Citation :

Linda Tariro Chigweshe, Lewis Madhlangobe & Gerald Munyoro, 2026. "Educational Leadership for Inclusive Education and the Achievement of SDG 4 in Resource-Constrained Secondary Schools: Evidence from Masunzwa Secondary School, UMP Zvataida District, Mashonaland East Province, Zimbabwe" ESP International Journal of Science, Humanities & Management Studies(ESP-IJSHMS)  Volume 4, Issue 4: 40-52.

Abstract :

Inclusive education is increasingly understood as the systemic removal of barriers to learners’ access, participation and achievement, making educational leadership central to translating Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) from policy aspiration into school-level practice. Yet evidence remains limited on how leadership operates under severe resource constraints in rural Zimbabwean secondary schools. Guided by an interpretivist perspective and informed by transformational, instructional, distributed and inclusive leadership theories, this qualitative single-case study examined Masunzwa Secondary School in UMP Zvataida District, Mashonaland East Province. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews, a learner focus-group discussion, classroom observations and document analysis, and analysed thematically. Findings indicated that school leadership demonstrated adaptive resource mobilisation, instructional monitoring and emerging distributed practices, but inclusive provision remained constrained by teacher shortages, inadequate learning materials, limited professional development and infrastructural deficiencies. Learners’ experiences further revealed a gap between physical access and meaningful participation, with teacher-centred pedagogy and limited differentiation producing forms of hidden exclusion. The findings suggest that leadership can mediate, but cannot independently overcome, structural resource inequalities. Advancing SDG 4 therefore requires context-responsive and distributed leadership supported by equitable financing, teacher development, accessible infrastructure and community partnerships. The study contributes contextual evidence that sustainable inclusion depends on the interaction between leadership agency and system-level support.

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Keywords :

Educational Leadership, Inclusive Education, SDG 4, Resource Constraints, Rural Secondary Schools, Distributed Leadership, Educational Equity, Zimbabwe.