• UNIT 5: COMPETENCE-BASED CURRICULUM

    Key Unit competence: Assess the pre-primary and primary Competence-Based Curriculum

    Read the following scenario and answer related question. 

    Scenario

    Mugisha want to recruit a domestic worker. Three applicants Amina, Betty and Peter were shortlisted and went through the selection process which took 1 month. At the end of the first test about washing clothes, Mugisha found the following:

     Amina can tell the steps of washing, the required materials but unable to respect washing procedures while washing.

     Betty has good knowledge of steps, guidelines and materials for washing clothes. She is well appreciated on how she applies washing techniques.  She demonstrates patience, cleanliness and good social behaviours. 

     Peter knows very well all the steps and the materials needed for washing and he is very good at washing clothes respecting all steps and guidelines. He often argues with his boss when he is asked to explain the mismanagement of the cleaning materials. 

     Question

     1. You are a member of evaluation panel which candidate will you select for this job? Explain to other panel members why you selected that candidate and why other two candidates were rejected.

    5.1. Key concepts of CBC


    Write the term “Competence-Based Curriculum,” in a search engine (e.g. Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) and find different details explaining it. Try to make a concept map of the related ideas/concepts.

    Competencethe ability to perform a particular task successfully, resulting from having gained an appropriate combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes

     • Knowledge: the information, awareness or understanding you gained through learning experience

     • Skills: A skill refers to the ability to carry out a task well with determined results of the learning and practice often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. 

    Attitude: The opinion and feelings that you usually have about something in your behavior 

     • Student’s exit profile: Refers to the package of qualities, abilities of a student at graduation from a given education level

     • Curriculum: the overall content, with specified subjects, that is prescribed for study in a school system as well as the specific knowledge, skills and competencies students are expected to learn; it may also include ideas on how learning experiences should be designed and learning outcomes assessed. 

     • Syllabus: a document which outlines everything that will be covered in a particular course and the sequence of topics.

     • Cross-cutting issues: important curriculum content that does not belong to any one subject or learning area exclusively but which is best taught and learned in a number of subjects. 

    Generic competences: are the competences which are transferrable and applicable to a range of subjects and situations including employment. 

    Learning outcomes: describe what learners are expected to know, understand and be able to do at the end of the learning process. 

    Criterion: a principle or standard by which something may be judged or decided.


    5.2. Knowledge versus Competence-Based Curriculum



    Why a Competence-based Curriculum? 

    A Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC) is designed to develop learners’ competences rather than just their knowledge. That is, the ability to apply learning with confidence in a range of situations. The focus on what learners can do ensures their learning has greater purpose and is deeper than it would be otherwise. A competence-based curriculum is characterised by approaches that are largely learner-centred, criterion-referenced, constructivist, and focused upon learning outcomes (rather than content definition) and with an emphasis on formative assessment. 

    The Ministry of Education through the Rwanda Education Board undertook the task of a comprehensive review of the pre-primary, primary and secondary education curriculum starting in July 2013. The underlying principle behind the curriculum review process was to ensure that the curriculum is responsive to the needs of the learner, society and labor market. This necessitated shifting from objective and knowledge-based learning to competence-based learning. The emphasis was to build more on knowledge, skills and attitudes, and to streamline the coherence within the existing syllabi by benchmarking them with those from other countries with best practices.


    5.3. Vision, aims, values and principles of Rwandan CBC


    5.3.1. Vision, aims, values 

    a. Curriculum vision 

    Taking into account national policies, the East African Community Protocol, the national context, the views of stakeholders, the learner profiles and the range of objectives expressed in the rationale, the following curriculum vision was agreed upon. 

    The vision of Rwanda is to establish an inspiring 21st century curriculum, optimizing the potential of all learners and enabling every young Rwandan to make a valuable contribution to the sustained growth of the nation.

     b. Curriculum Aims

     The aims define what the nation envisages its young people to be by the time they leave education and the nature of curriculum that will bring this about.

    • Curriculum aims and objectives: 

    To ensure the curriculum: 

    – Is engaging, dynamic and aligned to the future employment needs of the nation and the global economy; 

    – Challenges all young people to optimize their achievement; 

    – Promotes standards comparable with the highest internationally in terms of competencies, knowledge and skills.

     • Student aims and objectives 

    – To develop learners as: 

    – Patriotic and responsible citizens, ready to play a full part in society;

     – Confident and self-reliant people, ready to take their place in the labour market;

     – Successful life-long g learners, ready to adapt to new situations, and be agents of change;

    Creative and innovative individuals who are curious, adaptive and productive

    c. Curriculum values 

    The Rwandan curriculum is underpinned by the values that represent the basic beliefs of the nation. These basic values permeate the curriculum, and all the processes of schooling and which students will also develop.

    The curriculum values include:

     – Excellence, aspiration and optimism; 

    – Equity and inclusiveness. 

    – Learner-centeredness. 

    – Openness and transparency. 

    – The importance of family Rwandan culture and Heritage

    The Basic values include: 

    – Additional basic values for Rwandan students include: 

     – Dignity and integrity; 

    – Self-reliance; 

    – National and cultural identity; 

    – Peace and tolerance;

    – Justice;

    – Respect for others and for human rights;

     – Solidarity and democracy;

     – Patriotism;

     – Hard work, commitment and resilience

    5.3.2. Principles of Rwandan Competence-Based Curriculum 

    Rwanda envisages a relevant, coherent, consistent and flexible curriculum that responds to changing circumstances and contexts and will engender adaptability in young people so that they are prepared for an uncertain future in the local regional and global context. 

    The curriculum principles guide the way the curriculum is constructed but they go beyond this and have an impact on teaching and learning, on the way progress is assessed, on the way teachers are trained and on the way schools are led and managed. The identified guiding principles are the following:

    Learner-centered:

     The curriculum must address learners’ individual needs, interests, abilities and backgrounds, creating an environment where learning activities are organized in a way that encourages learners to construct the knowledge either individually or in groups in an active manner. 

     Competence-based: 

    This is an approach where teaching and learning is based on discrete skills rather than dwelling on only knowledge or cognitive domain of learning. Learners work on competences through units with specific learning outcomes broken down into knowledge, skills and attitude. The student is evaluated against a set of standards to achieve before moving on. The learning activities should be learner-centered rather than the traditional didactic approach. 

    Inclusive: 

    The curriculum must ensure that every individual is valued and there are high expectations of every learner. Learning must be organized so that all learners thrive, including girls, learners with disabilities, learners with special educational needs and regardless of their background. Interconnected with crosscutting issues: The curriculum must reflect the significance of connections between different subject areas and cross-cutting issues and integrating them across years and cycles where applicable.

     Flexible: 

    This is to cater for learners’ individual needs and talents and to ensure provision of a holistic education that include knowledge, skills, attitude and values and facilitates horizontal and vertical mobility within and across different education systems. This involves developing a curriculum that allows interactive teaching and learning involving all categories of learners to provide opportunities to nurture them.

    Transparent and accountable: 

    Schools, learners and communities must communicate openly and honestly about the curriculum and learning in the school, to ensure successful teaching and learning. Parents and teachers and senior management staff in schools must be engaged together in supporting teaching and learning and holding each accountable for their contributions. School management must be open to stakeholders and policy makers to support efficient administration and effective teaching

     Integrated with ICT as a tool: 

    The curriculum must enable educators and students to use ICT as a tool, to improve the quality of education in all subjects at all levels in teaching and learning practices. ICT must support the emergence of teaching and pedagogical learner-centered approaches as well as encourage research, communication and collaborative learning.


    5.4. Competences and cross-cutting issues in CBC


    a. Basic competences

     These are essential competences highlighted in national policy documents. Their descriptors give an orientation about priority subjects to be taught, and the kind of learner envisaged at the end of every cycle. They are the foundation of all other competences learners develop through different subjects, learning areas.






    c. Cross-cutting issues






    5.5.1. Developing competences 

    Competences are acquired over time through the cumulative effect of a competence approach to learning. It should be noted that competences are rarely developed in isolation. They are interconnected and developed simultaneously. 

    Active involvement in learning is critical to the success of the competence based curriculum. Learners need to be engaged in practical, contextualized and complex learning situations through which application of learning is constantly developed. It is therefore essential that teachers always have active teaching and learning techniques in mind when they are planning activities within a lesson. 

    Developing all competences requires teachers to adopt active techniques that encourage and enable learners to think critically, to carry out research, to solve problems, to be creative and innovative, to communicate and to co-operate. 

     It requires setting learning activities that will develop knowledge, skills and values as well as generic competences by adopting approaches that encourage and enable learners to engage in active learning. Active learning of this nature requires ground rules including but not limited to: active participation, discussions, constructive criticism and compliments during discussions. The teacher starts by reviewing the rules, sets a time limit, states and explains the question, collects and displays ideas, eliminates duplications and guides learners to draw a conclusion.

    Example: Primary Mathematics 

    Teacher asks learners to work in groups to discuss how to fill in the next two numbers 1, 3, 7, 15… The competences being developed are: imagination on relationships between numbers. This includes critical thinking, problem solving, cooperation, innovation, positive attitude towards a task, and communications as the learners explain how they solved the problem. The competence of mathematical operations of multiplication and addition together with the concept of sequence/pattern is being developed, and assessment is also integrated in the process. The activity also offers opportunities for assessment. 

    5.5.2. How to integrate cross-cutting issues 

    Cross-cutting issues are not standalone subjects; they cut across the entire curriculum. They are integrated in the curriculum in two ways: – Some cross-cutting related topics are integrated in specific subjects as standalone units.

     Example 1: Units related to CSE are found in Social Studies and Science and Elementary Technology in primary and in Biology and health science in ordinary level.

     Example 2: Units related to Environment and sustainability are found in Social studies in primary and in Geography, Chemistry, etc. – The second way of integrating crosscutting calls all teachers of different subjects to keep in mind the 8 cross-cutting issues when making lesson plan: in this way they can integrate possible cross-cutting issues depending on the learning activity’s context. 

     Example : In Mathematics class, after resolving a word problem about statistics on prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Africa, the teacher engages a discussion on transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS. In this way, the teacher integrated the CSE in Mathematics.


    5.6. The role of the teacher and learner in developing competences


    5.6.1. The role of teachers 

     Teachers are not required to teach the way they were taught. They must embrace the new approaches with the aim of developing competences in the learners. This requires them to shift from teacher-centered to learner-centered methods. The following are important points to consider while implementing the competence-based curriculum: 

    – From the syllabus units, the teacher identifies different competences to be developed by the learners which are fostered by engaging learners through inquiry methods, group discussions, research, investigative activities and group and individual work activities. 

    – The teacher focuses on observation of evidence on what learners can do and then identifies any difficulties encountered by them so that appropriate strategies can be developed for those with special needs (slow learners, fast learners, learners with disabilities, talented and gifted learners). 

     – The teacher should take into account different cross-cutting issues and integrate them in the learning activities where applicable. 

     – The teacher should encourage individual, peer and group evaluation of the work done in the classroom. She/he must also use appropriate competence-based assessment approaches and methods.

     – The teacher is a facilitator and a guide in the learning process. He/ she must provide supervised opportunities for learners to develop different competences by giving tasks which enhance critical thinking, problem solving, research, creativity and innovation, communication and cooperation 

     – The teacher is an advisor and provides guidance and counselling for learners. He/she supports and comforts learners by valuing their contributions in the class activities. 

     – The teacher acts as educator ensures discipline, follow up learners’ behaviour, and communicate with parents about the learners’ performance at school.

    5.6.2. The role of learners 

     The learners are central of the learning process. They are not empty vessels to fill, but people with ideas, capacity and skills to build on for effective learning. Therefore, the following are some of expectations for learners in a competence-based approach:

     – Learners communicate and share relevant information with other learners through presentations, discussions, group work and other learner-centered activities (role play, case studies, project work, research and investigation). 

    – Learners are active participants and take some responsibilities for their own learning. 

     – Learners develop knowledge and skills in active ways. – Learners carry out research and investigation, consulting print and online documents and resourceful people and present their findings. 

     – During the assigned tasks, learners ensure the effective contribution of each group member, through clear explanation and arguments, critical thinking, responsibility and confidence in public speaking.



    In TMP you went through the syllabus of pre-primary and primary school. Again read them and identify elements that justify that they are competence-based.















    UNIT 4: ACTIVE TEACHING METHODS AND TECHNIQUESUNIT 6: SETTING LEARNING OBJECTIVES