Practices and problems of school principals’ recruitment and selection in Hawassa city administration, Sidama National Regional State, in Ethiopia

The purpose of this study was to investigate practices and problems of secondary school principals’ recruitment and selection in Hawassa City Administration, Sidama National Regional State, Ethiopia. To this end, a convergent parallel design was employed. Teachers were selected by simple random sampling techniques, whereas school leaders and selection committee members were selected by using purposive sampling techniques. Questionnaires, interviews, and document analysis were used to collect data. Both descriptive statistical and non-parametric tests were used to analyze data. In addition to these, qualitative data were analyzed qualitatively and triangulated with quantitative results. The findings of the study revealed that selection criteria were not merit-based and competency-based, screening phase criteria were subjective, attitudinal, and more related to political aspects rather than academic requirements. Moreover, the study showed that incompetency and favoritism of selection panels, and subjectivity and inappropriate implementation of selection tools in the selection process. Besides, the findings of the study revealed that partisan affiliation and non-merit aspects were used as criteria to select principals rather than professional knowledge, skills, and values. Furthermore, the study showed that a lack of clearly defined selection criteria and methods, and transparency problems, implementers’ related problems, and different malpractices affect school principals’ selection. It was concluded that school principals’ selection processes and practices were not implemented as designed, and school principals were assigned based on non-professional and non-merit-based criteria.