A Study on the Preparedness of Public Primary Schools Towards Successful Implementation of Competency Based Curriculum in Mwala Sub-County, Kenya.

Abstract

As Kenya puts into action the implementation of competency-based curriculum (CBC), the readiness of the environment in which the curriculum is being executed remains questionable. The key stake holders towards the implementation of CBC in the country who include students, teachers, headteachers, Curriculum Support Officers, parents and guardians are faced with quite a number of challenges. Such obstacles are limitations related to teaching and learning resources, infrastructure, large classes, and limited number of teachers, minimal ICT integration and insufficient capitation to schools by the government. The study investigated the preparedness public primary schools towards successful implementation of the competency-based curriculum. The specific objectives of the study were to examine the pedagogical preparedness among teachers on the implementation of Competency Based Curriculum in public primary schools , to establish availability and suitability of teaching and learning resources in public primary schools for successful CBC implementation, to evaluate ICT integration readiness in public primary schools towards successful implementation of CBC and finally to examine the challenges that teachers and headteachers face in the implementation of competency based curriculum in primary schools. The study was based on Howard Gardner's concept of multiple intelligences and Lev Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. An exploratory research design that targeted all the 192 headteachers and 1925 teachers within the public primary schools of Mwala Sub-County was used. To get the sample size for the study, Fisher‟s formulae: n=N/ {1+N (e²)} for calculating sample size was put into action at 0.05 margin of error. Questionnaires (with open and closed ended questions) were used as data collection tools. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages, frequency counts and means while qualitative data was thematically analyzed according to the research objectives. The results were presented in prose form and by using frequency table. The research findings established that pedagogical preparedness among teachers was quite minimal as the cumulative mean under this variable was 2.45. The availability and suitability of teaching and learning resources illustrated that there was a deficit and those available were generally not suitable for successful CBC implementation. The study too disclosed that public primary schools were not fully prepared to support ICT integration (Cum. Mean=2.30). Furthermore, study results showed that teachers and headteachers who are the key implementers of CBC face numerous challenges as they strive to implement CBC. The study concluded that minimal pedagogical preparedness among teachers, deficits in teaching and learning resources, unprepared schools‟ conditions for ICT integration are critical factors affecting successful implementation of CBC among public primary schools within Mwala Sub-County. The study recommended organizing and conducting of more CBC trainings for primary school teachers as supported by 70.03% of the respondents. There is need to provide more teaching and learning resources to Kenyan public primary schools following perception by 82.87% of the respondents. In addition, the study recommended ICT training for public primary school teachers as 51.39% of the respondents disclosed that they had no ICT knowledge. Finally, the study recommended recruitment of more teachers in the primary schools by the Ministry of Education in the Kenyan public primary schools in order to ease the teachers‟ teaching workload with 54.66% of respondents backing it up.