Title: Understanding CBC Differently May Breed Different Results: Teacher Readiness as a Contested Terrain in Uganda's Competency-Based Curriculum Reform
Authors: Dr. Arinaitwe Julius, Akampulira Sarah, Nabaasa Desire
Volume: 10
Issue: 6
Pages: 448-457
Publication Date: 2026/06/28
Abstract:
This study investigated the systemic misalignment between macro-level educational policy formulations and micro-level classroom execution within Uganda's Lower Secondary Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) reform, framing teacher readiness as a highly contested cognitive and structural terrain. Guided by an epistemological and institutional framework, the research critically examined how variations in teachers' conceptual understanding of CBC philosophy generate divergent pedagogical outputs and influence curriculum implementation fidelity. Utilizing a cross-sectional, explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, quantitative data were collected from a stratified sample of 450 secondary school teachers across four distinct educational sub-regions in Uganda (Central, Eastern, Northern, and Western), complemented by qualitative insights from 24 key informant interviews. Statistical analyses progressed from univariate descriptive mapping to bivariate inferential correlations, culminating in a robust Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modeling (CB-SEM) approach to establish paths of mediation. The univariate findings revealed a profoundly fragmented landscape, wherein the mean score for teachers' conceptual understanding of CBC stood at a mediocre 3.24 out of 5.00, accompanied by severely suppressed indicators for institutional infrastructure support (M = 2.48, SD = 0.92) and pedagogical training adequacy (M = 2.76, SD = 0.84). Bivariate analyses demonstrated a statistically significant, moderately strong positive correlation between a teacher's depth of CBC conceptual understanding and their overall implementation fidelity (r = 0.584, p < 0.001), indicating that a substantial proportion of the variance in classroom reform outcome is directly attributable to the cognitive frameworks constructed by individual educators. The structural equation model adequately fit the empirical data (?²/df = 1.84, RMSEA = 0.043, CFI = 0.968, TLI = 0.959) and unveiled that the direct effect of conceptual understanding on implementation fidelity (? = 0.24, p < 0.01) is strongly mediated by professional teacher attitudes (? = 0.42, p < 0.001) and pedagogical training experience (? = 0.31, p < 0.01). Crucially, institutional infrastructural readiness exerted a significant direct structural pull on implementation capacity (? = 0.19, p < 0.01). These findings conclusively indicate that when teachers comprehend the CBC framework through fragmented or traditional instructional lenses, their classroom execution systematically reverts to rote, content-driven styles, thereby sabotaging the state's strategic shift toward learner-centered, skills-based national development. The study recommends a structural overhaul of teacher professional development from ad-hoc, tokenistic seminars to sustained, school-based cognitive mentoring frameworks, alongside aggressive capital capitalization of school instructional infrastructure and the institutionalization of localized pedagogical professional learning communities (PLCs) to harmonize the contested terrain of readiness.