The enigma of the competency-based model in primary education in Mozambique

Abstract

The effective implementation of the Competence Model in the institutions of education is one of the major challenges of the Ministry of Education and Human Development. There is more than a decade that the competence-based curriculum is implemented in the Primary School level. However, the quality of the pupils' achievement in different learning cycles has been complained and/or censured by different social groups, including teachers and parents. It is in this context the article intends to Analyze the impact and effects of the development of competences in the Mozambican curriculum organization in the quality of the Primary School students’ learnings in the country. For this study, we chose the quantitative and qualitative paradigms, the combination of review of literature, which includes norms or official documents, case study method and techniques such as interview, questionnaire, observation and diagnostic tests. The techniques were applied on a sample of (N=908) people namely school managers, teachers and pupils. The research itinerary allowed us to reach to the conclusion that the Competence Model is far away from its effective implementation in Mozambican primary schools once only 45% out of n=112 tested pupils have developed competences prescribed in the Primary School syllabi. This fact is due to the lack or deficient appropriation of the philosophy and strategies demanded by the curriculum by the leaders, managers, teachers and pupils, lack of infrastructural resources, materials and teaching aids for effective implementation of the Primary school curriculum.