How Schools Can Strengthen Career Guidance Under Kenya's Competency-Based Education (CBE) Framework
By Dr. Irene Kiarie
The introduction of Kenya's Competency-Based Education (CBE) marks one of the most significant transformations in the country's education system since independence. At its heart, CBE aims to nurture learners' talents, interests, competencies, and aspirations rather than measuring success solely through examination performance. It is a bold and necessary shift for a rapidly changing world.
However, curriculum reform alone cannot guarantee better outcomes. The success of CBE will depend not only on what learners study, but also on how well they are guided to make informed decisions about their educational pathways and future careers.
Career guidance is no longer an optional school service, it is becoming one of the most strategic functions of every secondary school.
From Subject Selection to Life Planning
Traditionally, career guidance in many Kenyan schools has focused on helping students choose subjects, complete university applications, or prepare for national examinations. Under CBE, this model is no longer sufficient.
By Grade 9, learners are expected to begin making pathway decisions that may influence their senior school experience and, ultimately, their transition into higher education, technical training, entrepreneurship, or employment. These decisions require much more than a one day career talk or an annual university exhibition.
Effective career guidance must become a continuous developmental process that helps learners understand themselves, explore opportunities, build decision-making skills, and connect their education with their future aspirations.
Schools must move beyond asking, "What career do you want?" to helping learners answer the deeper question:
"Who am I becoming, and how can education help me reach my potential?"
Career Guidance Must Become a Whole-School Responsibility
One of the greatest opportunities presented by CBE is the chance to rethink career guidance as a whole-school responsibility rather than the sole duty of a guidance and counselling teacher.
Every teacher influences a learner's understanding of the world of work. Science teachers introduce innovation and research. Language teachers develop communication skills. Mathematics teachers cultivate analytical thinking. Arts and humanities teachers nurture creativity, empathy, and leadership.
School leaders should therefore embed career development into the culture of the institution by ensuring that career conversations happen consistently across subjects, co-curricular activities, mentorship programmes, and community engagement.
Career guidance should not be an event on the school calendar, it should be woven into the learner experience.
Strengthening the Career Guidance System
Schools seeking to thrive under CBE should consider strengthening career guidance through five interconnected pillars.
1. Build Structured Career Guidance Programmes
Career guidance should follow a clear progression across all secondary school years rather than relying on occasional talks.
Learners should progressively develop:- career exploration skills
- decision-making ability
- goal-setting skills
- employability competencies
- understanding of emerging careers
This structured approach ensures learners are better prepared when important pathway decisions arise.
2. Equip Teachers as Career Influencers
Many teachers want to support learners but have received little formal preparation in career development.
Professional development should equip teachers with practical skills to:
- facilitate career conversations
- interpret learners' interests and strengths
- understand CBE pathways
- appreciate labour market trends
- identify emerging opportunities
When teachers become confident career influencers, learners benefit from informed guidance throughout their school journey.
3. Engage Parents as Partners
Parents remain among the most influential career advisors in a young person's life. Yet many are navigating the CBE transition with uncertainty.
Schools should intentionally involve parents through information sessions, pathway discussions, and practical resources that explain curriculum options, changing career landscapes, and the competencies required for future success.
When schools and families provide consistent guidance, learners make more confident and informed decisions.
4. Build Partnerships Beyond the School
Schools cannot prepare learners for the future in isolation.
Partnerships with universities, TVET institutions, employers, entrepreneurs, professional associations, and community organisations expose learners to authentic career experiences and broaden their understanding of available opportunities.
Career guidance becomes significantly more meaningful when learners interact with professionals and experience the workplace firsthand.
5. Use Data to Inform Guidance
Career guidance should increasingly become evidence-based.
Schools can use learner interest surveys, pathway preferences, participation data, and post-school outcomes to understand whether their guidance programmes are meeting learners' needs.
Data enables schools to move beyond assumptions and continuously improve the support they provide.
Looking Beyond University
One of the unintended consequences of Kenya's previous education model was the perception that university represented the only pathway to success.
CBE presents an opportunity to redefine success.
A successful education system values multiple pathways, including technical and vocational education, entrepreneurship, apprenticeships, creative industries, digital careers, agriculture, and emerging sectors that may not have existed a decade ago.
Career guidance should therefore help learners appreciate the dignity and potential of diverse career journeys while aligning education with individual strengths and national development priorities.
Preparing Learners for an Uncertain Future
Perhaps the greatest challenge facing schools today is that many of the careers today's learners will pursue have not yet fully emerged.
Artificial intelligence, climate change, digital transformation, demographic shifts, and evolving labour markets will continue to reshape education and employment throughout this generation.
In such an environment, career guidance cannot simply provide occupational information. It must cultivate adaptability, curiosity, lifelong learning, resilience, and informed decision-making.
These are the competencies that will enable young people to thrive regardless of how the future of work evolves.
A National Opportunity
Strengthening career guidance is not merely a school improvement initiative—it is an investment in Kenya's future workforce.
When learners make informed pathway decisions, schools become more responsive, parents gain confidence in the education system, employers benefit from better-prepared graduates, and the nation moves closer to achieving its aspirations for inclusive social and economic development.
CBE has created an important opportunity to reimagine education around learner potential. Career guidance provides the bridge between that potential and meaningful futures.
The schools that invest in strong career guidance systems today will not only prepare learners for examinations, they will prepare them for life.
About the Author
Dr. Irene Kiarie is an Education & Youth Development Specialist, researcher, and founder of Youth Equipped. She works with schools, policymakers, and development partners to strengthen career guidance systems, support Competency-Based Education (CBE) implementation, and improve school-to-work transitions across Kenya through research, consultancy, and evidence-based practice.