Purpose: Pedagogical leadership (PL) has been regarded as the best leadership style in the education sector. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop and validate a pedagogical leadership scale (PLS). Design/methodology/approach: Two distinct approaches (inductive and deductive) were utilized. First, a review of the literature was conducted, and then qualitative data were collected through interviews, and their responses were categorized into 40 items. These items were thematized using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) by involving 300 participants. To examine the fitness of the scale, the researchers conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with 470 participants. Findings: EFA discovered a total variance of 64.766% for four factors. In CFA, RMSEA, NFI, RFI, NNFI, CFI, GFI and AGFI values were accepted. The highest correlation was found among constructs of PL. Path analysis revealed PL affected social, professional, intellectual and academic capitals. The correlations between the PLS and psychological empowerment demonstrated the theoretically predicted relationships with these variables. Thus, with the initial evidence of a valid and reliable PLS, a pool of 32 items under 4 factors (social, academic, professional and intellectual capital) were developed. Originality/value: Despite the management of childhood education requiring the practice of PL, it is underexplored in childhood schools, particularly to our knowledge, no studies have been conducted to develop and confirm the PLS in Ethiopia.