Dear friends and partners,

Over the past decade, school leadership has moved from the margins of global education debates to a growing area of interest. More governments, funders, and implementing organizations are asking how investing in school leaders can meaningfully contribute to better teaching, stronger programs, and improved student outcomes.

At Global School Leaders, much of our work over the last several years has been dedicated to answering this question with care and rigor. Together with governments, NGOs, and research partners, we have tested different approaches to strengthening school leadership across diverse contexts in the Global South and followed these efforts closely over time.

In 2025, we concluded and synthesized a set of long-term and experimental studies - and a clearer picture is beginning to emerge.

First, the evidence increasingly shows that well-designed school leadership training can improve student outcomes. Across contexts, leadership support has led to stronger instructional practices, better classroom engagement, and an RCT in India, in partnership with Alokit and J-PAL, has shown improvements in students’ numeracy outcomes. We are also seeing consistent gains in areas such as school climate and students’ sense of belonging — conditions that matter deeply for sustained learning. All of this at a fraction of the cost of reaching every teacher individually. 

Second, school leaders play a critical role in implementation quality. Many promising education interventions struggle not because the ideas are weak, but because execution breaks down at the school level. Our studies show that when school leaders are intentionally engaged — receiving support to observe classrooms, coach teachers, and reinforce core routines — programs are implemented more faithfully and are more likely to take root. In practice, this means school leaders act as force multipliers for other investments. 

Finally, the evidence is equally clear that impact is not automatic. Program content, delivery methods, and system conditions all matter. Leadership training works best when it is sustained over time, grounded in practical tools, supported through coaching or peer learning, and embedded in systems that protect leaders’ time for instructional work. Policies and administrative conditions can either amplify impact — or quietly undermine it.

Taken together, these findings reinforce a simple but powerful idea: school leaders sit at the center of how policies become practice. Strengthening school leadership is not a silver bullet, and it should not replace other investments in education. But it should increasingly be treated as a core pillar of any serious effort to improve learning at scale.

The learnings and a period of intense reflection after our internal leadership transition, have helped sharpen our direction — staying anchored in what has always defined GSL, while making clearer choices about where we focus our time, energy, and resources in this next phase.

Throughout 2025, we named something we have been learning through practice: strengthening school leadership at scale cannot rely on programs alone. It requires many actors — school leaders, governments, researchers, funders, and implementers — working in alignment. It requires shared evidence about what works, trusted partnerships on the ground, spaces to learn from one another, and attention to the policies and systems that shape how school leaders are recruited, supported, and developed. Being more explicit about this has helped us step more intentionally into a more field catalyst role — bringing people, ideas, and evidence together to strengthen the conditions in which school leaders lead.

This clarity has been energizing. As you read this report, I hope you see both continuity and evolution in GSL’s work. Our conviction remains simple: excellent schools begin with excellent leaders. We remain committed to our vision that students across Latin America, Africa, and Asia can count on strong school leadership to expand their opportunities to learn and thrive.

Of course, translating this direction into durable, fundable pathways is ongoing work, and we carry that responsibility with focus and resolve as we look ahead. What gives me confidence is not only the direction we are taking, but the strength of the relationships that underpin our work and the shared commitment we see across the field.

Thank you for walking this path with us — for your trust, your partnership, and your belief in the role school leaders play in shaping better futures for children and communities.

​

Camila 
CEO, Global School Leaders