African Union Philosophy of Education	School Leadership
Preparedness/ Preparationism	Implies that schooling and education prepares citizens for their distinctive roles and for the learners to enter the world of work, and become productive citizens in different professions.
Utilitarianism/ Functionalism	Functionalists view education as one of the more important social institutions in a society. Indeed, it seems that schools have taken on this responsibility to develop citizens’ moral and spiritual ways of living. Educating citizens brings some clarity about social justice and encourages citizens to influence the educational system, especially encouraging citizens to be politically, socially and economically active, as well as taking part in communal activities in the society in which they are growing.
Communalism (Etek)	School leaders must be trained to acquire understanding that African societies today must embrace democratic education and more openness to cultural diversity issues and peace education. An environment without democracy makes it difficult to produce credible future leaders. Schools and educational systems must include activities like sports, theatrical acting and music as strategies for community leadership.
Holisticism/ multiple learning	Educational systems should open international schools like in the days of Timbuktu and ancient Egypt and provide a holistic education for lifelong learners with a strong sense of community and global spiritual leaders. Citizens should experience dignity, confidence to learn, development of self-esteem for peace as a necessary ingredient of a holistic education in the African context.
Perennialism	Perennialism is sometimes referred to as “culturally conservative” and must be incorporated in SL because it is against tribalism, bribery and corruption and does not challenge gender stereotypes, incorporate multiculturalism, or expose and advocate technology; a lifelong learning quest for the truth; appreciation of the great works of art, culture, music, literature written by history’s finest thinkers that transcends time and never becomes outdate; the old adage “the more things change, the more they stay the same” summarises the perennialists’ perspective on education.
Ethnophilosophy	The features of ethnophilosophy could be used to resolve practical school or educational system problems. Education for Africans means absorbing a new language and new thought forms of school leadership that describe the worldview or thought system of the African continent. Ethnophilosophy is embodied in communal African customs, poems, music, arts and culture and literature etc. African educational system leaders need to align with an elusive “world-class” standard.
Ubuntu (Ochemabissi Ka Ore Ezuume),	A potential new global leadership philosophy that all stakeholders have to fit into an organisation and be involved in the sharing of resources. Ubuntu promotes the common good of society and includes humanness as an essential element of human growth. In African culture, the community always comes first. The individual is born out of and into the community, therefore will always be part of the community. Interdependence, communalism, sensitivity towards others and caring for others are all aspects of Ubuntu as a philosophy of education.
Community (Etek)	Knowledgeable school leaders will be able to transform their own schools into authentic learning communities that ready today’s youth by using clear criteria that are aligned to pedagogical and philosophical purposes. They recognise that given the increasingly transparent organisational boundaries in a decolonised and postmodernist world there is a need to develop a vibrant and culturally affirming learning community and leadership network.
Reasonableness (Atah Ntii-Aloh)	A good school administrator is an educational leader who provides reasonable means to make know their culture and values to the rest of the world; promotes the learning and wellbeing of all students; exhibits understanding of educational leadership, school effectiveness and school development, and coaches evolving culture and values that affect today’s education system. Such leaders make reasonable budget requests and always prepare a solid rationale for his/her manager, etc.
Moral Maturity (Ayaamba)	One important aspect of moral education is to help citizens to be truthful, virtuous, honest, responsible and compassionate. Another is to help students to be informed and reflective about important and controversial moral issues. Both purposes are embedded in APE and SL.
Maat or Ma’at (Moninkim)	School educators must be trained to acquire understanding about the African continent’s representation of creation and truth. Maat was deity of truth, justice, harmony, equilibrium, cosmic law, and righteousness, incorporating a holistic blend of theory and practice. Maat represents order (of the social world and/or the cosmos), and ethical and moral righteousness or justice for the Egyptian or say African people and not to Westerners alone. The kind of leadership and teaching needed today requires school leaders and teachers to have a high-level of moral and cultural orientation.
The Teachings of the Vizier Ptahhotep (Atah Obasinjom)	The virtues within Ptahhotep’s philosophy are not only necessary for a successful organisation or system but also for general good behaviour in God’s order: equity, altruism, modesty, justice, generosity, self-control, truthfulness, and moderation are regarded as the ideal of human action; whereas greed, fornication, injustice, bribery and corruption, cursing and defamation are condemned. Warlike virtues, such as courage or bravery, which we often see in sources from Greek antiquity, are completely absent in the African continent.
The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant (Ntii-aloh Nkpak)	The leaders are not simply jockeying for power and position; they also have to focus on the duty of those in authority to dispense justice equally under the law. A good magistrate is one who does not discriminate because of a plaintiff’s class but who recognises the divine benefits of living in balance and maintains justice for all the people.
The Dialogue of a Man with his Soul	The didactic tale “Dialogue of a Man with His Ba (or Soul)”, also referred to as “A Debate Between a Man Tired of Life and His Ba” (or Soul). The objective of this tale is to sketch the dualism, the levels of reality, the tripartite soul, the learning through education which will determine a man’s future in life. At other times the enlightened soul has been the leader of the community, clearing the way for other leaders’ senses to enjoy the world around him and give pleasure to his soul. Such a leader will be deeply happy with his life on earth and after death.
Imhotep (Atah Ntuifar)	The image of Imhotep has fostered a world revolution in black education, focusing on the contemporary independent black school movement that has stressed reading and learning as a way to become a fully realised leader. The medieval period produced the philosophical schools of Timbuktu and Egypt and Africans observed the development of great leaders. Imhotep, Socrates and many other Greek philosophers sum up the benefits of such education. Imhotep encourages Africans and the world to learn to embrace what matters, to learn to convene in dialogue about what matters, and to learn to express in writing to our peers what we think is important about what matters.
Kemetic	When it came to the acquisition of knowledge, Kemet (the ancient Name of Egypt) was the centre of most, if not all, ancient learning. At the centre of this learning was the Mystery School, a secret learning centre (until c. 570 B.C.) where one went to become a whole person, and thus help mould civilization and its philosophy. The Mystery System was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds (Acts, 7:22-23). ²² Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.²³ “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites.”
As Above so Below (Ossow yah Enssi)	“As in the macrocosm, so in the microcosm; “as above, so below” tells us Isis, the goddesses of learning and culture is in the public mind, associated with Theosophical leadership in the East” as a new “World Teacher,” or as the Christ returned, are disclaimed by the Star in the East as a new “World Teacher”. The first thing we learned from “as above, so below” is that the leaders in high-performing education systems control over, so school leaders, teachers and students in low achieving educational system may be more likely to give up trying harder to become like them.