Teacher-Related Challenges Affecting the Application of Competency-Based Assessmentin Pre-Primary Schools in Kibwezi West Sub-County, Makueni County, Kenya

Competency-Based Assessment (CBA) is one of the most important aspects of Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) in Kenya that focuses on the assessment of the skills and knowledge of the learners to be applied in real-life situations. In spite of the national policy guidelines and curriculum reforms, empirical research across different counties shows that there is still a lot to be overcome in CBA implementation, and mostly it is associated with teacher capacity and readiness. This paper discussed the issues surrounding the teachers that affect the application of competency-based assessment in pre-primary schools in Kibwezi West Sub-County in Makueni County in Kenya. The research design applied was a descriptive survey research design using a mixed-methods approach, where there were 202 primary schools, 384 pre-primary teachers, and 202 head teachers. Multistage sampling techniques were used to select a sample of 31 schools, 60 pre-primary teachers and 31 head teachers. The information was gathered using the questionnaires, interview schedules, and observation checklists. Data analysis was performed with descriptive statistics of frequencies and ages, but on the qualitative side of the data, it was performed using a thematic analysis. It was found that challenges associated with teachers were the major barriers to CBA implementation, such as teacher shortage (91.7%), excessive workload (90%), insufficient knowledge and skills to use CBA (86.7%), inability to perform assessments (78.3%), inappropriate and adequate training (75%), and low teacher motivation (63.3%). The qualitative results indicated that teacher training was not very common and was usually shallow, with a majority of the teachers undergoing short-term training of half a day to three days, that were not sufficient to develop their competency level. Some of the recommendations to overcome the challenges were regular and intensive teacher training, hiring more teachers, availing sufficient teaching and learning resources and enhancing the motivation of the teachers. Article visualizations: