Draft Policy Brief
The Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development
National Education Conference
15-17 April 2019, Nairobi, Kenya
Theme: Maximising Educational Change: Research, Policy, Leadership, Technology and Curriculum
Executive Summary
The National Education Conference was held on the dates of 15th to 17th April 2019 at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya by Aga Khan University, Institute for Educational Development, East Africa (IED). With the objective to provide a forum for stakeholder dialogue to optimize educational change through perspectives on reforms that will ensure the education sector realizes its full potential, the conference was attended by about 150 participants from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Germany, Zambia, United Kingdom, Australia, and Nigeria. This saw a number of sub-themes addressed including
Research that Improves Educational Practice
Equity and Equality for Inclusive Education
Leadership and Governance in an Era of Educational Change
Technology and Innovations towards Educational Change
Re-thinking Curriculum Design and Development
Policy that drives Educational Reform
The conference saw the need to have consistency across the levels of education. Currently the balkanization causes difficulty in transition from one level to the next. This is more pronounced where the expected outcomes need to be pitched against the international standards. There is a call for internationalisation of education to meet the 21st century demands, but with a conscious consideration of the resources available and the contextual demands.
Introduction
Government in Kenya in collaboration with Ministry of Education Science and Technology (MoEST), Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development (KICD), Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC), and Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and donors and partners as well as with national stakeholders has been engaged in conceptualising and implementing reforms, particularly curriculum reform. The objectives of the curriculum reform that were again revisited at the conference are to:
Establish flexible curriculum delivery pathways for success at each level and promote transition from one level to the next;
Create a competency-based curriculum (CBC) from the present dominant exam-oriented approach;
Develop new pedagogical approaches to support the CBC to encourage formative assessment at all levels of basic education;
Mobilise resources to support reform process up to implementation of the CBC curriculum;
Strengthen curriculum governance and management with a particular focus on STEM, PPP in curriculum development and delivery;
Ensure access to curriculum delivery materials;
Develop and implement support for SEN and vulnerable learners to realise free compulsory universal basic education;
Harmonise the national curriculum with regional and international developments; and
Address issues relevant to county-specific needs.
Countries in East Africa have made significant progress in implementing policies and reforms in education. However, from the conference deliberations, it emerged, from research and practice that key areas of curriculum implemented across the levels of education require transformation, at the core of which should be responsive and adaptive leadership in tune with the present and informed by the dynamic change. The changes need to be tailored to meet the desired outcomes for today and for the future, a measure that can be realised if the education sector realises its full potential. The governments’ visions and development plans have to be revisited for more sustainable reforms.
Conference Deliberations
The Conference engaged on the above objectives interrogating policy and educational developments in the context of Kenya but also in Tanzania and Uganda. The Conference included 3 Keynotes from authoritative personalities, 49 research-based papers of a total of 56 accepted, and three specialist panels on ICT and reform.
Policy framework(s): The Conference noted that there are policy cycle and development frameworks as well as implementation frameworks that articulate with the culture that has leadership, governance, and management aspects specific to the Kenyan context.
Such frameworks need to be articulated and shared widely with urgency. Such frameworks that necessarily develop with time support (i) efficiency, effectiveness, and quality improvements and (ii) promote social justice, inclusion, and diversity.
Strategic priorities: It is evident that education and educational actors, particularly universities, serve the nation’s development plans. In Kenya, this refers to Vision 2030 and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals agreed across the world’s nations. Additionally and explicitly, the reform process envisages a modernising and globalising Kenya that is self-conscious of competing interests and requirements to rebalance or redress historical developments.
Policy arenas and considerations: To further sustained and progressive reforms with coherence and integrity of approach, the following areas are proposed:
Document and audit on-going efforts in a national repository that promotes purposive research and development with experimentation.
Whilst undertaking reforms and benchmarking internationally, there is need for support implementation frameworks that have fidelity to curriculum aims, design, and approaches for the diversity of contexts in Kenya.
Financial modelling and cost-benefit: The educational reforms should be informed by the target outcomes. Prioritisation of expenditure guided by critical aspects of the reform in a staged manner could be a strategy for accruing maximum returns. Innovative ways to reduce costs without compromising value through technology and knowledge applications should be sought in order to support equity for all for example urban and rural, Arid and Semi-Arid Lands versus Arable communities.
Reduce policy overload: undertake a review of extant policies that target the same constituencies and intended beneficiaries to reduce policy overload, excessive reporting requirements, and avoid balkanisation of resources.
Conclusion
A more solid education future is the way forward for the region and the East African Community. It calls for the respective systems and organs to structure ways of promoting education for all with respect to local needs and global demands with inclusive to technology. The challenges of access to education, quality of education, and gaps in the implementation of many policies need to be addressed.
Implications and Recommendations
The Conference recommends that the following areas of research should accompany the reform process.
Policy analysis cycle and development: Engage universities to review, undertake needs analysis, and interrogate guidelines for the curriculum uptake in situ.
School systems analysis: Develop ’curriculum implementation frameworks’ to support the curriculum review objectives. Aim at successful rollout of the reforms with focus on resource outlay, increased accountability, and transparency measures.
Curriculum review and pedagogical innovation; change management: Support curriculum implementers, particularly teachers and learners, to respond to innovations, support reconceptualisation of teaching-learning approaches, and enhance competence.
Competency-based curriculum gap analysis: Undertake county specific requirements, and emerging education needs in relation to devolution.
Student voice: Inculcate use of ICTs to respond to the needs and aspirations of young learners, promote personalised and individualised learning, and encourage student-led curricular and pedagogical changes that build further on collaborative approaches and unleashing creativity through the curriculum reform process.
Social competence and skills/cultural studies: Audit and reflect diversity that respects pluralism and values of communities in the country.
Diagnostic automation: Use technology, assess individualised teaching and learning, and promote self-reflective formative assessment practices. Use the ICT and digital ecosystem in support of routine tasks that teachers do to assess learning and thereby personalise learning at the level of individual students. This has multiple advantages including providing additional space for teachers to support competencies' development, support students who need more help, apply realistic assessment practices and go onto higher order learning and outcomes.
(Dated 17 April 2019)
