Administrative and Pedagogical Leadership in Conflict Situations: Challenges and Coping Strategies of Public Secondary School Principals in Anglophone Cameroon

Aim: The study aimed to explore the administrative and pedagogical challenges encountered by secondary school principals during the Anglophone armed conflict and to examine the coping strategies they employed to address these challenges. Methods: Using an exploratory convergent parallel nixed-method design, the study collected data simultaneously from 480 participants in conflict-affected secondary schools in the North West and South West region of Cameroon. semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 purposively selected principals, vice principals, senior discipline masters and teachers and structured questionnaires administered to vice-principals, senior discipline masters (SDMs), and teachers. Purposive and snowball sampling ensured inclusion of participants with relevant experience in conflict-affected schools. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, frequencies, and percentages). Results: Descriptive statistics showed that principals moderately employed administrative coping strategies to perform administrative functions, including adaptive leadership, prioritizing safety & security over academics, and communication via alternative channels, achieved moderate effectiveness (M = 2.55, SD = 0.711). In contrast, coping strategies in the pedagogical domain covering emergency-responsive capacity building, adaptive instructional monitoring was more constrained (M = 2.36, SD = 0.718), reflecting disruptions caused by insecurity, school closures, and displacement. Thematic analysis of interviews showed principals’ reliance on improvisation, resilience, and reliance on strengthened school-community solidarity networks to sustain teaching and learning under extreme uncertainty. Conclusion: Principal’s leadership during conflict prioritized survival and flexibility over formal management processes, while enabling continuity, limited overall school effectiveness. Recommendation: The study recommends contextualized teacher resilience training, enhanced institutional support, and crisis-responsive leadership policies to strengthen school administration and instructional leadership in conflict-affected settings.