Displaying items by tag: CBC

Furore about the competency based curriculum, with the divisive factor being, its shortcomings and expected outcomes. From the hue and cry it seems that parents with children in private schools are bearing the brunt of the systems shortcomings. Complaints abound about how demanding and expensive the curriculum is, particularly, on parent’s time and financial resources.

And it’s not just parents who are unhappy; it appears teachers are also unhappy. The immediate former Secretary General of KNUT, Hon. Wilson Sossion’s was recently quoted saying that CBC is a fraudulent system that threatens to reverse the education gains the country has made. Professor Lukoye Atwoli, on the other hand had this to say, “CBC will create a bigger gulf between the have and have not’s.”

At the height of this debate the President of the Law Society of Kenya, Mr. Nelson Havi decided to move to court to save parents from what he termed as, ‘the CBC burden’. The government on the other hand has stood its ground, with the education CS saying that CBC is going nowhere, it is here to stay. .

It is almost impossible not to sympathize with ‘CBC parents’, who are bearing most of the financial burden, or with the teachers, who are ill prepared for the momentous challenge of delivering this new curriculum, or with academicians, like Prof. Lukoye who have had an opportunity to interrogate this subject in detail. To be very honest each and all, have a point

But if we were to look at it from a different perspective, in line very much with Prof. Lukoye’s thinking. One realizes that this simmering crisis has indeed given us the perfect opportunity to review CBC. We have with us the ideal occasion, timely in every respect, to review and interrogate the progress this system has made since its inception in 2017.

And as we take stock, we must, in my opinion first and foremost acknowledge, that just by its design and intention, CBC has been a marked departure from 8-4-4. For in adopting a student centered learning regime, we have dared to remove the focus from the teacher and turned the spot light to the student. This for me has been CBC’s biggest success. Such a milestone would never have been achieved directly under 8-4-4 regime, or by tweaking 8-4-4, which, is the approach apparently favored by the detractors of CBC.

It is indeed a massive milestone, because, by shifting the focus to the student and by crafting a learning regime that seeks to inculcate the building up of skills and capabilities. We as a nation are addressing what has been in short supply in this country – competency. High sounding as this may sound, competency; skilled, efficient and capable people able to perform tasks without supervision is what every employer is looking for. But today, employers are struggling to find workers who understand the basics. So the question I think we ought to be asking ourselves at this juncture, as we go about reviewing CBC’s report card, is – is CBC living up to its billing? What direction is CBC taking? Will it address competency issues in the fullness of time? But perhaps it’s too early to tell. Then, a better question to ask at this moment is, what do we want from our children or rather what kind of future do we want for our children to create?

In my opinion these are important questions and how we choose to answer them, will shed light on the best way forward for our education system. Particularly, in light of the fluid and constant change that is taking place all around us. And in cognizance very much with our global and continental aspirational goals; i.e. SDG No. 4 - on equitable, inclusive and lifelong learning approaches, and AU agenda 2063 – on Africa’s master plan to transform itself into a global powerhouse.

In a sense, we are at crossroad. Every African country is at a crossroad. Irrespective of our peculiar shortcomings as a people, as a country or as a continent the script should be clear by now. We must find and make our own way to the future. In this regard our education systems will and must play an important, if not the most important role. For instance education must seek not only to be the channel that will educate our people. But it must also seek to be a channel for aspiration. The channel that will affirm and commit to assisting every student and child discover, develop and unleash their inherent skills and potentialities.

Looking beyond CBC’s report card and ahead, one realizes the biggest challenge we shall face in the future is what to do with our graduates and school leavers. Year on year, the number of job seekers (graduates and school leavers) versus the number of jobs created is increasing. The government can only do so much. Indeed, other than creating a favorable business environment and encouraging an entrepreneurial culture, government will struggle to create jobs. Actually it is foolhardy to believe that government can create jobs.  Government can only create jobs where it controls the factors of production – case in point China. But I am not sure this is what we would want from our government.

And here is where we can see the importance of education. A curriculum that steers young people to explore, experiment and create things, versus, one that trains them to retain information, to venerate precedent and to seek for jobs, will produce different outputs. In a country with an abundance of jobs the latter system may be the best suited for the occasion. However, where there is a dearth of jobs, a different kind of training is required. Preferably, one that espouses experimentation and departure from the tried and tested and allows students to explore new was of creating things. Such a curriculum will create innovators and entrepreneurs.
 
We live in the age trends; fashion, technology, art, music are in constant change - a particular thing is in vogue today, tomorrow there is something better. As it is, this state of affairs is daunting to us as grown-ups and we are struggling to keep up. What then of our children, who we expect to be not only consumers but to be creators as well of some of the innovations that are touted for the future.

So it is break time for CBC. Hopefully, it shall not be a situation of make or break. And as this matter continues to be arbitrated in the law courts, let us continue to discuss in the court of public opinion. But let us in discussing CBC, play the long game. Let us attempt to look at CBC in the fullness of time. Indeed, I know it is not perfect and perhaps the debate should focus more on how to improve it. For instance how can we retrain teachers who were trained to deliver 8-4-4 to deliver CBC better, or how can assignments be planned so that children with their parents in tow are not inundated with homework, or how can schools creatively manage the cost of additional resources, through improvisation, so that it is less expensive to the parent. This I think would be a more productive and worthwhile discussion. Let’s not throw the baby out with the birth water, doing that would be disingenuous. So I say let’s give CBC a chance. We owe it to our children. Let them have a chance to live their lives according to their terms, they may not necessarily be successful but at least, they will live productive lives.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, academicians, experts and analysts have been studying the effects of disruptions to economies and businesses, world over. A lot of research and writings since then have led to various models which can help leaders prepare, predict and cope with emergent disruptions.  However, 2020 saw a global, almost apocalyptic disruption affect the entire planet. Global education systems were disrupted in a way that only West Africans could comprehend – for they had experienced a similar large-scale disruption during the 2013-2016, Ebola epidemic.

Back here in Kenya, the on-going curriculum reforms has given education policy makers and education institution leaders, a chance to re-imagine how to provide for educational access, equity, quality and sustainability in uncertain times.   During the pandemic, school and institution leaders have become more important than ever. The pandemic has provided education leaders with a global snapshot of the effect a large scale disruption can have on the entire education spectrum.  So, what implications does this current context have for leaders (new and old) as they prepare to lead in uncertain times?

For most leaders managing education institutions in Kenya, the pandemic has forced them to look to the business world to understand the crisis and find quick turn-around solutions.  J. McGregor & A. Harris (2006) posits that the start of ‘...the new century [...] has been characterized by calls for a greater understanding of the processes of knowledge creation and the transfer of practice.’  Yet it took the global shut-down of education systems to make school leaders seek out new knowledge that would help them adapt, and help them redesign their schools for learners. School leaders were forced out of their insular, inward-looking models to embrace collaboration, even us they looked to the business world to help them solve problems and improve their adaptive capabilities. The spotlight turned on the school leaders to provide; direction, hope and reassurance, to learners, teachers, parents and other school employees. For those of us in private education, the challenge was even more daunting, as we were required to ensure learning continued sustainably without diluting quality and whilst still ensuring that delivery was effective.

What happens when school leaders are uncertain?
When a school is staring down the barrel of uncertainty, problems can start adding up even more than usual.  Take the example of Ganttic, a company that specializes in making resource planning processes. In one of their case scenarios they claim, that several things happen when leaders are faced with uncertainty, or when they are uncertain in decisiveness. They say that the following happens;

1. Leaders can make unreliable projections
2. Leaders may fail to give clear timelines
3. It can lead to a lack of resources
4. Which inevitable leads to staff facing a stressful working environment

They conclude by saying, if the school leader is incapacitated by uncertainty and indecision, then inevitably communication issues will arise.

According to Mckinsey & Company (2020), in order to “respond effectively, leaders should act on three imperatives:
a) Clarify purpose,
b) Support stakeholders, and
c) Bolster emotional and organizational resilience.

The ability of leaders to prepare their institutions to ride out emergent disruptions will enable them impact the destiny of their institutions positively, even as they provide opportunities for new entrants.  In fact disruptions allow new leaders to rise from what seems to be impossible situations.  

The rollout of the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) and the Competency Based Education and Training (CBET) ushers in an era of near-constant change and discontinuity in our education system.  Technology, globalization and emergent factors such as climate change, renewable energy will define and intensify the natural forces of market competition, as well as impacting the shape of the workspace. For us in Education, it is important that we craft and modify our training curricula to accommodate such eventualities, by prioritizing increased post-training employability courses.
 
In this regard, the familiar world is no more, Kenya and Africa at large must adapt or be left behind. The good news is that most of the disruptive technologies, trends and developments we are seeing today have largely worked in favour of African economies. We should explore and harness them to help us leap-frog in to the future. For instance here in Kenya technology like mobile money and mobile banking is changing how people access finance and banking services. These trends are gaining strength and momentum especially when you look at the post-pandemic projections. Most of us fail to realize that the speed and scale of changes taking place, as well as the effects that will result out of this change. Will impact us for a long time, unfortunately we are failing to make reliable projections as Mckinse & Company have posited.

And as the country goes through rapid urbanization and technological disruption, especially at the county level, and when this is paired to impact the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) will have as a result of forming the world’s largest free trade area. Imagine the scope and potential of opportunities for education and training in a post-pandemic scenario, when all the above mentioned changes are fully implemented. The opportunities are endless.

School leaders need to be aware of the full impact of such policy trends. For instance the full implementation of AfCFTA would help private education institutions expand beyond country borders. With this, they would be able to increase their resiliency in the face of future economic shocks. As well as ushering in the need for deeper reforms that are necessary to enhance long-term growth as focus moves to producing a future-proof education system.

Mutheu Kasanga
www.mutheukasaanga.co.ke

REFERENCES
1. (https://www.ganttic.com/blog/list-of-leadership-skills-to-manage-an-uncertain-future)
2. Segel, L. H. (2020) Positive Leadership In Uncertain Times, MckInsey & Company, New York: www.mcinsey.com
3. Street, H. and Temperley, J. (2006) Improving Schools Through Collaborative Enquiry, London: Continuum.
4. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/trade/publication/the-african-continental-free-trade-area
5. R. Dobbs, J. Manyika, J. Woetzel (2015) No Ordinary Disruption:The Four Global Forces Breaking All the Trends. New York: Hachette Book Group

Traditional educational approaches have been more concerned with the transmission of knowledge and skills than with the introduction of values and attitudes, or, in other words, with the holistic upbringing of learners “competent for life”. However, already by the end of the 20th century it became clear that education should have a more relevant role in fostering achievement of individuals’ aims and also social and economic welfare. All these created the breeding ground for the emergence of the concept of “competence”. However, for the time being, there is not a unique, distinct definition of “competence”, which makes it scarcely operative and hinders application in educational planning. In this context, competence is being used non-uniformly, and often as a mere declaration of intent, and this is creating ambiguity regarding the design of competence based learning.

The onset of the 21st century, coincident with the turn of the millennium, meant a turning point in several areas: education, environment, and economic development among others.  Education, thus, appears as central to personal and community development; its mission is to enable learners, without exception, to develop their talents to the full and to realize their creative potential, including responsibility for their own lives and achievement of each individual’s personal aims, but also involvement in one’s social roles at work and in the community.

McClelland defined the term competency as, “a sum of knowledge, skills, and aptitudes, which contributes to the capacity of a person to effectively perform the duties and responsibilities of the occupied job; in other words, to be competent”. In this concept, we could look at competencies in three perspectives:

Behavioural approach: Competence as a set of abilities that ensure productivity in the labour market. In this approach, with roots in the United States, competences are understood as a demonstration of behavior; i.e., the traits that allow him/her to perform professionally.     

Functional or generic approach: Competence as the knowledge, skills, and aptitudes that make people able to solve a task under set conditions. It seeks to identify abilities and features that explain variation in performance in specific contexts.

Constructivist-holistic approach: Competence as the knowledge about how to mobilize the elements of the competence in order to solve a task satisfactorily; to want, to have personal motivation; and to be able to do, thanks to a context and conditions that make the solution of the task possible.

Why is CBC important for a 21st Century graduate?

The jobs of the 21st century require critical thinking and problem solving skills. The concept of Competency Based Education is to have a convergence to the 21st century world view demands for a worker, entrepreneur and/or business person. It is predicted that the jobs of the future will definitely be very different from the jobs that exist today. The world is changing extremely very fast. Untimely emergence of COVID-19 clearly indicated to us how unprepared we are that led the closure of learning due to lack of technology and digital literacy in our learning institutions.

Taxonomy of competences

Designing learning based on competences also requires defining the type of competences we are working with, namely:

Basic competences: related to basic education (compulsory school period); they refer to the set of minimum requirements that a contemporary citizen should acquire at the end of compulsory schooling. They include curricular competences (relative to different domains of knowledge, or subjects) and transversal competences (broad, integrative skills required for the holistic development of learners;

Technical- professional competences: linked to vocational training (post-compulsory secondary education), including qualification- specific competences (analogous to the curricular competences) and the transversal ones (which are subject to training and development all the way through schooling).Key competences: owned and developed by the individual throughout his/her entire life. Key competences are responsible for individual success throughout the entire life, and to the good global functioning of the society derived from the action of particular citizens. Professional competences (Proficiencies): linked to Higher Education, they are associated with effectively performing certain professional tasks. They involve the capacity to solve complex professional questions, by mobilizing scientific knowledge and technical abilities, and respecting ethical considerations typical of that particular profession.

Education Reforms in Kenya:

Central to the education reforms, Kenya has been establishing an education system that addresses relevance, equity, inclusion and elimination of wastages among graduates. One of the challenges of education in Kenya is inequality, which means that those from low socio-economic backgrounds have difficulty accessing quality education. Since independence (1963), Kenya has constituted six commissions and several taskforces to reform the education system to meet the country’s social, political and economic needs. Most recently, in 2017, the government embarked on the most comprehensive education reform since 1981, which has seen the introduction of the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC). The aim of the CBC is to guarantee basic education for every learner according to their abilities and needs. Education reforms emphasize that all children, especially those from marginalized groups and those with disabilities, should have access to quality education. Despite these reforms, challenges related to access, equity, quality, relevance and efficiency in the management of education resources are yet to be adequately addressed. Furthermore, implementation of the CBC has been marred by uncertainties, as it is increasingly becoming evident that the reforms may not necessarily close the equity gaps. Unfortunately if not intentionally checked, the gap in inequalities in education is increasingly widening even with CBC in place. CBC emphasizes on seven core competencies, which are:

· Communication &collaboration
· Critical thinking & problem solving
· Citizenship
· Digital literacy
· Creativity & imagination
· Learning to learn
· Self-efficacy

The emphasis on values and community service learning cannot be underscored in CBC. Similarly parental engagement and empowerment is a key component of CBC. Previously much of the student management has been weighing heavily on the teacher with a parent offering the most minimal support to the learning process. Tripartite approach to learning in which the learner, teacher and parent are fully engaged with the learner being the centric point is a strong basis for learner’s success.

Pillars, Mission and Vision of CBC:

CBC draws its strength on the pillars that include values, theoretical approaches, core principles and the National goals of education so as to nurture every Learner’s Potential and release a lifelong learner (Engaged, Empowered and Ethical Citizen)

CBC framework emphasizes on the National goals of education which are:

1. Foster nationalism, patriotism and promote national unity
2. Promote social, economic, technological and industrial needs for national development
3. Promote individual development and self-fulfillment
4. Promote sound moral and religious values
5. Promote social equality and responsibility
6. Promote respect for and development of Kenya’s rich and varied cultures
7. Promote international consciousness and foster positive attitude towards other nations
8. Promote positive attitude towards good health and environmental protection

What are the major shifts from the previous curriculum?

In the envisaged knowledge economy, it is important to embrace what learners are able to do with the knowledge they acquire in the classroom. Linking academia to industry and real world experience is key for the learners to fit into the fast changing world. CBC envisages the following shifts:

What then are the likely implications of Implementation of the new curriculum?

 · Review teacher training
· Upgrade teacher training certification at all levels to a minimum of Diploma
· Promote Specialization
· Strengthen Internship/Community of Practice
· Inclusion of a component of action research, mentoring and inclusive education to enhance the same in classroom practice and student learning at the school  level
· Retooling of curriculum implementers (Educators, Policy Makers, Investors, donors)
· University/Tertiary education is likely to experience a major shift-(STEM education may take a major junk of the tertiary education).
· Development of face-to-face and online training modules on
· Competence-based learning and assessment (Innovative Assessment).
· Integration of ICT in teaching and learning
· Instructional leadership
· Continuous Professional Development (CDP).
· Strengthen Teacher Performance Appraisal
· Development of curriculum designs/Curriculum Redesigning
·  Development of the Pre-service Teacher Education
· Framework   based on the Needs Assessment
· Development of continuous Teacher Professional
· Development Programmes
· Development of the Assessment Framework for
· formative and summative evaluation (Innovative Assessment framework)
· Development of Financial Model for the curriculum reforms(Increased funding)
· Strengthen Public Private Partnerships in Educations
· Parental engagement and empowerment.

CBC framework indicating pathways:

 CBC takes dimensional projections on learner pathways. Unlike before where we had a linear student progression, CBC provides learners with pathways as in the framework below:

Inclusivity/Special Needs Education:

 CBC has emphasis on mainstreaming of learners and universal design for learning as indicated in the above framework.

Challenges being faced for effective implementation of CBC.

1. Lack of well trained teachers on learner centred pedagogical approaches, innovative assessment and ICT skills
2. Lack of trained teachers to facilitate the newly introduced learning areas
3. Minimal resources to accommodate high numbers due to100% transition
4. Low quality of public education due to poor teacher learner ratio. Currently teacher learner ratio in most primary and secondary schools stands at 1:80 and 1: 70 respectively
5. No clarity yet on placement of junior secondary
6. Less public awareness on learner career progression (Parental Empowerment)
7. Lack of enough teachers to handle high numbers of learners.
8. Inequality in education based on socio-economic status of Kenyans.
9. Courses Higher learning Institutions are yet to be aligned to CBC.
10. Attitude and resistant to change by educators
11. Low level parental engagement and commitment to support the learning process

 Suggestions for successful implementation of CBC

It is vital for us to embrace full implementation of CBC. The global view on student learning require a more collaborative approach and innovative stakeholder engagement. For us to reap the benefits of CBC, the author suggests the following solutions for effective implementation of the new curriculum:
1. Continuous teacher professional development on the 21st century pedagogies, innovative assessment, reporting and research skills in education
2. Regular (weekly/termly/bi-annually, annually) parental engagement and empowerment
3. Continuous advocacy and public awareness on the benefits of Competency Based Education to the learners, parents, society and the country’s future economy
4. Creation of CBC ambassadors (Parents, teachers, learners, researcher, policy implementers)
5. Active engagement of teachers in Professional Communities of Practice
6. Advocacy of CBC alignment to Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) and Vision 2030
7. Instead of tablets for every learner, establish ICT well networked centres in schools or shared facilities in every sub-county
8. Invest more in day schools as opposed to boarding schools
9. Digitize some of the teaching and learning resources for example course/reference books
10. Review and align courses in tertiary institutions to CBC

 Conclusion

CBC adoption in Kenya gives the potential to the future generation on the establishment and attainment of competencies needed at the job market. The government should envisage the proper implementation of CBC in the classroom to enhance the goals of the curriculum. CBC brings Kenya’s education achievement to the global bar on only if the required implementation is realized. Kenya and her citizens need to see CBC through the local and global lenses. Teachers should be involved in the crucial stage of curriculum reform, and their professional development is developed satisfactorily for effective implementation of CBC. Retraining of teachers should be critical in every curriculum adoption. More so, the realignment of CBC into the world view context should be maintained. Any successful education programme should answer the question>>>>how should be the ideal citizen look like, behave, act and most importantly is the ideal citizen productive and self fulfilled? The success of every individual learner is basically the success of the community. Ideal citizen should be able to deal with common problems like diseases, poverty, hunger, and generally solve the socio-economic challenges facing their communities. 

Dr. Otundo is the Director Riara Insitute and Head of Department in School of Education at Riara University.