Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies: Home

Abstract:
The Ugandan government through the Ministry of Education and Sports undertook a much-awaited education reform by replacing the old subject based curriculum with a new competence-based curriculum for lower secondary schools or Level in the year 2020. Of late, there has been a huge hullabaloo about the new curriculum that was introduced by the Ministry of Education and Sports through the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) as a major departure away from the conventional subject based curriculum to a competence-based curriculum with a deep belief that such an education more entails a broader and more inclusive curriculum that can satisfy needs of different abilities. It should be noted that a literate and numerate population is regarded imperative for sustainable development and economic growth in Uganda and to achieve these, improving the education system should be the way forward for a better Uganda. This paper assesses the new Lower Secondary School Curriculum for senior ones and the value addition it brings to Uganda�s education sector preparing the country to reap the benefits of a demographic dividend as espoused in Vision 2040. It makes a case for a new curriculum as a window of opportunity as far as improving the education system is concerned as this competency-based curriculum will allow learners to acquire the knowledge and skills needed for success in the modern society and lay a firm foundation for being effective citizens, the world of work, self-employment and further education. With the use of qualitative research method, as a researcher, Face to face interviews were done towards the targeted group of respondents (teachers and students). The interview questions were designed specifically to address research objectives with regards to teachers and student�s perception. Six teachers and six students participated in the interview of which three teachers from a government school and three students from a government school and three teachers from a private school and three senior one students from a private school. The research questions for the study were How prepared are the teachers on taking on the new senior one curriculum? Do you appreciate the new senior one curriculum; To the teachers? To the students? How best could the new senior one curriculum be handled by the school? Findings included students and teachers views of whether they are prepared or not for the new curriculum and whether they appreciate it and from there recommendations on what should be further done such as Teacher professional development, assessment, teaching materials, mode of communication, policy makers and needs of learners were drawn and conclusions on the new curriculum.

Keywords: Subject Based Curriculum, Competence-Based Curriculum, NCDC, Vision 2040.

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