South Sudan Should Pay Close Attention to and Learn from the Proposed Educational Reforms in Kenya
By Augustine Oduor
8-4-4 set to go in major changes
The education sector is headed for major reforms next year that may see the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) replaced with the Kenya Primary Scholastic Assessment (KPSA).
Unlike KCPE, which for over 25 years has been done at the end of eight years, KPSA will be done at the end of six years.
These are part of the proposals in the draft Government sessional paper, A Policy Framework for Education and Training, seen by The Standard On Saturday.
However, students who sit Standard Six examinations shall join junior secondary schools for three years during which they will write two assessment tests — Competence Test and the Junior Scholastic Assessment.
Away from that, the education curriculum is also set to change at all levels in accordance with the new education structure that proposes pupils complete two years in Early Childhood Development Education, six years in primary, another six years at secondary, and at least three years at the university (2-6-6-3).
In a radical move, the report also suggests that school years be divided into two terms of five months each, with the first term running from September to January with a short two-week break in December, followed by second term in February to June.
The first two weeks of vacation would be held in December and the longest vacation of two months between July and August.
The report says the new school term will serve to increase learning time to solve the holiday tuition problem, realign school calendar to financial year and also to provide time for elections. July-August holidays can be used to mark examinations. The taskforce recommended that Term One be assessed at end of January and Term Two in June.
Proposed system
In a departure from the current practice, national examinations will be conducted between May and June, preceded by marking until July for results to be released between July and August.
In the proposed system, pre-school learners would sit school-based examinations as the lower primary sits county examinations while upper primary, junior high and senior high would sit national examinations overseen by Kenya Education Assessment Council (Keac).
The county assessment would be used to identify strengths of the pupils whereas the national assessments would help students identify their paths for specialisation.
The document is informed by the key findings of the Douglas Odhiambo-led taskforce set up by Education Minister Sam Ongeri early this year to align education and training to the Constitution and Vision 2030.
The paper observes that the current 8-4-4 system is examination-oriented as it selects students for higher education and often excludes the majority, depicting them as failures. It also says the system develops wrong attitudes and divides the nation into white- collar workers and labourers, leaving little room for technical education.
Pupils from pre-school to Standard Five shall commence the first entry into the new system by September next year if the proposals are adopted.
The draft policy guidelines note that if the phased implementation plan for the education structure is adopted, more time will be allowed for the review of the curriculum, training of teachers, development of textbooks and the putting in place of relevant infrastructure.
The Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) will have its name changed to Kenya Education Assessment Council.
With this also comes school based assessment that will complement national examinations.
The document, to be polished in January by stakeholders, says that the current summative assessment at the end of the primary cycle does not adequately measure a learner’s ability while school based assessments are not standardised.
It also observes that management and administration of examination has encouraged malpractice and that the assessments are no longer seen as part of teaching and learning but as a sieve to determine who moves to what level.
Competency based assessment
To cure this, the taskforce proposes a thorough review of students’ appraisal to include cumulative competency-based assessments that will be known as Competence Assessment Tests (Cats).
The national examiner, supported with a national framework or test bank, shall then develop standardised Cats to be accessed online. And for the curriculum, the document says that all instructional materials shall be revised and funds to meet basic operational and maintenance costs under the Free Universal Basic Education provided.
“Curriculum is a plan for providing learning opportunities and experience to the learners in order to achieve education goals and specific objectives for the Kenya society,” the document says. It also notes that the current curriculum was reviewed in 2002 followed by a review of the primary teacher education curriculum in 2004 and the diploma education curriculum in 2007.
It notes that the many important developments, such as vision 2030 and the new Constitution, have necessitated a review. To address these issues, the Government will undertake a major review of the curriculum by end of next year.
It will also develop a progressive framework that identifies the knowledge, skills, and competencies that will be assessed for each level.
“The Government shall undertake a review of all textbooks to ensure they are aligned with the new Constitution with regard to equal opportunity, gender, and that content addresses the skills and competencies framework,” says the document. Evaluation under the new system would be done at five levels as opposed to two levels under the current system of education.
Early childhood education and adult education also feature in this system of education, although not formally presented in the education structure.
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