Leading the Policy Landscape of Somali Private Education System in a Conflict Zone: Views of Somali Headteachers

Abstract The aim of this chapter is to understand the policy liberties and constraints within which school headteachers, and teachers aspire to promote high-quality education for their pupils in private schools in Somalia in the context of conflict in the country. This chapter develops this understanding of headteachers particularly in low-cost primary private schools in Somalia. The analysis in this chapter is informed by Mumford et al.’s Skills Model, as this approach combines the notion of knowledge and abilities necessary for effective leadership. First, using interview data with headteachers, we critique how headteachers in private schools in Mogadishu, Somalia, lead and manage schools when there is a crisis and conflict surrounding them, by unpacking the concepts of leadership and management. Second, we shed light on how well they are prepared and developed professionally to manage in such a turbulent environment caused by the war in Somalia. Here, we consider the role of the Federal Ministry of Education in the level of support that headteachers get in enacting their education policy. Third, this chapter discusses the impact of such crises on the quality of education provision for local private schools. Finally, this chapter identifies lessons to be learnt through suggested recommendations for headteachers in leading and managing education in times of turbulence and conflict. Here, we pose a suggestion for headteachers to consider if glocalisation, as a phenomenon, may offer a way to resolve local crises with local solutions in providing high-quality education for their students.