Uganda's transition to competency-based education and training represent one of the most significant pedagogical and regulatory reforms in contemporary African education policy. This article critically examines the legal and policy frameworks underpinning this transition at national, regional, continental, and international levels. Through a qualitative case study design employing document analysis and the IRAC framework for legal analysis, the study draws on parliamentary records, assessment data, labour market surveys, and recent scholarly literature. The findings reveal a fundamental implementation paradox: institutional compliance with regulatory mandates coexists with persistent deficiencies in applied competencies that competency-based education was designed to cultivate. Despite possessing one of the most progressive legal frameworks in Sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda faces significant challenges including definitional ambiguity in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Act 2025, delayed issuance of subsidiary legislation for the Skills Development Levy, inadequate teacher preparedness, resource disparities across institutions, and weak industry engagement mechanisms. The study identifies three interrelated gaps: legislative ambiguity, institutional capacity deficits, and absence of outcome-based accountability. These gaps are compounded by regional and gender disparities, with labour underutilization reaching 58.3% among youth aged 15-19. The article concludes that sustainable reform requires moving beyond regulatory compulsion toward outcome-based accountability, genuine industry partnership, equitable resource distribution, and policy coherence across national, regional, and international frameworks. Evidence from across Sub-Saharan Africa confirms that legal mandate alone is insufficient without congruent resource allocation, pedagogical transformation, and sustained stakeholder engagement. The article offers targeted recommendations for legislative amendment, regulatory development, and equity sensitive implementation.
Kenya’s introduction of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) in 2017, renamed Competency-Based
Education (CBE) in 2024, marks a significant reform of the country’s basic education system. The reform
replaced the 8-4-4 structure with a 2-6-6-3 model designed to promote competency development, values
formation, and learner-centered teaching. Nearly a decade into implementation, a growing body of research
has examined the reform across diverse educational contexts; however, findings remain dispersed across
empirical studies, policy documents, government reports, and graduate theses. Using PRISMA-informed
review procedures and thematic synthesis, 198 records were identified and screened, yielding 62 sources
for analysis. The review draws on Fullan’s theory of educational change, Tikly and Barrett’s framework for
quality education in the Global South, and the capability approach of Sen and Nussbaum. Six recurring
implementation challenges were identified: teacher preparedness and pedagogical capacity; infrastructure,
instructional resources, and digital access; assessment design and integrity; parental engagement and
household economic burden; equity and inclusion for learners in marginalized settings; and governance and
policy coherence in the transition to Junior Secondary School. Evidence from Tanzania and Rwanda indicates
that many of these challenges extend beyond Kenya and reflect broader constraints associated with
competency-based reforms in East Africa. The findings suggest that the long-term success of CBE will depend
on sustained investment in teacher development, equitable resource allocation, credible assessment
systems, and meaningful stakeholder engagement. The review contributes to the literature by synthesizing
current knowledge of CBC/CBE implementation in Kenya and identifying areas requiring further research,
policy attention, and leadership support.
Kennedy O. Ongaga· Journal of Education and Hum...· 0 citations
It is concluded that achieving equitable digital transformation in Nigerian education requires a shift from infrastructure-centred implementation toward an equity-driven strategy prioritizing teacher professional development, inclusive policy design, coordinated governance, and sustained public investment.
Surajudeen Sadiq, N. Orunbon, Isioma Stella Olagunju· Journal of Education and Lea...· 0 citations
This study examines the design, implementation, and outcomes of Uganda’s Gender in Education Sector Policy II (GEPII) within higher education, focusing on women’s access, disciplinary participation, and academic progression. Despite its comprehensive gender mainstreaming framework, the policy’s effectiveness in achieving substantive equity remains limited. Guided by feminist institutionalism and policy implementation theory, the study employs a qualitative case study design, drawing on documentary analysis of policy texts, institutional reports, and national higher education statistics from the National Council for Higher Education. Findings show that GEPII is normatively strong and aligned with global gender equality and human capital development agendas; however, implementation is uneven and largely characterised by procedural compliance rather than structural transformation. While institutions have introduced gender units, revised policies, and implemented affirmative measures, these have produced limited change in entrenched inequalities. Quantitative evidence indicates improved female participation in higher education (45.7% of total enrolment), yet persistent disparities remain in technical and STEM fields (19.4%), academic staffing (32.3%), and doctoral attainment (20.3%), reflecting a pronounced “leaky pipeline” in women’s academic progression. Financial and institutional interventions have also yielded only marginal redistributive effects. The study concludes that Uganda has achieved notable progress in gender inclusion but limited transformation in gender equity, contributing to feminist institutionalist and policy implementation scholarship by demonstrating how informal institutional norms and weak accountability mechanisms mediate policy outcomes and sustain the gap between policy intent and practice in higher education.
Bonny Opeto, D. Onen· East African Journal of Inte...· 0 citations
Competency-based curriculum (CBC) reforms have increasingly been adopted across Southern African education systems as governments attempt to improve learning outcomes, develop practical skills, and align schooling with contemporary socio-economic demands. Despite these policy ambitions, evidence from several education systems suggests that CBC reforms remain unevenly implemented, particularly in resource-constrained secondary schools, where institutional capacity and instructional resources are limited. This study examines the policy–practice gap in the implementation of competency-based curriculum in selected Southern African secondary schools by synthesising recent scholarly and policy literature. It employed a systematic literature review guided by PRISMA procedures to identify and analyse relevant studies published between 2020 and 2025. Search was conducted across major academic databases and policy repositories, yielding 25 studies that met the established inclusion criteria. The reviewed studies focused primarily on teachers, school administrators, and policy implementation in African secondary education systems. The findings indicate that although CBC reforms are widely supported at the policy level, implementation at the school level is constrained by several interconnected factors. Key challenges include limited teacher preparedness, inadequate professional development opportunities, shortages of textbooks and teaching materials, infrastructural limitations, and weak institutional support mechanisms. Teachers often interpret and adapt curriculum policies to fit classroom realities, leading to inconsistent implementation of competency-based pedagogies. The study concludes that effective implementation of competency-based curriculum reforms requires sustained investment in teacher training, improved allocation of instructional resources, and stronger institutional coordination across education systems. Policymakers and education administrators should prioritise context-sensitive implementation strategies that strengthen school-level capacity and support teachers in adopting competency-based pedagogical approaches. Future research should explore classroom-level experiences of CBC implementation and evaluate long-term impacts of curriculum reforms on teaching practices and learner outcomes.
M. S. Motadi· International Journal of Stu...· 0 citations
Background
Research-policy partnerships are widely used to support evidence-informed reform, yet how evidence actually shapes policy and practice in low-income education systems remains poorly understood. This article asks how, and under what relational and institutional conditions, evidence generated by Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) Ethiopia contributed to national policy on equity, learning and accountability.
Methods/data
The study uses qualitative data, drawing on 22 semi-structured interviews with senior federal policy makers, regional officials, development partners and local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), complemented by documentary analysis of RISE outputs, education sector plans and policy materials.
Approach
Interview transcripts and documents were analysed using a thematic analysis framework, combining deductive coding organised around bounded mutuality, sustained interactivity and policy adaptability with inductive coding of emergent evidence-to-policy contribution pathways.
Results
RISE evidence contributed to the bottom-up design of the four-year Education Transformation Programme and its implementation vehicle, Education Transformation Operation for Learning (2025-2029), supported a reframing of national discourse from schooling expansion towards foundational learning, helped develop an equity narrative grounded in observed learning gains among disadvantaged students within a school year, and informed COVID-19 school-reopening deliberations. Contributions were clearest where trusted relationships, timely decision windows and actionable evidence converged; where any of these elements was weak, policy impact was correspondingly less direct.
Conclusion
The article shows that policy contribution was enabled by relational conditions that allowed evidence to be heard, trusted and acted upon. It offers a transferable framework for embedding research in policy systems and underscores the need for sustained institutional investment in the capacity for evidence use.
M. Araya, Pauline Rose, D. Tiruneh et al.· Evidence & Policy: A Journal...· 0 citations
This study analyzes inclusive special education in Brazil through the lens of the tension between the robust regulatory framework that recognizes inclusion as a fundamental right and its implementation in institutional practices. The objective is to understand the regulatory advances, the structural and institutional gaps that persist in the school systems, and the role of judicial intervention in guaranteeing the right to inclusive education. The analysis shows that, although the Federal Constitution, educational legislation, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Statute of Persons with Disabilities have established important legal guarantees, obstacles remain related to infrastructure, funding, teacher training, pedagogical resources, management, and inter-institutional coordination. In this context, the gap between legal norms and practice contributes to increasing judicialization, especially in cases involving enrollment, specialized educational services, the availability of support professionals, adapted transportation, and curricular accommodations. It is evident that judicialization has an ambivalent nature: it simultaneously ensures the enforceability of rights and highlights structural shortcomings in public policies. It is concluded that the consolidation of inclusive education requires structural investments, continuing professional development, systemic planning, the strengthening of administrative mechanisms, and integration among the different branches of government, in order to reduce dependence on judicial intervention and ensure substantive equality and effective educational participation.
Suele Aparecida da Silva, Kamilla Costa Pereira, Nauanne Rayelle Vasconcelos Martins et al.· Revista de Estudos Interdisc...· 0 citations
