*It is urgent – our children need Life Skills and Values
EDUCATION in East Africa has evolved to competence-based education, where the focus is on
what learners can do rather than what they know. This shift has led to the
prioritization of competencies such as collaboration and problem-solving, among
others. However, from research conducted
in 2022 in East Africa, only less than 10% of our learners are accumulating
these competencies at the right time. This is a clear indication that something
must be done.
Three
questions arise.
1.
How do we support the
teachers who are also struggling to accumulate these competencies, then
transfer them to the learners and assess if the learners are acquiring them?
This requires concerted
effort; the ALiVE team is collaborating with teacher training colleges and the
Departments of Education to support the teacher educators (Eregi, Machakos,
Kenyatta University in Kenya; University of Dar Es Salaam and State University
of Zanzibar University in Tanzania, Makerere University, Kyambogo University,
and Luigi Institute of Higher Education in Uganda) with the necessary tools for
classroom transformation with a focus on pedagogy and assessment of core
competencies and values.
2.
How do we support
curriculum implementation to focus on these core competencies?
CBC, for instance, in
Kenya, has been with us since 2017. Unfortunately, many players, from parents
to teachers, are still fixed in the old systems. This partly could be because
the parents were not onboarded, and they lack the competences needed to support
their children, but also teachers since the retooling methodology have not been
effective, the curriculum resources are not well developed to support them, and
others are just not ready to change.
There is a need for continuous retooling of teachers and support to
parents if we must realize the vision of CBC of producing empowered, engaged,
and ethical citizens.
3.
Values are learnt at home
when children are much younger. The school just reinforces the values that
children have acquired from their parents, older siblings, and the environment
they are growing in. Yet, an assessment of the value of respect in 2022
indicated that more than 8 out of 10 (92%) children cannot demonstrate respect
at the highest level. How do we get parents to understand the importance of
their role and support them as the first teachers of their children?
We
call upon all stakeholders to work together and support the implementation of
CBC from parents, schools, media, and, more so, the Ministry of Education to
put more emphasis on the nurturing and assessment of core competencies.
With
such support, the aspiration of producing a competent citizen will be realized,
and the community will trust in competency-based education.
We
believe in Ubuntu. I am because we are! Thank you.
Speakers:
Dr. John Mugo - Executive Director of
Zizi Afrique Foundation; Dr. Mary Goretti - Executive Director of Uwezo Uganda;
and Khadija Shariff - Executive Director of Milele Zanzibar. All are co-principal
investigators in ALiVE.
Who we are:
Action for Life Skills and Values in East Africa (ALiVE) is a collaborative of 8 organizations in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda with a vision of catalysing acquisition of competencies for learning, living and thriving
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