The Competency-Based Curriculum Journey in Kenya: Teachers' Voices

Abstract

Sentiment analysis is a resourceful technique in making sense of teachers’ perceptions toward curriculum process. The study used Aspect Based Sentiment Analysis (ABSA) to make sense of teachers’ perceptions toward Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) implementation in Kenya. ABSA is a fine-grained natural language processing method used to analyse sentiments from unstructured data (text) at the aspect level.  The researchers used text data from local daily newspapers on teachers’ opinions on CBC implementation in Kenya. Using ABSA, the researchers explored how teachers perceive CBC implementation in Kenya, what they consider as emerging issues in CBC implementation, and what they consider as best practices to address the issues. It was established that teachers consider training, teacher shortage, unconducive working environment, and lack of parental support as some of the emerging issues in CBC implementation. Teachers’ perceptions toward CBC implementation vary but the teachers are optimistic that if the government offers more training, create more awareness on the role of parents in the CBC implementation, and employ more teachers, CBC implementation would be successful in Kenya.