UNESCO-IICBA, in partnership with UNICEF Kenya and the Kenya Teachers Service Commission, organized a workshop on ‘Competency Based Curriculum and Competency Based Assessment for Teacher Educators’ in Nairobi, Kenya from 19 to 23 November 2018. About 50 teacher educators were in attendance from the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), Teacher Service Commission (TSC), Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI) and the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE). Dr. Binyam Sisay, Program Officer, and Mr. Ononuju Okwaraogoma, Consultant, represented IICBA at the workshop.

The workshop aimed to provide support for the ongoing competency-based curriculum reform on teacher education of the Kenyan government. It focused on deepening the understanding of teacher educators on competency-based curriculum, pedagogy, instructional strategies and assessment, high quality rubric design, the teacher professional development policy framework and the Kenya Professional Teaching Standards.

The five-day workshop used the cooperative learning base group approach, where participants work in small groups to encourage group activities and discussions, reflection, feedback, peer review activities and presentations. The workshop covered learner-centered instructional strategies and assessment practices, such as multiple intelligences, a method that teachers can use to evaluate their own as well as learner’s learning styles to understand how to approach learners in a learner-centered manner.

Kenya has developed seven basic education core competencies that all students are required to have. These competencies include: (1) communication and collaboration, (2) critical thinking and problem solving, (3) imagination and creativity, (4) citizenship, (5) digital literacy, (6) learning to learn and (7) self-efficacy. The competencies progress as students move up through grade levels. Therefore, the participants developed competency descriptors and indicators across several grade levels for specific learning outcomes.

For the next phrase of this project, IICBA will provide the same training workshop on competency-based curriculum and assessment to 47 county directors, scheduled to take place in December 2018. Further trainings are planned for Curriculum Support Officers in 2019 on competency-based curriculum and assessment led by the county directors and participants of this workshop. UNESCO-IICBA will continue to provide technical support to the overall process to ensure its completion.