63 teacher educators from various teacher education universities and institutions in Kenya came together on 26-28 April to learn how to implement the 21st century skills in their teaching from the perspective of Kenya’s new competency based curriculum (CBC). Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) introduced the CBC in 2017 but the universities providing teacher education in Kenya have not yet aligned their curricula to take the new curriculum and its practices into account. This is specifically the point where TOTEMK comes along to help the teachers in implementing the CBC in their work.
The training was organized in collaboration with Strathmore University, Pwani University and University of Helsinki. The training was opened by Ian Warua, Associate Director from the Strathmore University. The other speakers to visit the opening ceremony were Dr. Elizabeth Gachenga, Deputy Vice Chancellor from Strathmore University; Erik Lund, Ambassador of Finland to Kenya; Dr. David Njengere, Education Advisor at Kenya’s Ministry of Education; Prof. Jackson Too, Deputy Commission Secretary from the Commission for University Education and Ms. Jacqueline Onyango, Senior Deputy Director from the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.
The training included both lectures and workshops where the participants had a chance to collaborate with the other learners in Zoom’s breakout rooms around topics such as collaborative and integrative teaching, learner centered approach, 21st century skills and competency based assessment. After the three-day training, the participants continue their learning on a 10 week distance period, during which they plan and implement their own course including in it the elements they have learnt during the TOTEMK training.
The training was originally planned to be held as a face-to-face training but the corona situation moved the event to a virtual mode in Zoom. The second training period is planned to be organized at the end of this year in November at the University of Nairobi. TOTEMK project will have altogether four training modules with the upcoming trainings focusing on technology enhanced learning, management and leadership at schools and sociocultural issues to empower teachers at their work.