Influence of teacher perceptions on implementation of competency based curriculum in public primary schools in Kenya: a case study of rangwe sub-county, Kenya

Successful Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) implementation must be cognizant of various teacher factors that are most likely to influence it. In 2013, partner states in the East African Community agreed to put in place a harmonized curriculum framework which is competency-based and one that matches global trends. The Competence Based Curriculum was rolled out in Kenya in January 2017 and is currently being implemented in lower primary school in phases from grade one to four. As at the end of 2018, eighty nine thousand teachers of the total 160, 000 teachers of lower primary imparting basic education in Kenya had been inducted trained on the implementation of the Competence Based Curriculum. Teachers are the implementers of the curriculum hence they play a significant role in developing and transforming learners Rangwe Sub County who found to be is facing low primary to secondary school transition rates. Recent statistics indicated that 52% of pupils sitting Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations every year scored less than 250 marks. The pupils were left disoriented and demoralized causing some to either drop out or repeat as per the 8-4-4 curriculum. With the CBC in place all learners are believed to have a chance to develop their competencies and skills for nation building. It is against this back drop that the current study sought to establish teacher factors influencing implementation of CBC in Public Primary schools. The objective of the study was to specifically establish the extent to which teacher perceptions influence implementation of CBC in public primary schools. The findings were that teacher perceptions accounted for 34.0% of the variation in implementation of CBC as signified by the coefficient 0.340. Therefore teacher perceptions were found to have a moderate influence on the implementation of Competence Based Curriculum. The study recommended that efforts should be made to ensure that teachers have a positive attitude towards CBC in order to enable the pupils also to develop a liking towards the contents of CBC for effective implementation. The findings of this study are significant to stakeholders in education as they inform policy making and amendment.