Title: Assessment Reform under Competence-Based Education: Activities of Integration, Continuous Assessment, and the Persistence of Examination-Driven Culture: A Quantitative Study on Assessment Reform under Competence-Based Education
Authors: Dr. Arinaitwe Julius
Akampulira Sarah
Nabaasa Desire
Volume: 10
Issue: 8
Pages: 145-153
Publication Date: 2026/08/28
Abstract:
This study examined assessment reform within competence-based education (CBE), focusing on the extent to which Activities of Integration and continuous assessment practices have taken root in secondary schools and the degree to which an examination-driven culture continues to constrain their implementation. Although CBE curricula formally require teachers to assess learners through integrative, competency-based tasks rather than through terminal, content-recall examinations alone, anecdotal and policy evidence suggested that assessment practice on the ground remained heavily oriented toward summative, examination-style testing. The study therefore set out to establish the levels of implementation of continuous assessment and Activities of Integration, to determine the extent of persistence of examination-driven assessment culture, and to model the structural relationships among these variables and overall assessment reform effectiveness. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted, and data were collected from 350 secondary school teachers drawn from public, private, and faith-based schools using a structured, validated questionnaire anchored on a five-point Likert scale. Data were analysed using univariate statistics (frequencies, means, standard deviations, skewness, kurtosis, and Cronbach's alpha), bivariate statistics (Pearson product-moment correlation, independent samples t-test, and one-way ANOVA), and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using the maximum likelihood estimator. The SEM results indicated that continuous assessment practices and Activities of Integration implementation were significant positive predictors of assessment reform effectiveness, whereas examination-driven culture was a significant negative predictor and also suppressed the implementation of Activities of Integration. The final structural model demonstrated an excellent fit to the data (?²(98) = 113.89, p = .130; CFI = .989; TLI = .987; RMSEA = .022), and jointly explained 55.3% of the variance in assessment reform effectiveness. The study concluded that assessment reform under CBE remained only partially institutionalized, with examination-driven habits persisting alongside emerging competence-based practices, and recommended sustained pedagogical supervision, review of high-stakes examination policy, and continuous professional development in competence-based assessment.