The Teacher Education Curriculum and Its Competency-Based Education Attributes

Overview & Synopsis

Background: This paper reports on a study that analyzed the Diploma in Secondary Education (DSE) curriculum in Tanzania to establish its competency-based education (CBE) attributes. The attributes of the curriculum and whether these reflect the basic principles of CBE are critical to successful implementation at the classroom level. Methods: A Qualitative Content Analysis method was used to analyze purposively sampled DSE curriculum documents such as the curriculum of the diploma in teacher education program, Biology and Geography academic and pedagogy syllabi for the DSE etc. to establish the program's CBE attributes. Findings: The analysis established that the DSE program is characterized by a mixture of diametrically contradictory attributes, some of which reflect traditional content-based education and others that are more aligned with the CBE model. Conclusion: We concluded that, by maintaining attributes of both traditional and competency-based education models, the DSE program could self-constrain its implementation at the classroom level.