Assessment Of Competency Based Curriculum Implementation In Kenyan Primary Schools:A Cross-Sectional Baseline Survey

Over the years,education in Kenya has been guided by prevailing national goals identified through the establishment of various Education Commissions and situational analysis of the educational needs of the country.Presently,the sector seeks to align education to the 2010 Constitution of Kenya and the Kenya Vision 2030 guided by national education policies and international treaties.Despite the fact that competency based curriculum in Kenyan primary schools is two years since its inception,there lacks substantial statistics to indicate whether the reforms are being appropriately implemented or whether the key players in the implementation process clearly understand the new curriculum.It is under this background that this study sought to establish the position of competency based curriculum implementation in terms of teacher preparedness,adequacy and suitability of instructional resources as well as the extent of parental involvement in the Kenyan primary schools.The research questions that guided the study included;1)What are the levels of teacher preparedness in promoting learning under the Competency Based Curriculum(CBC)at grade 3?2)What are the levels of use of competency based instructional approaches and competency based assessment strategies in CBC implementation at grade 3?3)What are the teachers'perception of adequacy and suitability of instructional resources in CBC implementation at grade 3?And 4)What is the extent of parental involvement in CBC implementation at grade 3?The guiding principles of this study were anchored on the curriculum implementation theory as propounded by Gross(1971)which suggests that for any curriculum to be implemented successfully four key aspects must be put into consideration.These are;clarity of innovation to the implementer,adequacy and availability of resources for curriculum implementation,capacity or competency of teachers in curriculum content and lastly administrative support to the organizational procedures and operation.A descriptive survey design combining both quantitative and qualitative techniques was adopted.A close-ended questionnaire for teachers and another one for parents,an open-ended questionnaire for senior teachers,an interview guide for the head-teachers and another one for parents' teachers' association(PTA)chairmen were used as data collection tools.Random sampling was done for the quantitative phase,while purposive sampling was done for the qualitative phase where 456 primary school teachers,112 parents,16 head-teachers,8 senior teachers and 5 PTA chairmen in Murang'a County in Kenya participated.Data Analysis for the baseline survey comprised a two-tier process of systematically applying statistical and logical techniques to describe and illustrate,condense and evaluate data.Quantitative data were analyzed statistically while qualitative data were analyzed thematically and the two sets were analyzed concurrently.Study findings indicated that CBC implementation in Kenyan primary schools has not reached the desired levels since teachers are not well prepared to handle this new curriculum as was demonstrated by their inability to appropriately utilize competency based instructional...