Industry competencies or wellbeing capabilities? Assessing a Kenyan case of CBET reform

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is increasingly viewed as a development strategy in Africa. Yet TVET is also criticized for its human capital orientation focused primarily on market needs. Competency-based education and training (CBET), a TVET approach, has been further criticized for reducing students to mere instruments of value creation defined by the competencies required by industry. This study explores whether CBET can be reframed to incorporate a capability approach that better promotes wellbeing in Africa beyond industry competencies. The capability approach is a wellbeing framework that emphasizes expanding the agency and capabilities of people to choose the kinds of lives they find valuable. Incorporating a capability approach orientation into CBET would place fostering student agency and wellbeing capabilities as a central educational focus rather than just the needs of industry. Using the Most Significant Change method, the study assesses a case of CBET reform in Kenya for its potential to expand student agency and capabilities. The findings illustrate that the adoption of CBET’s learner-centred pedagogy played a role in expanding student capabilities while also building industry-relevant competencies. Moreover, intentionally mainstreaming gender within CBET further expanded female agency and capabilities. Yet, this expansion of wellbeing is limited by the financial character of CBET and its interconnection to student poverty. Overall, the findings demonstrate that there is potential for CBET to move beyond a sole focus on human capital and embrace expanding student capabilities. [Abstract continued in PDF]