Experiential analysis of public universities' preparedness on instructional methodologies in implementation of competency based curriculum in kenya

Abstract

The dawn of Competency-Based Curriculum occurred in USA in early 1970s where it brought a paradigm shift in global education leverage and instructional methodology experiences in the classroom. The new concept staged an educational revolution which emphasized on the attainment of competencies among the graduates rather than knowledge and content quantity overloads. In Kenya Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) was rolled to replace a three-decade old system of 8-4-4 with a new modern system of 2-6-3-3-3 in 2017 following a baseline study spearheaded by Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) in 2016. Many educational stakeholders viewed 8-4-4 has genesis of perennial crisis amongst graduate coming out of universities and colleges. They were many cases of perfect incompetence’s, inadequacies and poor employability capped by non -conformities to industrial demands in the 21st century. The current study explored Preparedness of Public Universities' on instructional towards the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) implementation of in Kenya. In most of developed countries, implementation of CBC has indicated an instrumental progress of graduate compatibility with job markets not only within national and international context but also the global perspectives. The study utilized Cross- Sectional Survey Research Design targeting the Deans, Lecturers, and Bed Students in Kenyan Public Universities. Specifically, the study focused on Preparedness of Public Universities in pedagogical Knowledge and Instructional Methodologies in preparing of prospective teachers has a precursor of successful implementation the CBC. Purposive and Simple random sampling technique were adopted in sampling. Students' Questionnaire, Lecturers' Questionnaire, and Deans' Questionnaire were applied. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that Public Universities were struggling and were not adequately prepared for instructional methodologies, they were about factor mobilizing human resources and physical facilities. The idea of CBC was not fully matured. The study recommended that Public Universities' need to re-organize and re-engineer Teacher Education and Pedagogical Approaches to bridge capacity gaps in prospective teachers being rolled out in high schools.