Re-aligning curricula for improved learning: Results of the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum analyses in Kenya and Uganda

Improving learning for all children in Sub-Saharan Africa will require innovative ways of rethinking the curricula, both in their formulation and implementation. Recent evidence from annual learning assessments conducted in... [ view full abstract ]

Improving learning for all children in Sub-Saharan Africa will require innovative ways of rethinking the curricula, both in their formulation and implementation. Recent evidence from annual learning assessments conducted in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda reveal extremely low learning gains as children progress through primary school grades. Whereas a number of factors have been studied, there is shockingly very little evidence on basic education curricular effectiveness in East Africa. Twaweza East Africa has adapted the ‘Surveys of Enacted Curriculum’ framework from the Wisconsin Center for Education Research to analyze the content embedded in the primary school curricula in East Africa. In this ongoing study, we have used the national curriculum policy standards to develop subject-specific taxonomies for core subjects taught at primary school level, and analyzed and described the distribution of relative emphasis on content in both the standards and end-of-primary school national examinations. Early findings point to over-ambitious curricula in lower primary grades, demanding of children aged 6-8 years to quickly develop higher order thinking skills so as to keep pace. Analysis of the end-of-cycle national examinations reveals low alignment indices with the intended curriculum. These findings suggest a need for education policy makers to consider coherent reform initiatives targeting early childhood education and improved alignment between ‘what is intended’, ‘what is assessed’, ‘what is taught’ and ‘what is learned’.