot of talk about decentralization in education.The usual process is that the education offices advertise the vacancies, and potential candidates apply for the positions by submitting relevant documents.The education offices then evaluate the applicants based on criteria such as previous teaching or leadership experience, performance evaluations in the last three semesters, the GPA of their degree, and other criteria with specific weights, and select and appoint those who score high on these dimensions (for more details, see Gurmu, 2018Gurmu, , 2020;;MoE, 2013).Previously, political affiliation was found to be highly influential in the selection of school principals, with prominent decisions being made by the ruling party representative on the selection committee (Gurmu, 2020).Such direct involvement of party officials and the bold requirement of political affiliation appear to have weakened since 2018, following the change of government at the national level.However, recruitment guidelines have not yet been changed at the basic level.And this may have some impact on the selection process.In principle, anyone who can meet the selection criteria can apply for a school leadership position anywhere.In practice, however, things are a little different.For example, education budgets are tight and come from the top and are usually based on the salaries of current staff.Therefore, it is difficult for education offices to recruit individuals from outside as principals, which requires the allocation of new budget for which education offices have minimal prospects (Gurmu & Oumer, 2022).Even the selection of individuals from the private sector for the principalship seems impossible in the context of the current study.Principals and teachers usually come to such settings through official transfer (Oromia Education Bureau, 2018), and therefore the recruitment of principals from the private sector to public schools can be considered a violation of official policy and an operation against the rights of those who seek transfer to such settings.
The existing selection process for primary school principals in Ethiopia entails the selection of PCs for the leadership position, which is subsequently followed by their selection for PGDSL training (Gurmu, 2020).This means there is no qualified pool for school principalship in the Ethiopian education system; potential candidates are usually selected among teachers with years of service (Gurmu, 2020).The Ministry attempts to integrate the factors that can facilitate the PCs' interest in assuming the position and also the training.The career opportunities attached to being a school principal are one such factor.The Ministry of Education points out that "school leadership positions pave the way for further career development in the district and other middle-and higher-level educational leadership and managerial positions" (MoE, 2013).Still, the creation of an interface between the PGDSL program and master's degree-level education is another arrangement.Candidates who finish the PGDSL training satisfactorily can "study educational leadership at the MA level" (MoE, 2013, p. 6) with a course exemption for grades A or B. This leads to taking fewer courses and consequently implies a shorter time frame for completion than the conventional educational leadership and management programs (MoE, 2013).Nevertheless, the plan has not yet materialized.
Once appointed, principals are deployed, supported, monitored, and held accountable by a variety of parties, including the local administration, woreda/town education offices, cluster supervisors, and the Parents, Students, and Teachers Association (PSTA) (a school management committee).For example, woreda and town education offices, which also play a role in the implementation of education programs (MoE, 2006), provide material, professional, and technical support to schools and principals, and take action when schools and principals fail to meet their obligations, up to and including dismissal (MoE, 2002).Cluster supervisors provide professional support and, in the case of primary school principals, handle their performance evaluation, which can be linked to accountability (Gurmu & Oumer, 2022;MoE, 20062012a, 2012b).In the Ethiopian education system, five to eight schools are grouped under a more centralized and resourceful school to support each other (MoE, 2002(MoE, , 2006(MoE, , 2013)), and cluster supervisors are assigned to the cluster to "monitor, support, [and] evaluate" (MoE, 2012a, p. 3) the schools and principals in the cluster.The PSTA is also responsible for making decisions on school matters, such as approving the plan, managing the school budget, monitoring school operations, and holding the school community, including principals, accountable (MoE, 2002(MoE, , 2006)).The local administration, including the kebele (the smallest administrative unit near schools in Ethiopia), is also supposed to support schools, take action, and hold principals accountable.One way of doing this is through the Kebele Education and Training Board (KETB), a body at the kebele level that is responsible for managing the education business under its jurisdiction.This can lead to school principals being squeezed between accountability coming from different directions.In spite of the high emphasis given to it, accountability does not seem to be implemented in accordance with the prescription of official documents.

Material and method
This section of the study presents the research design, study area, sample and sampling technique, data collection instruments, data collection procedure, data analysis technique, and ethical considerations.

Research design
We adopted an interpretive phenomenological design to conduct the study.As stated by Smith et al. (2009), it helps explore experiences in a particular context.That is done with belief that the design helps to describe, understand, and interpret the lived experience of the PC participants (Alase, 2017;Tuohy et al., 2012).It helps to explore the lived experience of PCs finding themselves in a situation where they are potential candidates, their beginning to reflect on the situation they are in as PCs and will be in as principals, and as a result, their interest or lack of interest in becoming a candidate for the principalship (Smith et al., 2009).It can be said that our study is informed by empirical studies like Frechette et al. (2020), which focused on capturing lived experience using the method, and Goodall's (2014), which studied designated teachers' experiences of supporting looked-after children.

Study area
Four out of five towns geographically located in OSZSF but administratively standing alone and accountable to Oromia Regional State were targeted purposively because of their proximity to Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia.Towns located in four different directions were targeted to capture the interest of PCs in different contexts.(It should be noted that the administrative arrangements of both the special zone and the targeted towns were abolished toward the start of 2023 after data collection for this study; as a result, an administrative arrangement called "Sheger City" was instituted in place, combining them and including other areas).Targeting PCs' interest in this study context is an interesting endeavor because of its uniqueness.In Addis Ababa, there are provisions for a house allowance and free public transportation for public school teachers (Capital Newspaper, 2019).Principals and teachers in the targeted towns get access to information about the benefits.Hence, they count on any career opportunities that come their way to move to the city, including competitive transfers to the city through government arrangements.The Addis Ababa Education Bureau also closed about 59 private schools in the previous school year, mainly due to a lack of qualified teachers (Capital Newspaper, 2019), which can be an additional factor for their movement.This is compounded by the teachers'aspiration to move to the city, where they can improve their educational qualifications by taking advantage of the higher learning institutions concentrated in the city.So, it is an attention-grabbing thing to know how PCs are interested in assuming principalship in the towns in which these entire situations manifest.

Sample and sampling techniques
We selected one school from each town using purposive sampling techniquebased on proximity and transportation access to Addis Ababa city, where they can readily get access to information about the available opportunities in private or governmental schools in the city.To be considered for the principalship of a government school, we only targeted PCs in government schools.This was because the towns usually only consider PCs on their payroll, since considering candidates who are not on the payroll has budget implications over which the offices don't have total control.
From each targeted school, wetargeted knowledgeable and information-rich Unit Leaders (ULs) and Heads of Departments (HoDs) among the available PCs for the principalship using the purposive sampling technique.Knowledgeable and informed PCs were those who we are believed to provide us with comprehensive information on the topic under consideration.These PCs had extensive teaching experience in schools (some even had previous leadership experience) and were familiar with and involved in school administration; we assumed that this would enable them to provide a detailed explanation of their interest or disinterest in becoming a principal and the factors involved.We interviewed two ULs and/or HoDs who fulfilled the eligibility criteria of having the experience and qualifications needed to be appointed as school principals, which resulted in eight PC participants.The Ministry of Education emphasizes that the "acquisition of a school leadership position would be based on academic and leadership merit" (MoE, 2013, p. 16).Academic merit can be understood to mean the qualifications of the candidates.Since candidates are required, among others, to have a degree-level qualification, all PCs have equitable academic merit to assume the principalship.
But UL and HoD seem to have better leadership merit.The Educational Management Organization, Community Participation, and Finance Directives (MoE, 2002) list ULs and HoDs at the top of other responsibilities, right next to school principalship and deputy principalship in the depicted structure of the schools.This may indicate the order of importance in which the leadership merits of the UL and HoD are considered.Serving in unit leadership and department headship is also considered advantageous for appointment to the position of school principal (Oromia Education Bureau, 2004).Similarly, those who assume the positions gain significant leadership experience and are encouraged to assume the principalship, which they will do with incentives.This is because they had already assumed UL and HoD positions with no incentives.All of the PC participants were male, had service years of 14-18 years, and were BA degree holders who were qualified in one of the primary school subjects.Three of them had prior experience serving in school leadership positions.Five PCs were HoDs, and the remaining three were ULs (Table 1).Due to the task burden and the deferment of the schedule beyond the control of the authors, the data were collected towards the end of the academic year, when teachers were leaving the schools for vacation.We used the phone to contact those PCs we considered knowledgeable and information-rich in order to gain access to them.Unfortunately, we only had access to male potential candidates.
We also interviewed two town education officers, who were also purposively selected from two of the four education offices based on their rich knowledge and experience in teacher and school principal selection, transfer, promotion, and related issues.Although our initial intention was to pick one from each of the four offices, we decreased the number to three after discovering that the officers on the core process in one education office we targeted were entirely new to the section, which means they could not fulfill our purpose.After we consented to the interview, the officer at another office departed for training and did not return until we left the town.Hence, we were forced to limit officer participants to two.Both of them were BA degree holders with 16 and 18 years of experience, respectively.The proclamation of job evaluation and grading (House of Peoples' Representative, 2017), and the wage structure directive for the JEG were consulted.

Data collection instruments
We collected the data from participants through semi-structured interviews.The five interview items were prepared in English based on the basic question and a review of related literature.Then it was revised several times, checked by fellow peers, and made ready for use.Points of interest were whether PCs were interested or disinterested in assuming the primary school principalship, with probing questions about the possibility of their retaining the primary school principalship at some point in the future.Furthermore, they were asked to explain what makes them interested or disinterested.After the interview items were made ready in English, they were translated into Afan Oromo and administered in the same language.Moreover, document analysis was employed to generate data from document sources.

Trustworthiness
Trustworthiness refers to the credibility of the data generated and results reported in a given study to be accepted as useful scientific input (Creswell & Creswell, 2018;Suter, 2012).An attempt is made to ensure trustworthiness in the current study.The interview items were reviewed by fellow peers and tested on scale with three PCs before their actual implementation.The interview was made as comprehensive as possible, and the data was gathered to saturation-a point in the data collection process at which collecting "more data does not lead to the discovery of more [new] information" (Lowe et al., 2018, p. 191).Accordingly, we collected data until we observed recurring themes in what the participants provided.Audio-recorded data has also been carefully transcribed, and the transcription is carefully checked against the audio data to ensure a complete match.Maximum care was also taken to avoid introducing bias into instrument development, data collection, analysis, and reporting (Creswell & Poth, 2018;Patton, 2015;Saldaña, 2016).

Data collection procedure
To collect data, we first obtained a letter of support from the Department of Educational Planning and Management at Addis Ababa University.We then submitted the letter submitted to the respective town education offices and schools to get their respective permission to provide access to the participants.After we were granted access to the participants, we scheduled the interviews according to their suggestions.In order to create a sense of a natural working environment and to ensure that the location did not interfere with the provision of data, the interviews were conducted at the participants' respective workplaces.On the day of data collection, participants were asked one question at a time and asked to respond.While participants were initially asked general questions, probing questions were asked to gain a deeper understanding, especially if participants did not address the topic in the required detail.We recorded their responses both manually and via audio recording.Attempts were also made to capture non-verbal messages such as facial expressions and gesture cues during data collection.Participants were also asked to add anything they thought was relevant.We also accessed documents from which we had obtained supplemental data and collected data from them by either abstracting the content or writing down relevant statements directly.

Data analysis technique
In order to analyze the data, we transcribed the audio recordings.Then we studied the transcription by repeatedly reading it.After we obtained adequate familiarity with the data, we reduced it to a manageable level and subsequently translated it into English.Based on the basic question and the sense we obtained from the reading and rereading of the content of the transcription, we produced the codes to be applied to the transcription.Then, we separated the data into different chunks based on the message contained in a specific segment of the transcription and applied the code to the segmented transcription.While the data was basically coded structurally based on the basic questions the study sets out to investigate, we merged some codes and dissected others as the data analysis process evolved.Then, the data were analyzed thematically by pulling similar contents together that constitute the emerging themes.

Ethical consideration
Efforts were made to follow scientific procedures and ethical practices in all aspects of the study.
After obtaining permission to access the study site and the participants, we obtained permission from the participants to take part in the study and their informed consent to be audio recorded.
We gave participants the right to withdraw from the study at any time.And we assured participants that we would maintain their anonymity by using pseudonyms.During the data collection process, we have done our best to use respectful language.

Results and discussion
The PCs' disinterest in becoming primary school principals and the factors that explain their disinterest are the two major themes that emerge from the study.Derara, Merga, Gemechu, Ulfata, Bona, Ebisa, Feyisa, and Abdi are the pseudonyms of PC participants, while Chala and Bekan are the two educational officers.The information garnered from the documents examined is presented by referencing each one.

The potential candidates' disinterest in assuming the principalship
All of the PCs in the current study posited that school leadership is critical in raising student achievement and ensuring school success (e.g., Derara, Ebisa, Fayisa, Abdi).Ebisa, for instance, asserted that "Teachers" accomplishment to an ideal level is difficult in the absence of competent school principals".Though he did not rule out the possibility of ideal achievement, he emphasized the difficulties of teachers' accomplishments in the absence of capable principals.Abdi concurred."School principals", he said, "push the school community to perform at the highest possible level".Some participants even pointed out the great contribution principals make to the success of schools.In relation to that, Feyisa had this to say: Our school was ranked first from the back, not the front.It was a living nightmare, with frequent clashes between teachers and students.Nobody would care about the students' achievements.However, the situation began to change once a specific principal was appointed to the school's leadership post.No one dared hope for such a thing to happen.He was able to shift the momentum of the school's accomplishment.Then, our school was ranked first among all the schools in the district.Though the whole school community had some role to play in changing the situation, the dramatic change would not have been possible without the presence of the principal.
Interestingly, though, the optimistic outlook and recognition of the contribution of the principalship did not seem to translate into a willingness to take over as principal.When asked if they intended to become primary school principals, all PCs expressed their unwillingness with an emphatic "no".Derara, for instance, said this: I worked as a principal in a school that is far from where I am now.I had both good and terrible experiences as a principal.However, after nine years as a school principal, I am no longer interested in taking on the post of principal.It is now time for others to step forward and play their parts.
Likewise, Feyisa stated, "You will not see me in another school principalship position."As evidenced from their responses, both candidates had previously served as principals.Their experience as school principals may be useful since it allows the education system to put their accumulated knowledge and expertise to good use in school leadership.Unfortunately, neither candidate was interested in becoming a principal.Specifically, what appeared to be echoed in Derara's account was the inclination to put a limit on one's commitment and contribution to the community and school.Nonetheless, this might not be significant because professional ethics require them to sustain their commitment.Retaining school leaders is about sustaining their efforts and helping the school and students achieve goals that cannot be achieved in a short period of time and require their long-term commitment.What is certain, however, is that their lack of enthusiasm squandered the opportunity to utilize their leadership experience for the benefit of the school system.This was actually the misfortune of the system, particularly the children.
On his part, Bona asserted, "I don't need to think about assuming a school principalship with my current service years [the candidates have about 16 total service years]".Similarly, Merga said he wants to continue as a teacher.Though their reasons were slightly different, these participants' indifference to principalship was also evident in their narratives.While Bona's disinterest in the principalship had to do with the advantage to be gained, Merga's narrative was about his preference to remain in the teaching profession without linking it to any obvious cause.
When taken together, the responses of the participants indicated their disinterest in becoming principals, despite having different reasons.However, an attempt was also made to investigate the issue further from the perspective of education officers, in the hope that their perspectives would shed new light on the prevalent development.Chala (an education officer) stated that "the town education office has four vacant positions in the primary school principalship due to its failure to fill them".According to him, "the office can't find individuals to fill. . .[especially] deputy principalship positions because of the elevation of the service year requirement to 14 years".His account painted a clear picture of the PCs' apathy.The specifics also addressed the rise in the minimum number of service years necessary to assume the principalship, from three to fourteen, which he saw as the beginning of the trouble.
Bekan, another education officer, explains that the increase in service year requirements happened as a result of the Job Evaluation and Grading (JEG) initiative (House of Peoples' Representative, 2017).And that warrants the need to examine the proclamation in order to grasp a clearer picture.According to the proclamation, all positions of equal value must be given equal job grades.It was that effort to make jobs comparable that defined the job grades of school principals and deputy principals and the related 14-year requirement to get the principalship.The argument is that the job classification did not take into account the unique characteristics of the principalship that may qualify these positions to retain higher job grade status and did not reflect the duties and responsibilities that principals are expected to perform (Merga, Gemechu, Ulfata).For example, principals face an enormous amount of emotional labor in carrying out their responsibilities.Their role also extends beyond regular working hours.In addition, the professionalization of the staff requires them to have a specific professional disposition that is uncommon in other professions (Campbell, 1959;Waite et al., 2005).These are just a few of the special scenarios of principalship that the JEG is supposed to consider, but for which accommodations were not made in practice.Therefore, it is argued that these issues, which were not being accommodated by the JEG, deny the principals the opportunity to be assigned to a higher job grade than is currently assigned.
Comparing jobs based on their status can be useful for a number of reasons, such as assessing the relative contribution of jobs to the national economy.However, if decisions to make jobs comparable are made without taking into account the specific situations of the jobs, it may pose challenges to the operation of the system, as can be seen in the case of the service year requirement for school principals.Job evaluation and grading are supposed to be done with the collaboration of relevant organizations, according to the Proclamation of Job Evaluation and Grading (JEG).Because the Ministry of Public Service and Human Resource Development would make the ultimate decision, the other parties' influence may be negligible despite the prescription.This is demonstrated by the increase in the service year requirement to 14 years, whereas the Ministry of Education had previously reduced it to a minimum of three years owing to a shortage of PCs (Gurmu, 2020;MoE, 2013).This might show that the increase in the service year required to take the principalship was not in the will of the Ministry.
The present study's finding concerning PCs' disinterest in becoming principals is consistent with findings of earlier studies (Rutherford, 2005;Walker et al., 2006).While Rutherford's study revealed teachers' preference to remain in the classroom, the research by Walker and Qian showed that teachers were generally reluctant to embrace the daunting role of school principals (Walker et al., 2006).The findings of the current study are, however, not in agreement with those of Gurmu (2020), even though both studies were conducted in the same context.Unlike Gurmu's study, which found that the system was uninterested in certain eligible principals by denying them school principalship, the current study found that PCs are uninterested in taking on the role of school leadership.The difference can partly be attributed to the shifting political landscape and its influence on principals' selection.The study of Gurmu was conducted during the tenure of the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), when political connections rather than professional qualifications determined the selection of principals.Participants in Gurmu's study identified political ties as a significant factor affecting principal selection.Participants in the current study, however, do not report the interference of political influence in the selection of principals.
The other attribution is the number of service years required to achieve principalship between the two studies.The minimum service year required during Gurmu's (2020) study was three years.But the service-year requirement has since been increased to 14 years (Bureau for Public Service and Human Resource Development, 2020).This had an implication for the differential benefits of becoming a principal and might translate into differential interest in becoming a principal.
The findings of the current study are also not consistent with those of Khumalo and Serpa (2021) either; Khumalo's study was carried out in South Africa in a context where endemic buying and selling of school principalship posts was apparent.As opposed to the scenario reported in the present study, PCs in the Khumalo's and Serpa (2021) study exhibited a keen interest in posts of principalship to the extent that buying and selling of the positions was considered widespread.The different findings between the two studies can be attributed to the different attractiveness of the principalship in each setting.

Factors explaining the candidates' disinterest
PCs were uninterested in assuming principalship, as demonstrated in the preceding theme.Factors cited by participants to explain PCs' lack of interest in school leadership included personal problems and a preference for further study rather than becoming a principal.However, the most important reasons cited by almost all participants for their lack of interest in the principalship included the burdens and challenges associated with the principalship, the salary paid to principals, and the inadequate support and encouragement principals receive from education officials.Each of these is discussed in detail in the following subsections.

Burdens and challenges associated with the task of principalship
For some participants (Feyisa, Derara, Gemechu, Ulfata), the burdens and challenges of school principalship (partly related to the large volume of activities to be accomplished within school days) were among the key reasons for PCs' lack of enthusiasm for adopting primary school principalship.In the words of Ulfata, Proper school leadership occasionally puts you at odds with teachers, especially those who only view things from their own perspective. . .It is the principal's responsibility to greet everyone who comes to the offices, spends time there, and solve problems.The issue is that no one needs to hear the rejection of their appeal.They require cases to be settled in order to benefit their side.
The disagreement with teachers that Ulfata recounted might be related to a difference in perspectives on how things should be handled, which can be resolved via dialogue.It is necessary for school principals to be resilient in the area of human resource management (Robbins & Judge, 2013) since schools are naturally human-intensive and the intimacy of relationships characterizes them (Campbell, 1959;Waite et al., 2005).Though it unavoidably poses problems for principals' leadership, whether the leadership was entitled to be labeled "appropriate" if it was unable to foster a healthy relationship between leaders and followers is debatable.
Gemechu's explanation of the overwhelming burdens and challenges associated with principalship as factors discouraging PCs from aspiring to be principals was equally informative.For him, There is no work that school principals are not expected to handle.Being a school principal is like choosing to sit in the center of a pile of tasks on your desk. . .Meeting reporting obligations, let alone other standards, is a big issue in and of itself.It requires a full-time employee to address it on its own.When you are a school principal, you are juggling a variety of duties throughout the day and night, which might make it difficult for you to perform the task itself.
Notwithstanding the burdens and challenges associated with the principalship that participants cited as partly explaining PCs' disinterest in becoming principals, some of their observations warrant closer scrutiny.For instance, the pile of tasks on the desks of principals and the reporting requirements emphasized in the accounts of the participants were more relevant to administrative requirements.More challenging but still highly relevant tasks, such as instructional leadership, were not emphasized.The participant might emphasize the areas of tasks that were usually focused on by district officials in their supervisory efforts.This can be related to a development called "perspective taking", which means "being sensitive to other people's perspectives" (Northouse, 2016, p. 49).This seems to be the usual trend that is observed in the education system.For example, Tekleselassie rightly observes: Most principals have learned that routine administrative tasks (such as budgets) in comparison to academic tasks are more visible to influence the district supervisors in performance assessment decisions.Principals can avoid conflict with district supervisors by prioritizing administrative tasks over the academic and instructional aspects of their jobs.(2002, p. 62) Challenges that were raised by the participant could not, in fact, be discredited as explaining factors.This trend of focusing on administrative tasks in the explanation of the factor of disinterest, on the other hand, might indicate the need for a shift in the attention of district educational officials and cluster supervisors to shift the attention of principals and PCs toward the core business of the school, i.e., instructional leadership and the teaching-learning process (Tadesse & Kenea, 2022;Tekleselassie, 2002).
There were also developments in the system that could further complicate things.The complexity of the school's leadership shows no signs of abating.At the same time, the JEG endeavor even reduced the grade of deputy principalship from its previous equal status with the grade of principalship (Civil Service Commission, 2019).The deputy principalship is the most important aspect of school leadership-a task with huge responsibilities-and is known for sharing the load of the principalship.The downgrading of the deputy principalship was likely to dissuade PCs from assuming the position, which in turn made it difficult for education offices to fill the positions.When PCs were unmotivated to take on the principalship, which is of a higher grade, it was unlikely to be in their interest to assume the deputy principalship, which is of a lower grade.

Salary of school principals
As conventional wisdom tells us,PCs are supposed to benefit by taking on the school principalship in such a way that the benefit of the principalship outweighs the benefit they gain from the teaching profession.However, this did not appear to be the case in the current study setting.The participants' argument followed three lines of reasoning.One was the incommensurability of remunerations offered to principals when compared with the burden of responsibility associated with school leadership.In one of the participants' view, "the duty of the post significantly surpasses the amount of remuneration granted to principals" (Gemechu).Abdi also asserted that the responsibility "does not balance the weight of the work".Other participants (Ebisa, Feyisa, Ulfata) concurred.Such an argument was unsurprising since potential candidates did not accept the job without first evaluating, among other things, the amount to be paid against the energy to be incurred (Lemoine et al., 2018).However, participants described the situation with a detached sense.Their answers were hazy, which could be attributed to their knowledge of its unlikely occurrence in light of the nation's economic situation and other circumstances.
The second line of argument compared principal pay to what teachers might be paid for having service years of 14 years or more, which is required for applying for the position of principal.The voices of the participants along this line, particularly those of PCs (Derara, Merga, Ulfata, Chala, Bekan) were loud and clear."As it is currently instituted", said Bekan, "the compensation of principals is just a minor difference from the income of teachers".The participant appeared to claim that the compensation differential was insufficient to entice PCS to pursue principalship.The fourteenth year of service for a teacher symbolizes the transition from Associate Lead Teacher to Lead Teacher, which are among the higher stages in primary school teachers' career structure.That means a potential candidate's salary ranges from Birr 10,150.00(USD 195.54) to Birr 11,305.00(USD 217.79) (Civil Service Commission, 2019).According to the evidence obtained from the same sources, the salaries of the Deputy Principal and Principal are Birr 11, 305.00 (USD 217.79), and Birr 12, 579.00 (USD 242.33), respectively.As can be seen from the figures, the wages of deputy principals coincided with those of certain PCs.This illustrates that there was no noticeable variation in pay, even to the extent that Bekan claims.However, all PCs were paid at least one level less than a principal's pay, which is about a difference of Birr 2,429 (USD 42.94).In a place where teachers have very limited options to augment their pay, the difference can be beneficial.However, in places like the current study setting, avoiding principalship may allow people to have "more time to do sideline jobs to enhance. . .income" (Tekleselassie & DeCuir, 2021, p. 14), which the wage variations may not compensate for.However, what should be seen is not only the pay difference but also whether it merits assuming the additional burden and responsibilities that come with taking the principalship.
Additionally, the six career stages of principalship and deputy principalship, which were formerly in operation, have been shortened to just one stage (Civil Service Commission, 2019).This means that principals would not see their pay rise during their principalship.This might not interest PCs in taking on the role.While change is always inevitable and brings with it certain alterations (Brough et al., 2022;Fournier, 2017;Smith et al., 2014), the elimination of the principal career structure through JEG efforts might not give PCs the strength to seek school leadership positions, which may also make the change disruptive.
The final line of reasoning concerned the stability of the principals' salaries (Bona, Ebisa).Principals are only paid for their positions while they are there.This implies that anyone departing the principalship, particularly those with a few years of service, may see their pay reduced.And that appeared to be part of the explanation for PCs' disinterest in assuming the primary school principalship.In the words of Bona, The post of school principal needs you to serve while being burned by fire from below and above.After serving in such a position, resigning with full pay should not be regarded as some kind of favor.People change if they are not engaged with the principalship. . .But, the action of salary reduction is like sending a message that says, "Whoever sees me being affected doesn't claim principalship."This is equivalent to saying that the year you spent as a principal is useless.
As can be witnessed from the excerpt, the participant elucidated the situation of salary removal for principals upon departing principalship with a sense of great bitterness.Of course, whether or not the salary cut for departing principals is reasonable is linked to the ongoing dispute about whether or not the assignment of school principals is merit-based.Practices such as filling the school principalship through the announcement of vacancies and the availability of a school principalship career structure before its current removal (Gurmu, 2020) predispose the principalship to being deemed merit-based.Nonetheless, the principalship is seen as a temporary post.While principals are dismissed from their jobs without recourse to disciplinary procedures, such action is not feasible in other public service sectors with merit-based positions.This practice compares the principalship to that of political appointees, who may be replaced by others as required.
Educational officials frequently define the principalship as both appointment-and merit-based, which seems to strategically avoid the confrontation by confirming it as one of the two.This is because if it is said to be an appointment, the system is going to lose many competent individuals who do not want to see themselves in the principalship position, which has previously been associated with political affiliation (Gurmu, 2020).If it is said to be merit-based, the system is forced to fulfill the requirements of merit-based positions, such as the right not to have a salary reduction without recourse to disciplinary measures.Based on pay deductions and the placement of leavers into teaching positions with teacher salaries, it appears to be an appointment rather than merit-based.If this is the case, the pay cut may be considered reasonable.However, the loss in pay certainly has significant consequences for the morale and courage of incumbent principals and PCs to assume the principalship.
The issue of salary is among strong explanation for PCs' disinterest, as can be witnessed from the data presented.Teacher and principal compensation is a constant source of contention in the education system (Tefera, 1996), so its emergence as a factor in PC disinterest was to be expected.However, this did not imply that the financial incentive was the only factor explaining PCs' disinterest in becoming principals; nor did it imply that principals do not work for intrinsic reasons (Blaum & Tobin, 2019;Mikkelsen et al., 2017).Even participants in the current study value the contributions principals make to school and student improvement.It only provided evidence on the financial issue as one of the explanatory factors for PCs' disinterest in becoming principals.
Measures to be taken by way of redressing problems related to salary, however, appeared to be very unlikely.The Ministry of Education can't immediately raise the salaries of school principals.In theory, it can suggest and then get its recommendation approved by the Ministry of Public Service and Human Resource Development, which is given full rights on the matter (Civil Service Commission, 2019).This normally needs a strong justification on the part of the Ministry of Education.However, article two of the Wage Structure Execution Directive 1/2012 E.C./2019 for Job Evaluation and Grading prohibits the issuance of an atypical salary structure (Civil Service Commission, 2019), which showed minimal opportunity for the Ministry of Education to influence the situation.
It also seems that the Ministry had minimal opportunity to influence the situation during its inception too.Article seven of the JEG proclamation states, "The Ministry [Public Service and Human Resource Development Ministry] shall, in collaboration with the concerned government institutions, upon undertaking studies, prepare a salary scale and submit the same to the Council of Ministers" (House of Peoples ' Representative, 2017).While other parties are given the right to be consulted, the Ministry of Public Service and Human Resource Development is given the right to make the ultimate decision on the salary scale.Providing suggestions and making the final decision are two distinct things that might have quite different effects on the pay scale decision.

Insufficient support and encouragement
The job of principalship is getting increasingly difficult (Day et al., 2011;Gurmu, 2020).Moreover, in the Ethiopian education system, educational responsibilities are being devolved to the school site, implying a greater volume and sophistication of tasks for school leadership (Tekleselassie, 2002).As a result, if principals are to lead their schools effectively, they need to get significant support and encouragement from cluster supervisors and education authorities.
Despite this, the insufficient support and encouragement provided to principals appeared to be one of the factors that explained the PCs' disinterest in obtaining principalship in the current study's context."Town education authorities", Feyisa said, "come to school not to assist and relieve the principals' burden, but to add to it".This means that the support complicated rather than assisted school leadership.The implication is that school principals wanted the assistance omitted because they did not want to add to their load, even though the logical demand is for strong support.Ebisa agreed: When you see the way you are being treated by people from the education office, it will not encourage you to think about assuming a school leadership position.All what the district education authorities want is only to speak.They refuse to listen to your concerns. ... A lot of progress could be made if people were able to understand and listen to one another.
When the participant said that they wanted "only to speak," he might have overstated the case.This was due to the fact that supervision support that did not require input from the supervisee could not exist.Nonetheless, it might be claimed that if there was a lack of motivation to listen to followers, the right kind of encouragement and support were less likely to materialize.Understanding and listening to one another are the core manifestations of productive support.After all, supervisors are there to encourage and capacitate principals, not just to tell them and enforce their will.Hence, participants' complaints that they were not heard, that they were not given the chance to talk, and that they were not involved enough require serious attention.Bona, on his side, noted: Where do you find the courage and morality to accept the position of principalship if those in the system are unable to adequately support and understand you?The burden of being a principal is overwhelming.On top of that, people who are supposed to encourage and support you always dismiss the whole good points of your effort.
His argument could, in fact, be reflective of supervisors' dissatisfaction with the accomplishments of principals, perhaps without recognizing their effort and encouraging them.This might occur to encourage principals to achieve more and at the highest level, which might result from the pressure on education offices to achieve more.But such an urge produces the needed result only if it is compounded with proper support and encouragement.Otherwise, it can result in frustration among principals (Tekleselassie, 2002) and disinterest among PCs in assuming the principalship.The lack of proper support by principals is likely to transfer to the lack of support by teachers from principals, which can be harmful for the instructional process (Gurmu & Oumer, 2022;Noor & Nawab, 2022).
In addition to reporting that they were not receiving adequate support, some participants claimed that some of the support they were receiving was inappropriate.This could in fact be connected with the incapacity of the individuals who were responsible for providing the support and their intentional distorting of the existing directives and guidelines."Individuals who come to the school to provide support sometimes," Abdi complained, "have no acquaintance with the directives for which they are required to check their implementation.They provide direction that sometimes clashes with official guidelines".The occurrence of such an incident appears to be unintentional and rather related to the incompetence of educational supervisors and their lack of familiarity with the applicable standards and directions.Hence, this could be an assignment for district education offices to capacitate their supervisors.
The other case cited was actually connected with the purposeful distortion of guidelines.The Federal Ministry of Education's Educational Management Organization, Community Participation, and Finance Directives (MoE, 2002) asserts that school principals can gain from the amount of financial resources they attract.Nevertheless, the data provided indicated a scenario in which the town education offices interfere under the guise of assistance to channel such resources to the town education office in order to misdirect the advantages to their side.As Derara put it, "They [town education officials] intend to deposit money in the town education office's account.Even though they were ultimately unsuccessful in doing so as a result of my efforts, the constrained relationship I had with them eventually caused me to consider leaving".The implication of his remark can be that principals who leave the position with such an impaired relationship might not wish to return to the position, and individuals with whom they find themselves in such a situation might not allow them to return to the position, even if they were willing to reassume principalship.
Again, there was an issue related to the JEG's development in connection with the provision of supervision to school principals.Cluster supervisors are responsible for supporting primary school principals and evaluating their performance (MoE, 2012a).Previously, the job grades of the school principals and cluster supervisors were equal, but the arrangement was criticized for putting in place a system in which people of equal status regulated one another.To make matters worse, the grade of cluster supervisor was demoted to the level of deputy principalship from the grade of school principalship.The logic for the decision may be that the task weight of a cluster supervisor was equal to the task of the deputy principalship but not the task of the principalship.The question, however, is: how can the psychological and professional consequences of having people of lower job grades assist and regulate those of higher job grades be mitigated?This argument may be deemed unimportant, but it is a practical problem.It may be about getting competent people to be monitored by less competent ones.This is because more skilled and better qualified people can be drawn to the higher-grade job of school principalship, leaving the lower-grade job of cluster supervision to less competent individuals.This might not always be the case, especially given the current situation where individuals have been assigned to such positions before such a change was made.However, the likelihood of this happening is high.Hence, there is likely disagreement and even conflict between individuals at the two levels, as the level of competence may entail differential maturity and hence a differential understanding of how things should be (Northouse, 2016).Given such conditions, the support of a cluster supervisor might not be as beneficial to the principal as it should be, and the supervision process might not be productive.Again, the question can be, "Who holds the most accountability?"Although both are responsible for the work of their horizons, the role of the cluster supervisor is to provide support when the principals are directly responsible for the work.Therefore, the greatest accountability seems to reside with the principals.However, this doesn't diminish the need for cluster supervisors to support principals and the accountability they have for that work.Support can be productive if supervisors are as competent as or more competent than principals.
In general, the burden and challenge of the job, the inadequacy of the salary, and the lack of adequate support and encouragement that principals receive explained the lack of interest among PCs in becoming principals.People who were not in a position to influence their ambition to become principals exposed the hurdles, whereas practicing principals confronted the difficulties.PCs can be informed about the challenges through their own first-hand experience, as some have been involved in the role.Furthermore, ULs and HoDs could obtain information from their involvement in school administration.They could also obtain knowledge from their observations of the job of principalship as teachers (Walker et al., 2006).
It was initially anticipated that PCs' interest in becoming principals would be impacted by the town's closeness to Addis Ababa, allowing PCs to rely on any professional prospects available in and around the capital, which would result in their reluctance to become principals.The data acquired from one of the local education offices in the research setting showed that 72 teachers requested transfer to the Addis Ababa City Administration during the previous academic year, with 11 of them being successful.One hundred and twenty other teachers have also sought to be transferred to the city during the academic year 2021/2022, the outcome of which was unknown at the time the data for this study was gathered.This pattern supports the fundamental notion of the possibility of teachers' and principals moving to the city.The study, however, found no evidence that PCs were disinterested in accepting the principalship for the sake of such opportunities.One reason for this condition might be that the majority of individuals who request transfer to the city have relatively fewer years of experience and are not in the pool of PCs.Those with more years of experience may be settled, making relocation more challenging for them.
The current study's findings on explaining factors are partly consistent with previous studies that reported a small pay gap between principals and teachers (Lemoine et al., 2018), as well as insufficient compensation for the increased workload and extended time required to perform a variety of duties (Hargreaves & Fink, 2004;Lemoine et al., 2018).It is also consistent with Afework's (2015) study from the same context, which found that principals receive less assistance from educational authorities at different levels.After reviewing empirical studies, Lee and Mao (2023) attributed PCs' lack of interest in becoming principals to the school's location, student characteristics, financial incentives, working conditions, and hiring processes.Their findings are consistent with results reported in the current study on issues such as financial incentives and working conditions.However, other factors, such as student characteristics and recruiting practices, are not found in the current study to explain PC disinterest.

Conclusions and recommendations
Evidence from the current study indicated that PCs in the study context have a favorable perception of the contribution of school principals to students' academic success but did not want themselves to be one of those contributors.The lack of interest among PCs was driven by a combination of the national policy environment and local realities.While compensation structure and work burden are national issues, they interact with local realities.PCs in the study setting, for example, are individuals who have been transferred there after working elsewhere, including as principals, in compliance with national teacher transfer criteria.As a result, their pay is comparable to that of principals, which may discourage them from pursuing the job.The JEG attempt, on the other hand, reduced the work grades of deputy principals and blocked the school system from negotiating a new pay scheme for principals, which contributed to the PCs' apathy.The JEG effort, which was designed to synchronize public-sector jobs and assist in filling school leadership positions, becomes a roadblock for attracting PCs to the school leadership position.Job burden can also interact with the limited support that PCs complain about, depending on their location.The authorities' support, for example, occasionally morphed into meddling in the current context, to the point where they attempted to coerce principals to act against their own interests, preventing PCs from advancing to school leadership positions through their actions and inactions.This can also have an impact on, for instance, job burden since inadequate support can discourage principals from continuing, which can encourage PCs to assume the principalship.This suggests the complexity of the school leadership pipeline in the Ethiopian educational context.
The following recommendations are made based on the study's findings and conclusions.
• Local education offices have to provide sufficient professional and technical assistance and encouragement to principals in order for them to effectively tackle principalship challenges and burdens.This can help to capture the attention of PCs and assist the school system in delivering the job.They should also attempt to establish mutual trust and follow professional ethics in their conversation with school principals.
• Another factor explaining PCs' apathy is that principalship is not appropriately rewarded.Local educational officials have no control over the matter because the applicable instruction is issued centrally.They must, however, make every effort so that the government recognizes the problem and takes the necessary action to improve the situation

Limitation
This was a qualitative study with a small number of participants and fewer study variables that require further study to expand upon.In addition, the fact that all PC participants were male may be a limitation.