CBE in Practice
Helping Kenya turn Competency-Based Education from national policy into consistent, well-supported and sustainable practice across schools.
Kenya is at the hardest part of reform
Kenya is not at the beginning of education reform. It is at the most difficult point: turning reform into consistent practice.
Kenya has already set the policy direction through Competency-Based Education. The pioneer cohort entered Grade 10 Senior School in January 2026, choosing pathways and subjects through the national placement system.
This means CBE is no longer mainly a curriculum-design discussion. It is being tested in real schools, with real teachers, learners and families.
Why this is the right moment
The policy is settled enough to implement, but implementation is still flexible enough to improve before today's gaps become embedded across future cohorts.
Investment is already taking place in classrooms, teachers, digital resources and institutional capacity. The opportunity is to help ensure that existing and new resources reach clearly identified implementation needs.
Schools need implementation support, not another policy announcement. That is the opening One Big Change addresses.
CBE, CBC and CBA explained
Three connected strands of one flagship project. Schools cannot successfully deliver one without the others.
The education system
How schools, leaders, teachers, learners, families and institutions work together to develop the whole learner.
The curriculum in practice
How teachers translate curriculum designs, competencies and pathways into consistent classroom practice.
Assessment for learning
How schools recognise, assess and use evidence of learners' knowledge, skills, values and competencies.
The implementation challenges schools face
The first Grade 10 transition exposed the difference between having a national system and making it work equally well everywhere.
- Schools are not equally prepared in staffing, facilities, technology, leadership and materials
- Learner placement has created uneven demand between schools
- Teacher confidence and assessment practice remain inconsistent after retooling
- Parents and communities need support to help learners choose pathways
Retooling thousands of teachers is necessary, but a national briefing does not automatically change everyday school practice.
See what is working and where support is needed.
An implementation partner, not a policy creator
One Big Change Kenya is developing an implementation partnership designed to support government, schools and education institutions in strengthening CBE in practice.
One Big Change does not arrive with a fixed external answer. It creates a disciplined process through which Kenyan institutions and practitioners can develop, test and strengthen responses together.
The Ministry sets the direction. One Big Change helps the whole system deliver it. Different roles, shared responsibility.
Keeping the work Kenyan-led
A small group of respected voices from public education institutions, school leadership, teacher organisations, universities and research, industry and technology, and community and parent representation.
Its role is to ensure the work remains Kenyan-led, policy-aligned, practical for schools, sensitive to different county contexts, and focused on sustainability.
A nationally representative selection
Ten founding schools will be drawn from strategically selected counties representing different education contexts. County names are not published until selection is confirmed.
The selection framework deliberately includes:
Co-design before delivery
- Kenyan Advisory Committee convenes
- Ten founding schools complete individual Change Lens assessments
- School baselines established
- Common and local barriers identified
- Expert and university input gathered
- Programme refined with stakeholders
- Initial resource mapping completed
Understanding each school honestly
Each founding school completes the Change Lens collaboratively to understand leadership and professional capability, wellbeing, inclusion, teaching and academic quality, CBE and CBA confidence, pathway readiness, staffing, equipment, technology, family and community engagement, and practical barriers to implementation.
The Change Lens is a major part of both the Strategy and this project. It is not a separate programme.
Ten connected areas explored through the Change Lens
Beneath the four pillars sit ten areas the Change Lens explores. Select an area to see what it examines, why it affects CBE implementation, and the kinds of support a school may need.
Leadership and governance
Leadership and professional capabilityWhat the Change Lens explores
How school leaders set direction, govern implementation and sustain change.
Why it affects CBE
Leadership determines whether CBE becomes embedded practice or stays a paper reform.
Support a school may need
Leadership coaching, governance briefings and implementation planning.
Understand the school before designing the support.
Kenyan, African and European knowledge
The initial expert group combines Kenyan school and system experience, relevant African practice, carefully selected European experience, and research and evaluation support from universities.
The key is not where an expert comes from. It is whether they bring knowledge relevant to a need identified by Kenyan schools.
Independent evidence and learning
Universities co-design the research, evaluate implementation and publish findings openly. Relationships are described accurately at their current stage.
University of Northampton
Developing relationship
University of Greenwich
Developing relationship
University of Oxford
Exploratory conversation
Removing real barriers
Traction Partners respond to evidenced needs. The Change Lens shows where a contribution can remove a real barrier rather than fund another disconnected initiative.
Partners can support the whole programme, a particular Hub, a particular barrier across several Hubs, or both national coordination and local delivery.
From founding schools to local cohorts
- Founding schools become Lead Schools
- Each builds a connected local cohort of up to nine partner schools
- Best practice moves between schools
- Resources can be shared or coordinated
- Local implementation capability grows
One workshop per term
Understand and name the change
Interpret the national priority, examine Change Lens findings, define the school's One Big Change, create an implementation plan.
Apply, troubleshoot and strengthen
Share progress, test the approach, identify barriers, learn from other schools, access targeted support.
Embed, evidence and sustain
Review evidence, embed successful practice, develop internal trainers, plan sustainability, prepare to share learning.
What should exist
- Ten school baselines completed through the Change Lens
- One shared implementation picture across the cohort
- A refined programme shaped by stakeholders
- An agreed first response to identified needs
- Emerging Hubs in each participating county
What should exist
- Ten functioning Hubs
- Up to 100 participating schools
- School-based implementation capability
- Evidence of what worked
- Resources directed to real needs
- A national learning community
- LocaeAwards and LocaeFest delivered
What sustainable implementation looks like
- At school level: trained internal champions, embedded practice, internal trainers
- At Hub level: functioning local leadership, peer learning, resource partnerships
- At national level: a repeatable process, stronger local expertise, clear visibility of where resources are needed
- For partners: clear evidence of contribution and impact
How to participate
Government, schools, universities, experts, Traction Partners and community organisations all have a role to play.
Start a ConversationCommon questions about CBE in Practice
Is One Big Change replacing government policy?
No. The Ministry sets the direction. One Big Change helps schools and institutions deliver it. One Big Change Kenya is developing an implementation partnership designed to support government, schools and education institutions in strengthening CBE in practice.
Are CBE, CBC and CBA separate programmes?
No. They are three connected strands of one flagship project. Schools cannot successfully deliver one without the others.
Which counties are involved?
Ten founding schools will be selected using a nationally representative framework. County names are not published until selection is confirmed.
How is this different from existing teacher training?
It is not a training programme. It is an implementation framework that connects expertise, resources and evidence around a shared priority, with sustained support across the year.