An autoethnographic study of the person in the principal's office.
The paper provides a review and critique of 22 empirical investigations conducted in the African context on the leadership of the school principal. Two questions guided the review: How can current research on the principalship in the African context be characterized? What are areas for future research on the issue? Applying an inductive analysis of the 22 studies, this review suggests that the studies reviewed focussed on issues that can be categorized into five themes: professional development; shared leadership; gender and leadership; critical competences and practices of the principal; and identities and subjectivities of the school principal. The majority of studies employed a qualitative case study approach. This analysis builds on educational leadership research by identifying contributions and limitations of this body of research, and providing recommendations for future research.