An assessment of teacher's implementation of the current bible knowledge secondary school curriculum: a case of four selected schools in Northern Education Division (NED)

Abstract

The study aimed at assessing teacher’s experiences in the implementation of the current Bible Knowledge (B/K) secondary school curriculum, implemented in 2015. Ten years have passed, since the implementation of the curriculum, yet the perceptions and experiences of teachers after adding contemporary issues is not known. Contemporary issues like climate change, human rights, marriage, governance, HIV and AIDS, environmental degradation, relationship between the church and the state, moral decay among others were added to the curriculum. The study was qualitative in nature and assessed the experiences of teachers in implementing the curriculum; analyzed the challenges teachers are facing and examined possible solutions to the challenges. The participants to the study were eight Bible Knowledge teachers and forty students in four selected secondary schools in NED, sampled purposively. For triangulation of data, three methods were employed namely: document analysis, observations and interviews. The collected data were analyzed thematically. The study established that there is a mixed perception by teachers who participated in this study over the change made to the B/K curriculum. The majority feel it is a good initiative and worth implementing because, it is relevant for human survival, assessment of learning outcomes and support for route system of education. Few teachers feel it is a waste of time due to curriculum overload and some content they perceive as conflicting. The recommendations made by the study are: adherence to Continuous Professional Development policy and other in- service trainings to help with collaboration for those teachers struggling to implement change; challenging stakeholders, PTA and NGOs currently working with educational institutions to focus on resource mobilization and mingling contemporary issues in every topic to remove negative perception that they are less important.