My Education
Switching Education Systems, A Possible Move
By William Mwangi | Image courtesy: Brookings.edu
William Mwangi Career Coach, Crawford International School.
Education impacts an individual’s thought process through the development of critical, analytical and creative thinking just to mention a few. It is vital to invest in early childhood development with a focus on the end goal. The choice of an education system will determine the outcome.
The assessment process between the two has slight differences. Cambridge employs summative and formative assessment. Formative refers to continuous projects such as posters, PowerPoint presentation, dance, or prototype which are then graded using rubrics (an instrument used to identify and evaluate qualitative differences in student performance). Summative features conKenya has embraced the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) tinuous examinations done throughout the year. In the case of a system that begins in early years education (pre-primary and CBC continuous tests carry the weight of the learner’s grades. lower primary), middle school (upper primary and lower secondary), senior school (upper secondary) and tertiary educa- The school calendar varies as Cambridge starts in September tion. and ends in June. While CBC starts in January and concludes in December with an exception of the past two years where learnWhile the Cambridge curriculum consists of four stages and ers have endured a crash programme to enable them to comgives students a clear path for educational success from age five plete the syllabus. to 19. These four stages of the Cambridge Curriculum primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and International AS and A Levels. Children exposed to the Cambridge system tend to begin the junior levels at an earlier age as compared to the CBC which The two systems vary in content and mode of delivery. The learn- begins at age four. When moving from CBC to Cambridge a stuing approach at Cambridge is student-centered meaning there is dent will be a year older as compared to the rest. not a one size fits all. It requires active learning, recognition of student diversity and continuous self-reflection with consider- Switching from the CBC to the Cambridge curriculum at differation of the different backgrounds and varying connections to ent levels is a personal preference for a globally acceptable sysknowledge. tem. An informed position facilitates ease of transitioning from one to the other. Switching curriculums requires guidance, timCBC aims to be a more student-based system with more focus ing, assessment and a positive attitude in which the new instituon the ability of the learner to self-learn and develop relevant tion will help the learner transition and settle smoothly. skills required for any engagement carried out.
