CBC Lecture-1 - Good

competency based curriculum (Meru University of Science and

Technology)

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The 8-4-4 system of education was introduced in 1985 following the
recommendations of the 1981, Presidential Working Party on the
Establishment of the Second University in Kenya (the MacKay report). The
guiding philosophy of the system was, education for self-reliance’’.

'The Summative Evaluation of the Curriculum' (KIE, 2009), indicated that the
curriculum content and its implementation was academic and examination
oriented, and thus made little provision for the recognition of the learner’s
potential, gifts and talents due to an unnecessary focus on examination. This
has contributed to increased drop out and wastage rates in the education
sector as well as high unemployment was birthed as part of the
recommendations of the Professor Odhiambo report of 2012.

Competency based Curriculum (CBC) was launched by the ministry of

education in 2017 to replace the 8-4-4 education system.

> is an education system that puts

emphasis on a learner’s unique talents and abilities rather than
focusing wholly on academics and exam performances.

> The CBC is designed to emphasize the significance of developing skills

and knowledge and also applying those competencies to real life
situations.

 The key aim of CBC is to help identify learners’ special capabilities then
nurturing them through relevant teachings so that learners benefit
from their talents.

 The goal of CBC is to produce a holistic individual with

competencies, values, knowledge, and skills necessary to succeed in a
highly competitive world.

In short, CBC is different from 8-4-4 system which is examination oriented

and assumes that all pupils must pass exams to succeed in life. CBC
recognizes that each child is gifted differently and seeks to promote every
kid’s genius in the hope that children can eventually profit from their God-
given talents.

CBC is mainly and is adapted to suit the specific needs of

students
depending on their inborn talents.

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1. All lessons are geared towards the achievement
of the
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 set skills/competencies.

2. CBC empowers learners to master valuable skills /

knowledge at their own pace.

CBC learning practices are adjusted to meet the individual

needs of specific learners.

1. Class is now called Grade.

2. Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) has two levels only
(Pre-Primary 1 and 2) i.e., PP1 and PP2
3. Subject areas are now referred to as learning areas.
4. Topics/sub-topics are now known as strands/sub-strands.
5. Learning outcomes is the new term that replaces lesson objectives.
6. Learning resources are used instead of teaching aids.
7. is now known as Curriculum design

is the ability to apply appropriate knowledge, skills, attitudes and

values to successfully perform a task.

are sets of intellectual, personal, social and emotional

proficiencies that students should develop in order to engage in deep,
lifelong learning.

The creators of the competency-based curriculum envision that at the end

of the learning period, every learner should have achieved the following
competences:

1. Communication and collaboration

2. Critical thinking and problem solving
3. Imagination and creativity
4. Citizenship
5. Learning to learn
6. Self-efficacy
7. Digital literacy

1. The competency-based curriculum

aims to teach students how to communicate effectively and work
together to realize
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 shared goals as these are important life skills.
2. This is self-belief that one can perform and accomplish a
hard task. Learners with high self- belief, approach difficult tasks as
challenges rather than threats to be avoided.
3. The new system teaches learners to think
critically by guiding them on how to reason, make judgments and solve
problems. This is a key competence for life-long learning.
4. enables students find creative solutions to
the problems they are facing, thus turning their dreams into reality
with ease.
5. Pertinent and contemporary issues are taught in the
competency- based learning. Global citizenship is cultivated in all the
main subjects by helping students understand they live in a world that
is interconnected and should respect others and the planet they live in.
6. With all the technology devices around us such as mobile
phones, tablets and laptops, the world we live in is now a digital space.
ICT is used as a learning tool in all the subjects.
7. is a continuous process one that helps students
to build on past learning and life experiences and to use and apply the
knowledge and skills acquired, in a variety of contexts.

CBC emphasizes excellence and competitiveness while 8-4-4

emphasizes on competition for examination grades.

2. CBC is more of knowledge and skills application through creativity,

innovation and problem solving while 8-4-4 is more of content
memorization and reproduction during examinations.

3. In CBC, a teacher facilitates learners to construct own knowledge and

skills through exposure to challenging situations and experiences.
While 8-4-4 a teacher is the main source of knowledge with learners
being more of passive participants.

4. CBC is flexible, responsive and supportive in embracing diverse

learning needs and abilities.8-4-4 is more rigid in content, learning
time and strategies.

5. CBC engages parents through empowerment and allow shared

responsibility in all tiers and levels of basic education (that’s why there
are assignments that has to be done by a parents together with the
learners) in 8-4-4 there’s little parental engagement and support.
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 6. CBC aims at integration of pertinent and contemporary issues and
service learning that connects classroom to real life and self-reliance.
8-4-4 focuses more on cognitive development.

7. CBC aims at striking a balance between formative and summative

assessment while 8-4-4 has a primary focus on summative
assessment.

Some of the reasons why the 8-4-4 curriculum had to be changed to the CBC
include:

1. 8-4-4 was too academic and exam oriented thus resulting to content
overload.
2. Most schools were not adequately provided with equipped workshops
to facilitate the learning of practical skills.
3. Secondary school graduates did not acquire entrepreneurial skills for
self- reliance and as a result there was high unemployment rate arising
from this phenomenon.
4. Due to high unemployment rate, there was a risk of emergence of
social vices
such as increased crime, drug abuse and antisocial behavior.
5. The old system did not provide flexible education pathways for
identifying and nurturing student talents and interests early enough in
order to prepare them for the world of work, career progression and
sustainable development.
6. Assessment was limited to summative assessment whilst the majority
of teachers hardly used formative assessment. This led to a situation
where there was fierce competition in passing exams instead of
focusing on the acquisition of requisite knowledge and skills.
7. The curriculum made little provision for the recognition of a student’s
potential gifts and talents. This contributed to a high dropout rate.

1. The Competency based learning is more focused

on the students and is quite responsive and relevant to their needs.
2. The focus is on appropriate application of
knowledge and not just of acquisition of content.
3. Opportunities for local decision making and great depth of study-

Teachers are able to implement

the
curriculum in autonomous nature.
4. A range of
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 assessments are offered to gauge a student’s learning.
5. CBC is implemented in a digital environment that
supports continuous improvement and support learning with flexible
timing and pacing.
6. All stakeholders collaborated in
the
design and creation of the competency-based learning.
7. Learners are able to move seamlessly from
one level to the other.

1. Teachers are not fully trained for the implementation of the curriculum.
2. Lack of enough infrastructure to implement the new system such as
classrooms and laboratories.
3. Lack of enough teaching personnel as the teacher’s student ratios in
public schools is un-proportional. Considering CBC is learner-focused,
learners from these schools will be highly disadvantaged.
4. Lack of adequate teaching and learning resources such as teachers’
textbooks
5. Resistance from teachers because of different mode of teaching thus
an unfriendly learning environment.
6. Lack of support from parents on issues regarding CBC.
7. Competency based learning heavily relies on digital literacy
incorporation. Majority of teachers are not well trained, neither are the
infrastructure & equipment adequate.

These are principles, qualities, beliefs or standards that guide an individual

to respond or behave in a given circumstance or situation. At the end of the
learning period the learner should have been molded to have the following
values:
1. Love
2. Responsibility
3. Respect
4. Unity
5. Peace
6. Patriotism
7. Integrity

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This system is called the 2-6-6-3 or the 2-6-3-3-3)

1. Pre-primary Education (2 Years) i.e., Pre-Primary 1 and Pre-Primary 2

commonly known as PP1 and PP2.
2. Lower Primary (Grade 1 to Grade 3) and is expected to run for 3 years
3. Upper Primary (Grade 4 to Grade 6) and is expected to run for 3 years
4. Lower Secondary (Grade 7 to Grade 9) and is expected to run for 3
years
5. Senior School (Grade10 to Grade 12) and is expected to run for 3 years.
6. 3 years of higher education -university, colleges, polytechnics

 CBC comes with its own assessment system, referred as

 Is the process of gathering and interpreting information on what the

learner knows and can do on the specified learning outcomes.

 This is done using a variety of assessment tools such as written tests,

checklists, questionnaires, observation schedules, journals, portfolios,
rubrics

 Assessment consequently involves the learners performing certain

tasks to determine how well they can complete them in a practical
scenario.

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  The teachers then create further learning activities to help cover any
gaps identified during the assessment until the pupil becomes
proficient.

 KNEC (Kenya National Examination Council) is in charge of the CBA

assessment process

Competency-Based Assessments (CBA) are examinations done under the

Competency- Based Curriculum (CBC). There are of assessment in
CBC in Kenya.

1. Tools for this type of assessment are developed

by the teacher and the exams are done at the classroom level (not
national).

2. This is a type of assessment that is done by

students from Grade 4 to 12. Tools for this type of assessment are
developed by KNEC but the exams do not have national rankings.
Teachers are required to download the assessment tools from the
KNEC CBA portal.

3. This is like KCPE and KCSE examinations.

Summative assessment is done by students and is national. The first
major national assessment is at grade 3.

Unlike in the past when learners were graded using marks, the CBC system
uses a different approach to monitor learner capabilities. Lower primary
school pupils complete tasks individually and in groups to demonstrate their
strengths and abilities. Teachers will then observe and document each
learner’s performance based on evidence-based abilities. Learners will be
graded as follows:

1. - The highest score awarded when a learner

correctly performs or completes all activities as expected in each
learning area.
2. - The pupil correctly follows instructions; they
properly perform tasks and complete most activities in each learning
area.
3. – Learner attempts to follow instructions but
is inconsistent with completing tasks or activities in the different
learning areas.

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4. – where a learner is observed to have major
inaccuracies or inability to complete tasks as instructed by the teacher.

1. Classroom Assessment
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 2. School Based Assessment
3. - Kenya Early Years Assessment
4. School Year Report
5. Kenya Primary School Education Assessment
6. Kenya Middle School Years Assessment
7. Kenya Certificate of Basic Education
8. Learner Exit Profile

1. Knowledge based curriculum 1. Competence based focuses on

focuses on subject content what learners can do and
and what learners can know apply in different situations by
and memorise rather than developing skills, attitudes
what they can do. and values in addition to
knowledge and
understanding
2. The learning process is
teacher centred with 2. The learning process is learner
minimum focused where a learner is
involvement of the learners engaged in active and
participatory learning
3. The teacher provides the activities
subject content concepts.
3. Learners build new
knowledge
from prior knowledge.

i. In your own words define the term competency-based curriculum

ii. Elaborate on any five core competences of CBC
iii. Discuss the shortcomings of the 8-4-4 system which prompted the shift
into the CBC
iv. Discuss three major differences between the CBC and the 8-4-4

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