Adopting competence-based curriculum to improve quality of secondary education in Tanzania: “is it a dream or reality”?

International Journal of Education and Research 2015, Vol. 3(11).: pp 175 - 188This paper assessed the adoption of competence based curriculum (CBC) to improve quality of secondary education in Tanzania whether is a dream or reality. This paper tries to determine teachers’ knowledge in implementing competence based curriculum. The study employed a mixed research approaches which utilised a descriptive survey design. Purposive and simple random sampling procedures were used to select a total of 162 respondents from six public secondary schools in Morogoro Municipality; six heads of secondary schools, six academic teachers, 102 class teachers and 48 secondary students. The questionnaire, interviews and observations were used to collect requisite information. Quantitative data were analysed by using descriptive statistics to determine frequency and percentage whereas qualitative data were subjected to content analysis. The study established that the majority of teachers lacked requisite knowledge for implementing competence based curriculum during the teaching and learning process. On the basis of these findings, the study concluded that, adoption of competence based curriculum to improve quality of secondary education in Tanzania has yet to translate into quality secondary education. Indeed, teachers, who are the major implementers, lacked knowledge and skills for implementing competence based curriculum effectively. The study, therefore, recommended that efforts be made by the government through the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MOEVT) to conduct immediate and regular in-service training to teachers to equip them with necessary knowledge and skills for implementing competence based curriculum efficiently and effectively