A School Leader who Keeps Learning

In Nairobi’s Gikomba area, Muthurwa Primary and Junior School has undergone a lot of change in the past few years. Since 2017, the school has been transitioning to Competency-Based Education (CBE), as part of Kenya’s shift away from the former 8-4-4 system. While the previous system was largely teacher-centred and heavily focused on examinations, CBE puts learners at the centre of the learning process and places greater emphasis on developing skills and competencies alongside knowledge.

This transition followed a reform by the Kenyan government and introduced a new structure for basic education. Learners now move from six years of primary school into three years of Junior School, covering Grades 7 to 9, followed by three years of Senior Secondary School, covering Grades 10 to 12. Junior and Senior School together make up secondary education, with Junior School serving as a bridge between primary and Senior School. Head of Institution Hellen Oliech looks back on how she and her staff have guided the school through this transition: “We really had to reorganise ourselves; we’ve built new classrooms and received funds from the Kenyan government to provide additional classroom materials.”

“It’s a big change from what we had previously,” Hellen says. “The learners in Grade 9 need a lot of support, because as the pilot group they are the first to undergo this kind of learning. We especially need support in terms of personnel, books and ICT tools.”
 

When Muthurwa Primary and Junior School prepared for the new curriculum, Hellen welcomed additional teachers to join the Junior School staff. “Many of them were young teachers who were either previously teaching secondary school or were hoping to teach in a secondary school. But when they got posted to our school, they suddenly had to work together with the primary staff,” she says. “It was quite a challenge to bring them on board, because they had to accept that this is what their role was going to be.”

An additional challenge for the newly appointed Junior School teachers was that in secondary school, teachers often specialise in two subjects. “The new teachers had to take up more subjects, including subjects they had not been trained to teach,” Hellen says. She organised professional development training and brought in external trainers to help her teachers get up to speed with subjects they were teaching for the first time. This training was provided both internally and externally by Kenya’s Ministry of Education and the Teachers Service Commission.

“In Junior School, we have music and ICT classes. Most teachers might be ICT literate, but when it comes to teaching ICT, you need a much deeper knowledge of the learning area.”
 

Just as teachers may be required to teach subjects outside of their area of expertise, school leaders like Hellen may be required to lead without sufficient training. The 2025 GEM Spotlight report for Kenya found that 72% of school leaders surveyed received leadership training only after taking up their role, while just 18% had been trained beforehand. And when training was provided, it tended to focus more on administration than on helping teachers improve teaching and learning.

With more than 750 learners now attending Muthurwa, Hellen’s job demands that she take up a range of responsibilities beyond administration. More and more, school leaders are tasked with human resource management, planning, and being a catalyst for change. For Hellen, managing a rapidly changing school has not been easy and it is why she sees continuous professional development as an essential: “Nobody owns knowledge, and knowledge is not static. The more it evolves, the more you are required to learn. Leadership becomes easier when you have an open heart to learning.” 

Ongoing professional development is important for school leaders as well as teachers, so they can keep strengthening their teaching skills, learn practical approaches from their peers, and respond to curriculum changes.
 

As Hellen continues the INCREASE programme, she sees a clear path to improvement: “I look forward to learning more about ICT integration in schools. For school leaders of a more advanced age, we are moving from an analogue to a digital age, and implementing ICT has proven to be a challenge for me."

For Hellen, the training is a way to improve her leadership skills and learn alongside her teachers: “It’s difficult to lead someone in a topic that you are not yet competent in. So, I hope this course will help me and my colleagues to strengthen our ICT skills and demystify the whole thing.”

Hellen’s approach to guiding her school through a major curriculum change is a reminder that leadership is not about having all the answers, but about a willingness to continue learning.
 

Read the GEM Report on Leadership In Education, featuring contributions by VVOB