Abridged thematic curriculum’s prioritization and learning recovery in selected government aided primary schools in industrial division, Mbale City

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the Abridged Thematic Curriculum prioritization and learning recovery in selected government aided primary schools in industrial division, Mbale city. The study applied the social constructivist theory by levy Vygotsky (1968). The study was guided by three objectives namely; to explore the learning areas in the abridged thematic curriculum that are prioritized to support learning recovery; to establish the instructional strategies that the Abridged Thematic Curriculum prioritizes to facilitate learning recovery and to explore the assessment strategies the abridged thematic curriculum prioritizes to facilitate learning recovery. An exploratory qualitative approach, using a case study design was applied. Purposive sampling was employed in selecting the 14 participants involved in this study. The participants included 2 CCTs, 4 head teachers and 8 teachers. Data was collected using documentary analysis, face to face interviews and lesson observations. The documents analyzed were the abridged thematic curriculum and the standard thematic curriculum. The findings revealed that the learning areas prioritized are those which were merged from primary two and three curricula especially those that have similarities in the two classes, however, teachers misinterpreted the Abridged Thematic Curriculum and continue to pick content that was left out in the standard thematic curriculum, leading to curriculum overload, and affecting learning recovery; multi-sensory literacy-focused instructional strategies were prioritized as well as formative and diagnostic literacy-focused assessment strategies were prioritized. In conclusion therefore, the prioritized learning areas in abridged thematic curriculum are those which were merged and have similarities from the two curricula and from the two classes, prioritized instructional strategies in the abridged thematic curriculum are those that are learner-centered and the prioritized assessment strategies are those that subscribe to continuous assessment. It was recommended that the ministry of education and sports should provide targeted and generic professional development to enable teachers appreciate the rationale and purpose of the abridged thematic curriculum and to address abridged thematic curriculum misinterpretation to facilitate its effective implementation for learning recovery.