Curriculum Reform: Initial Primary School Curriculum and Assessment Reform Experiences in Malawi

Countries worldwide are engaged in education reforms in trying to respond to certain issues ranging from socioeconomic to political and technological changes. Many countries around the world thus engage in various education reforms to deal with such challenges. Current curricular thoughts contend that the previous education did not prepare the learners with adequate knowledge and skills to deal with the everyday challenges and to enhance lifelong learning. In order to address the shortfalls of the previous curriculum, there has been a paradigm shift in the way education systems operate. Worldwide, countries are embracing the learner centred approach to the teaching and learning process as opposed to the traditional teacher centred approach. Another popular reform is Outcome Based Education (OBE). Malawi embraced OBE in its education system beginning with primary school followed by secondary school in 2001 and 2015 respectively. This book highlights early experiences of primary school teachers in the implementation of OBE. It brings to light the challenges and opportunities associated with the reform in the early stages of implementation.