Pathways to the delivery of 21st Century Skills Education in Kenya

• In Event: Changes required in nurturing life skills and to produce global citizens in a rapidly changing and interconnected global village.

Proposal

With the adoption of a competency-based curriculum (CBC) that emphasizes 21st-century skills, the Kenyan educational system has undergone reform. The shift from teacher to student centered focus, the shift has brought with it a realization of the existing gap of life skills and values among students (ALIVE report 2023). This is further brought to attention with the claim that moral principles and cognitive knowledge and abilities are essential complements to one another (UNESCO 2013). Therefore, the necessity to optimize education in Kenya as one of the greatest equalizers and a tool of change remains ever dominant in a world that is getting smaller due to increasing technological advances. As social media and other attention-grabbing tools continue to dilute human interactions and relationships, the necessity to fill in the gap in life skills and values is becoming ever crucial, more so in Kenya.

Numerous nations have started educational reforms that incorporate 21st century skills because of the realization that life skills are crucial as a means of enabling one to employ technical abilities in the job. As Kenya's educational system continues to undergo changes, curriculum developers are increasingly incorporating learners' acquisition of life skills capabilities into the teaching and learning processes rather than only focusing on getting good grades.
Referencing ILO’s forecast from 2020, there will be 375 million young people living in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. Therefore, in Sub-Saharan Africa, we need to strengthen the teaching and assessment of life skills as they are essential to holistic learning and should be supported by all stakeholders in the field of education.

One key question therefore remains; how do we adapt education, with a special focus on life skills and values, in an ever-changing world? Contextualization or localization of approaches is increasingly becoming essential for successful implementation and execution of various community interventions. Regardless of the world becoming smaller, the differences in communities are increasingly becoming evident. As a result, applying umbrella approaches to solve varied problems is a formula that cannot be wholly depended on. Therefore, as education systems in Africa, as is in Kenya, continue chasing global shifts, the need to ensure contextualization is important. In ancient Kenya, and Africa at large, values (caught) and life skills (taught), were at the heart of community engagement through fables, parables, apprenticeship, and religious teaching. The soul of the previously mentioned tools was how they aligned and reflected the environment of the communities they existed in.

As a nation, Kenya’s current focus on life skills (competencies) and values is a being classified as a major shift towards enhancing the quality of human capital in Kenya. With 21st Century skills increasingly being emphasized as crucial to human development, the appreciation by Kenya’s curriculum on the importance of ensuring Kenya’s future generation is equipped with the Life skills and values is aimed at enhancing education’s impact as a tool of change. Context and adoption of technology will play a crucial role towards successful implementation.

Author

• Michael Babu, Strathmore University