The Role of Competency-Based Curriculum implementation on the acquisition of Employability Skills in Selected Catholic Secondary Schools in the Archdiocese of Bamenda, Cameroon

Abstract

Employability skills have become a greater part of the daily conversation in the global world. Those graduating from schools at all levels are required to have some basic experience and skills to enable them to either get employment or start their own business, or jobs that can help them make a living. Education stands out as the most common and possible way to acquire these skills. This education can either be formal or non-formal. The research study focused on formal education to examine the role of Competency-Based-Curriculum (CBC) implementation on the acquisition of employability skills in some selected Catholic Secondary Schools in the Archdiocese of Bamenda, Cameroon. The study was guided by research questions carved from specific objectives centred around students’ learning interest in their learning process, the preparedness of teachers in the CBC implementation process, and the resources available for the implementation of CBC in the selected Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Bamenda, Cameroon. The study design adopted a convergent parallel mixed-methods design. The participants for this research were drawn from the four selected Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Bamenda. The sample size was 307 students drawn from 1311students using the combination of stratified and random sampling, 86 teachers drawn from a total of 107 teachers using the random sampling, and 4 headteachers will use the census sampling. The formula used to calculate sample size was Yaro’s n=N/(1+Ne˄2). The sampling technique for the study was a combination of stratified random sampling and simple random sampling for the quantitative and purposeful sampling for the qualitative design. The research instruments for the collection of data were questionnaires and an interview guide. For its validity, the researcher submitted the questionnaire and interview guide to the supervisors to ensure they aligned with the research objectives. For reliability, the questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, a measure of internal consistency. A coefficient of 0.70 and higher was considered acceptable, indicating satisfactory reliability. Questionnaire responses were entered into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 26, to guide the data analysis. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to analyse the data in SPSS. Qualitative Data Analysis - NVivo software was used for coding and thematic analysis. The findings from the data revealed that greater student engagement is needed for proper implementation of the CBC towards employability skills, teachers’ preparedness is very necessary for the understanding and implementation of the CBC, and lastly, resources play an important role when it comes to CBC implementation. The study recommended full government support in schools for proper implementation of CBC towards employability skills, the study again recommended that teachers need to be properly trained for effective implementation of CBC towards employability skills, and lastly, the government, through the Ministry of education, should link up the schools with the job market to give the students the opportunities offered by the job market.