- Hillary Muhalya examines whether Kenya’s Junior Schools should be led by administrators with specialized expertise aligned to the Competency-Based Education curriculum.
- The governance of Junior Schools has emerged as one of the most contested issues in the implementation of Competency-Based Education.
- The article argues that effective instructional leadership should match the specialized nature of Junior School education.
- It calls for a review of governance structures to ensure they support the successful implementation of CBE.
Kenya’s implementation of Competency-Based Education (CBE) has fundamentally restructured the country’s education system. Among the most significant reforms has been the establishment of Junior School as a distinct level of learning intended to bridge primary education and Senior School.
Yet, as the system continues to evolve, an important question persists: Can an institution be effectively supervised by administrators whose professional expertise lies outside the educational environment they are expected to lead?
The question is neither personal nor confrontational.
It is a question of professional specialization.
If a university were to appoint a primary school headteacher as its vice-chancellor, there would be immediate public concern—not because the headteacher lacks intelligence, experience or leadership ability, but because universities operate within a specialized environment requiring expertise in research, postgraduate education, accreditation and university governance.
Similarly, few people would support appointing a university professor to lead an early childhood institution without specialized knowledge of child development, foundational literacy and early years pedagogy.
Academic achievement alone does not automatically translate into competence across all levels of education.
The same principle applies throughout the education sector.
Secondary school administrators specialize in managing subject specialization, laboratory-based learning, adolescent development, career pathways and curriculum delivery.
Primary school administrators specialize in foundational literacy, numeracy, child-centred learning and the developmental needs of younger learners.
Neither group is superior to the other.
Each is simply a specialist within a different educational environment.
Why, then, should specialization suddenly cease to matter when it comes to Junior Schools?
The Junior School paradox
Junior Schools were deliberately created as a separate level of learning under CBE.
They introduced specialized subjects, competency-based assessment, practical learning experiences and teachers recruited specifically to teach learners at this stage.
The government recognized that learners in Grades 7, 8 and 9 require a different educational experience from that offered in primary school.
If that justified a separate curriculum and specialized teaching workforce, it should equally justify administrative structures aligned with that reality.
Yet Junior School teachers continue to work within institutions whose leadership structures remain largely rooted in the primary school system.
The contradiction becomes even more apparent when one considers the professional status of Junior School teachers.
They are recruited as secondary school teachers.
Their qualifications place them within the secondary education pathway.
Their deployment, promotion and career progression are aligned to the secondary school framework.
If they are recognized as secondary school teachers in every professional sense, why should the institutions where they serve continue to be administered as though they remain extensions of primary schools?
Beyond status
The issue is not status.
The issue is competence.
The issue is instructional leadership.
An effective school administrator does far more than oversee budgets, infrastructure and records.
Educational leadership requires an understanding of curriculum implementation, assessment, instructional methodologies, learner development, teacher support systems and resource allocation.
Most importantly, educational leaders must understand the environment they are expected to supervise.
This raises an important question:
How can one effectively supervise what one does not fully understand?
How does one evaluate a science programme without appreciating the demands of practical science instruction?
How does one prioritize laboratory development without recognizing its central role in competency-based learning?
How does one guide teachers delivering specialized subjects if one’s professional training and experience were designed for a different educational environment?
These are not questions directed at individuals.
They are questions directed at systems.
Aligning responsibility with expertise
Good governance is founded on the principle that responsibility should be matched with expertise.
Hospitals are led by professionals who understand healthcare systems.
Engineering projects are supervised by engineers.
Legal institutions are managed by lawyers.
Universities are governed by people familiar with higher education.
Education should be no different.
The consequences of misalignment between responsibility and expertise are already becoming evident.
Despite significant government investment, many Junior Schools continue to struggle with inadequate laboratories, insufficient laboratory equipment, limited ICT infrastructure, inadequate learning resources and shortages of staff facilities.
Yet these are not peripheral concerns.
They are central to the successful implementation of CBE.
Competency-Based Education is built upon practical learning.
Science requires experimentation.
Technology requires equipment.
Skills development requires hands-on learning.
Such priorities are more likely to receive sustained attention when institutions are led by administrators who understand their importance through professional experience.
Clarifying professional roles
Equally concerning are reports from various parts of the country indicating that some Junior School teachers are occasionally deployed to teach lower primary classes despite having been recruited specifically for Junior School.
While such decisions may appear administrative, they expose deeper structural challenges.
When institutional boundaries become unclear, professional responsibilities also become blurred.
Teachers become uncertain about expectations.
Administrators face competing priorities.
Learners risk receiving services that do not fully align with the objectives of the curriculum.
A distinct administrative structure would help establish clearer lines of authority, accountability and professional responsibility.
Some argue that granting Junior Schools greater administrative autonomy would increase costs.
While cost is an important consideration, it cannot be the sole determinant of educational policy.
Junior School is no longer an experiment.
It is a fully established component of Kenya’s education system.
The government has already developed the curriculum, recruited thousands of teachers, invested substantial public resources, established assessment frameworks and enrolled millions of learners.
If the nation was confident enough to establish Junior School, it should be equally confident enough to provide governance structures capable of supporting its success.
The future of millions of learners cannot depend upon administrative arrangements inherited from a different educational era.
Nor should policymakers ignore the concerns consistently raised by Junior School teachers.
They are the professionals implementing the curriculum daily.
They understand the realities of classroom instruction, competency-based assessment, resource limitations and learner development.
Their concerns deserve careful consideration rather than dismissal.
Meaningful educational reform is built upon consultation, evidence and professional dialogue.
When those charged with implementing reforms consistently raise questions about governance, instructional leadership, resource allocation and institutional identity, wise leadership listens.
Listening is not a concession.
It is a responsibility.
Ignoring these concerns resembles the familiar story of the ostrich that buries its head in the sand when confronted by danger.
Whether folklore or fact, the lesson remains clear.
The problem does not disappear simply because it is ignored.
Likewise, the governance questions surrounding Junior Schools will remain until they are deliberately addressed.
The success of Competency-Based Education will ultimately depend not only on curriculum design but also on the governance structures established to support its implementation.
If Kenya is truly committed to realizing the promise of CBE, every level of education should be supervised by professionals whose expertise aligns with the educational environment they are expected to lead.
After all, meaningful supervision is not merely about occupying an office.
It is about possessing the knowledge required to guide others effectively.
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And therein lies the paradox: expecting excellence from a system while denying it leadership structures grounded in a full understanding of what that system requires.
By Hillary Muhalya
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