Neoliberalism – the free market ideology of individual liberty and choice, combined with limited government interference in a competitive marketplace – has been a growing international trend since the 1980s (Ostry et al., 2016). Its application to education has led to performative behaviours in schools and the adoption of an ‘accountability curriculum’ (Rolph, 2023) based around quantifiable measures of learning of discipline-based knowledge. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in its Future of Education and Skills 2030, defines competencies which add skills, values and attitudes to the knowledge that children need to thrive in the 21st century; around the globe policymakers are considering what competency-based education might mean, and are wrestling with how it relates to neoliberal metrics. Scotland and Kenya provide examples from different cultures and contexts which illustrate the tensions involved.

The situation in Scotland

In Scotland a new ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ (CfE) was introduced in 2010, and by 2022 the first students to have studied it for the whole of their educational lives were taking public examinations. International comparisons of the 2022 cohort, in the form of the OECD’s PISA tables, caused some commentators to conclude that the skills-based CfE isn’t working (see for example Paterson, 2023), even though evidence suggests that ‘counter-educational’ practices are being used to try to drive up attainment (Shapira et al., 2023). The Scottish government (2023) put a different spin on the same results, stating that Scotland maintains its international standing, and appearing to ignore the data which suggest a long-term decline in reading, maths and science performance. Different interpretations of the same data raise opposing questions about the wisdom or bravery of introducing skills-based curricula in an age of neoliberal measures, and the appropriateness of fixed assessment metrics to measure the outcomes of changing curricula.

‘Different interpretations of the same data raise opposing questions about the wisdom or bravery of introducing skills-based curricula in an age of neoliberal measures, and the appropriateness of fixed assessment metrics to measure the outcomes of changing curricula.’

The situation in Kenya

Kenya, meanwhile, is midway through introducing wholesale educational reform via a competence-based curriculum (CBC). Education in Kenya from 1900–1963 was based on racial lines, structured to maintain perceived differences, with each identified race receiving education for a specific function. In post-independence Kenya a variety of commissions and reports sought to make education more ‘relevant’, noting an emphasis on content and summative assessments. The 2012 Odhiambo report, whose recommendations were largely adopted, identified a need to ‘to introduce competency-based assessment in line with a competency based curriculum’. This marked the beginning of a phased adoption of a new model, emphasising a shift from content to competency, and a switch of focus from summative to formative assessments. The ambition is to move from acquisition of knowledge to the development of attitudes, skills and values, together with practical applications within real-life settings.

Kenya’s incoming Basic Education Curriculum Framework insists on issues of diversity and inclusion that in the previous curriculum were silent. The new curriculum emphasises indigenous knowledge and language in early years, together with English and Kiswahili in later years, furthering the ‘Africanisation’ of the curriculum. The CBC is progressing through the system one year at a time, and is presently being introduced into lower secondary years.

The Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers’ Gordon Kirk Travel Scholarship supported conversations with Kenyan educators, which suggest that the battle for hearts and minds is already won: practitioners are convinced of the merits of a competence-based curriculum that, in their words, is more learner-centred and can help students ‘make a life out of education’. They have concerns, however, that resource-heavy pedagogy might widen existing gaps between affluent learners and their peers – as found in Scotland (Shapira et al., 2023). In addition, they worry about their own abilities to assess the competencies on which the curriculum is based.

There must also be some nervousness within Kenya’s Ministry of Education, which is committed to the country’s inclusion in PISA from 2026. PISA will consequently report on one cohort of children taught entirely in the old curriculum, followed two years later by a cohort that have only experienced CBC. PISA was never designed to assess life competencies, so this carries the potential to yield unfavourable 2028 results that might undermine confidence in the CBC just as its roll-out approaches completion.

If existing metrics do not measure skills, attitudes and values, then there remains a question over how these might be evaluated and compared, if they are indeed as essential as the acquisition of knowledge. We might also ask, more philosophically, about the neoliberal principle of consumer choice (and the place of league tables to inform it) in children’s education – which is, after all, defined by the United Nations as a fundamental right.

References

Ostry, J. D., Loungani, P., & Furceri, D. (2016). Neoliberalism: Oversold? IMF Finance & Development, 53(2), 38–42. https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2016/06/ostry.htm

Paterson, L. (2023, December 6). Scotland’s Pisa results: Severe declines in maths, science and reading show ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ isn’t working – Professor Lindsay Paterson (Opinion). The Scotsman. https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/scotlands-pisa-results-severe-declines-in-maths-science-and-reading-show-curriculum-for-excellence-isnt-working-professor-lindsay-paterson-4432547

Rolph, C. (2023). Understanding education policy. Sage.

Scottish Government. (2023, December 5). Scottish education maintains international standing (News article). https://www.gov.scot/news/scottish-education-maintains-international-standing/

Shapira, M., Priestley, M., Peace-Hughes, T., Barnett, C., & Ritchie, M. (2023). Choice, attainment and positive destinations: Exploring the impact of curriculum policy change on young people. University of Stirling/Nuffield Foundation.