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This study examined the roles and challenges of secondary school instructional leadership for the achievement of student learning in some selected schools in the South Gondar, Ethiopia. The researchers used a descriptive research design of survey type and gathered data through questionnaire and interview. The sample of this study comprises; principals, unit leaders, teachers and students in eight secondary schools in the South Gondar Zone. Thus, one hundred seventy five (175) teachers, seventy five (75) instructional leaders (20 principals, 11 unit leaders & 44 department heads), two hundred eighty five (285) students and eleven (11) officials at regional and district level were selected. Five research questions guided the study. The data collected were analyzed through the computation of percentages. Findings indicated significant relationships between distributed leadership and school goal achievement; teachers’ professional development; instructional programme management; effective teaching and learning; and promotion of school climate which include facilitating and understanding of the lesson, create an interesting environment with high class participation. Based on this finding, school heads/authorities should make it mandatory that distributed leadership should be adopted in such a way that everyone in schools is empowered to make his or her job more efficient, meaningful, and effective.

Introduction This research was undertaken in public secondary schools, in particular with principals in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Principals play a major role in ensuring that the school is well managed for effective teaching-learning. The principal is an instructional leader in the school. Instructional leadership involves the strategic application of knowledge to solve context specific problems and to achieve the purposes of schooling through school community. Instructional leaders face challenges that are numerous and the contexts in which they operate is diverse in nature (Day, Sammons, Hopkins, Harris, Leith wood, Gu, and Brown, 2010). These authors have made the argument that effective instructional leadership can be essentially described in terms of eight broad dimensions. An abundance of research suggests that effective school leaders are vital to promoting student outcomes of schools in many countries (Onderi & Makori, 2013). Furthermore, Abdulrasheed and Bello (2015, p. 2) claim that "leadership is a position of influencing and reputation accompanied by the ability to direct, motivate and encourage others in attaining an intended objective". It is usually practiced that due to rapid changes in the world which is characterised by unending technological progression, the increase in the information society and globalisation. These influenced the inherent goal of schools and their roles are changing correspondingly (Kim, Kim, Kim & Kim, 2006). The extent of the worth of school education as the basis for the existence and advancement of individuals as well as the public is increasingly stressed. This results in raising the concern that the quality of secondary school education has become more cumbersome to school principals than ever. Moreover, the role of instructional leadership is a high priority issue for many countries concerned with education these days. Bottoms and Fry (2009, p. 12) pinpoint that effective instructional leaders enable to bring about the quality of learning through effective instructional practice, aligning curriculum, instruction and assessment to the vision against the regional and national standards. Besides, they are able to create the context for meaningful learning experiences. This is because secondary school principals play a key role in augmenting school achievements by persuading teachers through motivations and developing their capacities, as well as improving the school situation and setting. Researchers (e.g. Bottoms & Fry, 2009) confirm that, professionally developed and empowered school leaders are able to have practical skills, depth of knowledge and critical thinking in order to perform the instructional leadership role effectively within this complex global world.