Educators trained on OBE curriculum

Attitude and paradigm shift essential for successful implementation

The Ministry of Education is finalising implementation of the Outcome Based Education (OBE) curriculum and training teachers to be adequately equipped to teach learners is a key element of ensuring effective implementation of OBE.

The Ministry of Education recently held a capacitation workshop for trainers of teachers in Francistown, with the hope that they would better grasp the paradigm shift required for impactful implementation of OBE so that they would be in a position to cascade the knowledge to teachers and learners across the regions in Botswana.

Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, and also coordinator of the Multiple Pathways system, Innocent Kologwe, noted that the main topics to be covered through OBE as inscribed in the Education and Training Sector Strategic Plan (ETSSP) and multiple pathways system include: Fundamentals, Social Sciences, General and Vocational Sciences as solutions to the current education crisis, and to improve the quality of education in Botswana. He said that it is important to train the trainers because it is “necessary that the teacher in the 21st century prepare students and other teachers psychologically and content-wise towards successful implementation of the OBE system.” Kologwe reiterated that OBE cannot be successfully implemented without adequately preparing teachers for its effective use because some teachers were trained under the traditional methods of teacher–centred education, and now as the system transitions, some are finding it difficult to accept the principles and realities of the OBE system because it is a new concept. “Teaching and learning in contemporary education systems in Botswana are experiencing a paradigm shift and there is a transition from the traditional teacher-centred teaching to student-centred education so trainers should be equipped to adopt these changes and help the teachers and learners move with the times.” OBE is a process of curriculum design that starts with focus on the subjects that they show better acumen and excellence in, then organising curriculum, instruction, and assessment to make sure that learning ultimately takes place, and at the centre of this outcome-based education is the learner. The Ministry of Education has indicated that the system registers the desired results of creating learners with mastery in subjects that they excel in, improved soft skills, a positive attitude towards learning, and a global mindset that is premised on resourcefulness and is solutions-driven. Additionally, in OBE, teaching strategies are learner-based and intensify usage of ICT in teaching and learning.