The Competency Based Approach in Cameroon Public Secondary Schools: Modes of Appropriation and Constrains

In recent times, the Competency Based Approach (CBA) has gained grounds in the academic world. In fact, it is no longer vogue to teach with the purpose of restoring knowledge and or applying isolated know-how. It is rather mandatory that learners are confronted with problem situations which they need to solve. Through this approach the learner will not only acquire knowledge but also use it in a meaningful way in various situations of life, work and family, social and even professional situations. This reform has brought about profound changes in teaching practices as the teacher becomes a true mediator between the learner and the knowledge. In order to achieve this competence objective, secondary schools in Cameroon chose, after the experience of programs by content and objective, to follow the path of the CBA. This switch is important as it raises a crucial concern on whether or not teachers are trained to adjust to the demands of the new dispensation. It is on the basis of this puzzle that the paper has been designed to examine the various ways by which teachers acquire knowledge and skills associated with the use of CBA and the challenges they face in implementing it. Abstract: In Cameroon, after experimenting on the Objective Based Approach (OBA) and weighing its contextual inadequacies for many years, recourse has been made to another teaching approach, the Competency Based Approach (CBA). Teachers in secondary schools whether socialized or not in the approach are compelled to master and use it as a mode of instruction. The switch to this new teaching approach leaves some unattended questions. Are the teachers equipped and ready for the new approach? What are the challenges to meeting the target objective of the approach? Based on these puzzling circumstances, this paper was designed to examine the various ways by which teachers acquire knowledge and skills on the use of CBA and the attendant challenges they face in implementing it. The research design used for the study was a cross sectional survey. Convenient and purposive sampling techniques were used to select a sample of 145 respondents from five public schools: Government Bilingual High School (GBHS) Downtown Bamenda, GBHS Atiela, GBHS Bamenda, GBHS Bayelle, and GBHS Bamendankwe in Bamenda Municipality. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that an appreciable percentage of teachers graduated from the training colleges before the CBA was introduced in the Cameroon school system. Majority (96.5%) attested to the fact that they acquired basic knowledge and skills of CBA through seminars, conferences and workshops which were not really frequent to keep them abreast with the dynamics in the art of the model. It was noticed that majority of the teachers found it difficult to implement the CBA because of inadequate knowledge and skills, overcrowded classrooms, limited teaching hours, the bogus nature of the syllabuses and insufficient pedagogic and learning materials. The study suggest that teachers need diverse professional development activities like in-service training, seminars, conferences, workshops, and individual research to continually appropriate, adapt and use dynamic trends of CBA.