Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Insiders Voices: Vocational Curriculum Pathway Implementation in Central Province of Zambia

2021; Volume: 8; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.20431/2349-0381.0809006

2349-0373

Nephat Kasebusha, Martin Banda,

Competency Development and Evaluation

BackgroundFrom the time Zambia got her political independence in 1964, the education system has been following the knowledge based curriculum.Shiundu and Omulando (1992) comments that no curriculum remain relevant and perfect for all ages.It must keep on changing to address the needs that emerge as society changes.This helps to construct and reconstruct the curricula to make it relevant to learners and society.The vision of Zambian education sector is that by 2030 through the competency based curriculum, learners will be expected to acquire three critical educational elements namely; worthwhile skills, appropriate and applicable knowledge which make-up competences.Competences are abilities, critical to the performance of specific tasks.To become competent at anything, a learner needs to know something about it, have the skills to apply the knowledge and have the right attitudes that ensure he or she will do it well (MOGE, 2013).In 2013, the Zambian education curriculum was revised from knowledge based to outcome based curriculum or competency based curriculum in order to respond to the calls of the Sustainable Development Goal number four of quality education and the vision 2030.This will be achieved when learners are provided with knowledge and worthwhile practical skills.According to the Ministry of General Education (2013), the vocational curriculum was intended to meet the national educational goals whose aim is to achieve all round development of the learner through self-reliance of an individual.Zambian revised education curriculum focuses on producing a learner who will have life skills to cope with different challenges of life.The Zambian curriculum was reformed in order to prepare learners for future challenges in the rapid changing world (MOGE, 2013).The aims of the 2013 revised Zambian education curriculum are to produce self-motivated, lifelong learners,