Radical proposals to transform teaching under the new competency-based curriculum have been released with stricter assessments and subject specialisation among the trainers. The government has proposed that all persons wishing to teach in Kenyan schools must specialise in various subject areas and train for a specific learning level.
This means under the new education system of 2–6–3–3, whose national roll out officially starts in 2019, teachers will enroll for training based on the learning level they want to teach. This will be a marked departure where primary school teachers currently teach all subjects from standard one to eight.
The proposals are contained in Pre-service Teacher Education Framework prepared by Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD). The reforms now propose that teacher education be divided into five key areas with clear demarcation. The levels will include Early Years Teacher Education, Middle School Teacher Education and Secondary Teacher Education. Technical Teacher Education and Special Needs Teacher Education will be the other two levels completing the teaching levels under the new curriculum. “All teacher education shall take place at diploma level for a duration of two years and the minimum entry level shall be grade C plain at Senior School or its equivalent.
