Configurations of Competence-Based Curriculum Implementation among Secondary School Teachers in Tanzania

Abstract Tanzania reformed its secondary school curriculum from traditional knowledge-based to competence-based to promote skill development. Previous studies about this transition have mainly focused on implementation challenges and teacher understanding, offering limited insight into recurring patterns of classroom enactment. Guided by Sense-Making Theory and the Concerns-Based Adoption Model, this study explored secondary school teachers’ interpretations, pedagogical decisions, and contextual realities interact to shape curriculum implementation configurations. An interpretive qualitative multiple-case study design was employed involving 10 secondary school teachers purposively selected from one urban and one rural school. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, document review, and classroom observations, and analysed using iterative thematic and cross-case comparative procedures. Findings identified three recurring configurations of implementation: Fidelity Alignment (representing teachers who consistently enacted competence-oriented pedagogy with strong alignment between curriculum intentions and classroom practice), Strategic Adaptation (signalling teachers who selectively modified implementation in response to contextual constraints), and Symbolic Adoption (who combined both CBC and traditional teaching due to instructional feasibility beliefs). The study concludes that CBC implementation is fundamentally interpretive and contextually negotiated. The discussion of these findings includes limitations and implications.