CBTE Must Recognise Prior Learning Without Certifying Reputation

Bible colleges often receive learners who have preached, planted churches, led congregations, administered ministries, taught Scripture, mediated conflict and cared for communities for many years. Asking such learners to repeat every introductory activity can waste time, money and wisdom. Automatically converting experience into credit creates a different injustice: it may certify status without establishing what has actually been learned or whether that learning remains sound, safe and transferable.

Recognition of prior learning, or RPL, should therefore be a disciplined route into and through a programme—not a courtesy offered to senior people. The question is not, ‘How long have you served?’ It is, ‘What can you now demonstrate against the same published ministerial competencies, with what evidence, in which context, at what level, and under whose accountable judgement?’

CBTE means Competency-Based Theological Education and refers here to contextual, mentored and competence-demonstration approaches in Bible colleges and church-based ministerial formation—not to Kenya's general occupational Competency-Based Education and Training, or CBET.

On 6 October 2026, the Kenya National Qualifications Authority reported on Kenya's contribution to a regional forum of qualifications authorities held in Seychelles from 23 to 25 September. The forum addressed RPL, qualifications verification, digitalisation, quality assurance, mobility and trust across African qualifications frameworks. KNQA described RPL as a mechanism for assessing and formally recognising learning acquired through work, informal learning and non-formal settings. KNQA regional update