Teachers in Kenya can now improve their capacity in new approaches to assessment without any charge, following the roll-out of a new online capacity-building program by the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC).
The program is set to benefit senior school tutors and aims at fostering their comprehension of Competency-Based Assessment (CBA), which is one of the pillars of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). The online program is hosted on the KNEC online platform.
To enroll, one only needs to visit the portal and click on the enrollment option to fill in the necessary information in the red-starred fields in order to create an account. Subsequently, one would be able to search for the “Senior School & Vocational Skills” topic and subscribe to it.
Speaking at the launch of the 2025 KCSE results at AIC Chebisaas Boys’ High School located in Uasin Gishu County on January 9, the Chief Executive Officer of the KNEC, David Njengere, confirmed that the training forms part of efforts aimed at harmonizing assessment as the Senior School CBA continues to be implemented across the country.
The course is broad and covers many practical aspects of education, which include learning outcomes and blueprinting of assessments according to CBC learning outcomes, item development and test development, rubric development and moderation, and management of portfolios in continuous assessments conducted in schools.
The course will also expose teachers to the aspects of psychometrics and quality assurance, with emphasis placed on the themes of reliability, validity, and the standardization of marks. Finally, teachers will be trained in digital assessment techniques, especially within the realm of Learning Management Systems, focusing on the capture of data and feedback.
The training comes in a structured and sequenced manner. Participants will need to finish the current lesson before advancing to the other modules. Teachers will be awarded a micro-credential CBA as a result of the training issued by the KNEC upon the successful completion of the course.
As reported by the KNEC, this is meant to ensure the promotion of uniformity in the assessment process and consistency between the assessment conducted at the classroom and the school quality assurance quality reports.
For those teachers who prefer to interact and engage with the continuous learning process, the Kenya National Examination and Certification Council (KNEC) has also offered the option to attend some reinforced learning activities face-to-face at the Assessment Hubs across the counties and those at the Education Assessment Resource Centre located at New Mitihani House along South C, Nairobi.
The development is hoped to facilitate the transition to competency-based assessment and arm teachers with the necessary skills to successfully apply the CBC approach in senior schools.
