Towards a Successful Development of School-Based Instructional Supervision Materials to Support Effective Competency-Based Curriculum Implementation in Zanzibar

Abstract

The implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) among teachers in Tanzania and Zanzibar in particular remains an issue despite its functioning in schools for nearly seventeen years. In the absence of a supporting guide, school leaders feel less prepared to assist their teachers in implementing the CBC. For this reason, School-Based Instructional Materials (SB-ISMs) were developed by researcher in collaboration with potential users of the SB-ISMs (section leaders and head teachers) and experts. The goal was to provide school leaders with the means to support their teachers as they implement CBC. This article presents the main comments received from users and experts regarding the SB-ISMs developed. The practicality, effectiveness and validity of the developed content was evaluated by 33 section leaders, 15 head teachers, and 5 experts in the area of design-based research, educational management, and curriculum development through semi-structured interview guide. The generated data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis protocol. The users' and experts' comments about the SB-ISMs revealed four major themes namely; ensuring authentic content and reflective activities in the materials, having a logical sequence of SB-ISMs, using context-based facilitation skills and descriptive style of materials presentation, and using practical and hands-on activities for competence development. The involvement of a variety of experts and users contributes to the successful development of intervention materials in education. Therefore, it is recommended that the Government, through Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, whenever, it needs to develop any curriculum guide to be implemented in any educational institution, it is reasonable to involve experts and those who are going to use it in the real school milieu.