New O-level curriculum: Teachers still bent on rigorous assessments 

Four years ago, the Education ministry through the National Curriculum Development Center (NCDC) rolled out the revised O-level curriculum which provides for a learner-centered education.

The curriculum omits unnecessary testing and fosters critical thinking to solve problems. However, most teachers are still entrenched in traditional methods of rigorous testing, impeding learners’ ability to develop the expected essential skills for the future, write Yudaya Nangonzi & Shibah Nakakande.

The 12-year review of the 1965 adopted curriculum was driven by a growing recognition that excessive testing at the school level stifled creativity, limited critical thinking, and induced stress among students.

The new approach is meant to encourage learners to question, analyze, and synthesize information. The NCDC reduced the content overload and contact hours in classrooms to create time for research, project work, talent development, and creativity.

Currently, the curriculum menu reduced from 43 to 20 subjects. A school is expected to select 12 subjects. At S1 and S2, learners are expected to offer 11 compulsory subjects plus one elective. At S3 and S4, learners offer a minimum of eight and a maximum of nine subjects, out of which seven are compulsory.

The school day starts at 8 am and ends at 2:40 pm. Between 2:40 pm and 4:30 pm, learners engage in teacher-supervised time for their creativity and innovation sessions. In total, a learner must study for only 1,600 minutes per week – based on eight study periods a day of at least 40 minutes each.

Despite the laid-out instructions, the resistance to change in most schools is enormous and impacts the ability of learners to adapt to the new changes in learning.

REALITY IN SCHOOLS

All learners interviewed for this story declined to be named for fear of apprehension by school authorities. However, they noted that overemphasis on exams had led to high levels of stress and anxiety.

With two months left to the Uneb final examinations of the pioneer candidates, the scope of learning has been narrowed to what is testable. This is at the expense of achieving critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The prescribed study hours shifted to suit the demands of the school proprietors and teachers.

One senior four candidate at St Andrew Kaggwa Gombe High School shared the frustration of feeling overwhelmed by the constant pressure to study.

“We expect mock examinations soon and I’m always studying for the next test. There’s no time to understand some concepts because it’s just one test after another even during morning and night preps,” the learner said.

As a result, most learners have resorted to memorizing information to pass the numerous tests. Some test papers are given as early as 5:30 am to 6:30 am and at night between 8 pm and 10 pm.

This learner wakes up at 3 am daily to prepare for morning preps which begin at 5 am and end at 6:30 am. Normal classroom lessons begin at 7 am and end at 5 pm. At 6 pm, there are compulsory evening prayers for all religious denominations but some candidates dodge the sessions to prepare for tests.

A parent to an S4 candidate at City SS in Wakiso said his child reports to school before 6:30 am and returns home at 5 pm. He, however, goes back to school for night prep and reports home at 9 pm.

“I know the child is studying but I don’t even understand the grading system. My son used to explain to me but right now, he is also confused. I plan to visit the school before the term ends and they explain everything in detail,” the parent said.

Some learners expressed concern about teachers missing lessons and tasking them to do research without following up on their findings to harmonize the content. In some schools, learners have resorted to using an artificial intelligence tool, ChatGPT, to help generate notes with ease because “the teachers don’t bother to ask where you got the content.”

A learner at Trinity College Nabbingo said: “During group work, some students hardly contribute, yet marks are awarded to the entire group. In some occasions, a learner will do research but when they return to class, the teacher offers a different concept with minimal explanation, which confuses learners.”

However, the learner commended the new curriculum for improving the self-esteem of learners.

OVERWORKED LEARNERS

Whereas learners, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders have since appreciated the revised curriculum, the story is different for most pioneer candidates.

They are under immense pressure to sit tests, do project work, and undertake Activities of Integration (AOIs) or assessments after completion of each topic. Project work, AOIs, and assessment of generic skills contribute 20% to the candidate’s final marks. In April 2024, Uneb informed schools that the deadline for submitting these scores which started on June 4, is October 4, 2024.

Any candidate without coursework assessments shall not be graded. Some schools have not started on the project work while learners are struggling to write project proposals and reports. One candidate said the situation worsened when Uneb released sample question papers in April/May 2024.

“If it was the final Uneb paper, I would walk out of the room without writing a thing or get ungraded in my final marks. Our best student equally failed to do a question. The question format was different from what teachers were giving us.”

The new curriculum focuses on higher-order thinking abilities to discourage learners from reproducing crammed responses.

TEACHERS SPEAK

Fredrick Dongo Shema, a Biology teacher at Nateete Muslim High School, said most teachers thought the new curriculum would not take shape.

“Some schools kept teaching both the new and old curriculum at O-level – just in case the government rescinded its decision,” Dongo said, urging teachers to focus on full coverage of the syllabus.

Rehema Bukirwa, a Geography teacher at Mengo SS, said: “The Covid period affected the S4 candidates so much. We are rushing to finish all the topics and activities of integration. This is not our doing but Uneb set a deadline for this work.”

At Trinity College Nabbingo, Albert Cook Isingoma, a history teacher, observed that most teachers countrywide have not been retooled.

“I visited a Kampala-based school with about 4,000 students but teachers have never glanced at a teacher’s guide of the new curriculum,” Isingoma said.

He added: “Some teachers think the curriculum is about sitting in the corner while on WhatsApp and TikTok as students present their work. While we blame the government for ill-preparation, let us also work upon our work ethic.”

Stephen Richard Katongole, the head teacher of Wakiso Secondary School for the Deaf, urged the NCDC to revise the content of deaf learners. Where a hearing learner understands a concept in 30 minutes, a deaf learner takes at least 45 minutes to an hour.

“The new curriculum is good but heavy. Deaf learners’ content should be put into sign language such that they understand concepts better,” he said.

OVER TESTING IS WRONG – NCDC

According to Christopher Muganga, a curriculum specialist at NCDC, some teachers don’t match the curriculum demands and are not flexible, hence over-testing learners.

A week ago, NCDC officials were in the field supporting teachers at the school level. They have so far covered the Northern, Eastern, and Western regions. Muganga said the officials observed that the attitude of the teachers was still wanting.

“Teachers took long to believe in the system and are taking longer to adjust to the new teaching methods. They claim not to have time to plan lessons due to the heavy workload in schools but they don’t talk about the time wasted while running from one school to another,” Muganga said.

The teacher-to-pupil ratios were also still high yet a maximum of 50 learners are required for each stream. Although some schools complained about limited instructional materials, “the few copies are also not utilized”

He wondered why schools force learners to sit beginning, mid-term, end-of-term, and month exams which are irrelevant in the new approach. This is in addition to compulsory morning and evening preps.

WAY FORWARD

To further ease the implementation of the curriculum, Muganga insisted that teachers ought to rebrand themselves because the world has evolved.

“Some teachers are too rigid to be retooled but you can no longer trust chalk and dusters to teach in class. As a teacher, work on your proficiencies and embrace the new approaches to teaching. You may need more allowances, and salaries, among others, but are you delivering up to the expected standards of the curriculum?” he asked.

NCDC envisages 10 years for schools to fully embrace the new curriculum. Learners remain eager to learn and wish a similar approach would be extended at A-level. Until the ministry makes a U-turn on its decision to halt reviewing the A-level, experts are convinced about the uphill task ahead of learners relapsing to rote learning.

nangonzi@observer.ug