Transmission of Learner-Centred Pedagogy: Insights from Educational Practice in Kenya

Abstract

This paper has examined the implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), introduced in Kenya in 2017, with a particular focus on learner-centred pedagogy. Learner-centred approaches have been positioned as a means of cultivating human resources that contribute to the socioeconomic development of the nation through school education, and they have been adopted in Kenya with relatively little critical scrutiny. However, every pedagogical approach is embedded with the educational philosophies and socio-cultural values of the context in which it was developed, and learnercentred pedagogy itself has evolved from a Western, individual-centred ontological and epistemological perspectives. Therefore, implementing it directly in Kenya inevitably gives rise to discrepancies with local conditions.

The paper is based on fieldwork conducted over a two-week period in August 2024 in two counties of Kenya. With the introduction of the new education system, primary and junior secondary schools are now established on the same site, and the headteacher of the primary school also serves as the principal of the junior secondary school. During the fieldwork, seven public schools were visited, and semi-structured interviews regarding the implementation of the CBC were conducted with a total of 14 participants: the headteacher and one secondary school teacher at each school. Since classroom participant observation could not be conducted during the aforementioned fieldwork period, the analysis in this study also draws on classroom observations conducted in 2023 at three public schools in the capital.

The findings of this study reveal that the prerequisites for learner-centred pedagogy does not necessarily align with the Kenyan context. Furthermore, the results suggest that, rather than emphasizing an individual-centred perspective (learner-centred), an approach that prioritizes mutual learning among learners is more appropriate in the Kenyan context. Nevertheless, this study did not reach a definitive conclusion regarding the specific positioning of concepts such as learners-centred, learnerscommunity, or learners-learning. Future research is therefore required to further explore pedagogical approaches that can more effectively support the learning of children living within Kenya's communal society.