The Challenges of and Strategies for Competency Based Assessment by Uganda National Examinations Board

The adoption of competency-based lower secondary education in Uganda in 2020 has been hampered by a mode of assessment that has traditionally placed a greater emphasis on memory than on critical and creative problem-solving. This study, covering 17 districts in five of the six Uganda National Examinations Board regions, employed quantitative research approach and cross-sectional survey research design to examine the extent to which the implementation of the lower secondary school curriculum could inform competency-based assessment of learning by UNEB. The study involved 491 learners randomly selected from secondary schools in the selected districts. These respondents completed the survey on Competency-based Learning. The results of the study revealed generally high levels of belief in and understanding of competency-based assessment, student progression through demonstration of mastery, and flexible assessment. Personalization, skills and disposition development were at moderate levels. The findings imply that the implementation of the competency-based curriculum seemed to take the shape of the old cognitive-based curriculum such that it did not adequately prepare the learners for a terminal competency-based assessment of the curriculum. Based on the results, we recommend that the Ministry of Education and Sports and Uganda National Examinations Board should raise public sensitization on the need for the adoption of competency-based assessment in the lower secondary schools in the country.