Teacher Preparedness for the Implementation of Competency Based Curriculum in Kenya:A Survey of Early Grade Primary School Teachers’ in Bomet East Sub-County

Abstract

This paper explores teacher preparedness for the competency-based curriculum in Kenya. Competency based curriculum was introduce to Kenya’s Education system in 2016 as a pilot of curriculum to be rolled out under 2-6-3-3-3 education system that is replacing the three decades old 8-4-4 system. The new curriculum is seen by many as a panacea to the problem of graduate employability in Kenya. The 8-4-4 graduates have been blamed for lacking relevant job skills. Competency based curriculum aims at engaging learners in applying knowledge through demonstration as opposed to content overload. This study focused on early grade primary teacher’s preparedness to successfully implement the competency-based curriculum. Concerns have been raised at the pilot stages on the capacity of those implementers. StuffleBeam’s CIPP curriculum Evaluation model was used to interrogate the CBC as currently implemented. The objectives of the study were to find out early grade Education teacher’s understanding of CBC, establish their capacity to realign teaching/learning resources to CBC, determine their preparedness to realign teaching/learning approaches to the demands of CBC and their capacity to evaluate a CBC curriculum. Data was collected using questionnaires and interviews. Analysis of data reveals that teachers are inadequately prepared. Their knowledge of CBC is vague and this has hampered their delivery and evaluation. It is also recommended that KICD and ministry of education plans for more training sessions to bridge capacity gaps highlighted in pedagogy, Assessment and preparation of teaching documents.