Exploring Competence Based Education (CBE) in Rural Secondary Schools in Tanzania: English Language Teachers’ Conceptions and Experiences

Abstract

This study aimed at getting an insight on the implementation of Competence Based Education in Tanzania (CBE) in Tanzania. A study was conducted in Changchun, Jilin in China due to limited time the researcher had. The study was guided by the following research objective; specifically this study did the following; to assess the knowledge that rural secondary school teachers of English have on CBE, to explore the extent they use CBE in their day to day practice and to identify challenges that they encounter in the course of implementing CBE. Three research questions guided the study; what do rural secondary school teachers understand about CBE? To what extent do they use it in their day to day teaching practice?  What are rural secondary school teachers’ perceptions of the challenges in implementing CBE in English subject? The study employed a qualitative research design, semi structured interview guide was used as a tool for data collection. It involved a study sample of three Tanzanian students. The findings revealed that teachers have knowledge of CBE and the mostly preferred teaching techniques are question and answers and occasionally lecturing. Others include problem solving and project development. However, it was revealed that no changes have been made in terms of assessments. Moreover, challenges of big class sizes, limited time and lack of teaching resources such as textbooks were seen as hindering the implementation process. It was recommended that there has to be a top-down approach in changes of the curriculum in order to adhere to the mandated education philosophy and the new teaching paradigm.

Keywords: Competence based curriculum, Rural secondary schools, English teachers, Competence based language teaching