Why KICD Says "Strands" And "Sub-Strands" — Not "Topics" Or "Subtopics" (And Why It Matters)

Information current as of Term 2, 2026.

If you teach in Kenya, you have heard it a hundred times. A new teacher says "topic." A senior teacher corrects: "It's strand." The new teacher rolls their eyes. The senior teacher insists. KICD inspectors mark down lesson plans that say "topic" or "subtopic." Why does the curriculum body care so much about two words that, on the surface, mean roughly the same thing? Because the words quietly change how teaching actually happens — and this article gives you the full, honest explanation, with side-by-side rewrites you can use in your own lesson plans today.

The Old Vocabulary (8-4-4 Era)

Under the 8-4-4 system Kenya used from 1985 to 2018, the curriculum was organised into subjects, then topics, then subtopics. So Mathematics had a topic called "Algebra," which had subtopics called "Linear Equations" and "Quadratic Equations." The teacher's job was to teach the topic, then move to the next topic.

The model was content delivery. The teacher's success was measured by how much of the syllabus had been "covered" by year-end. The exam tested whether the content had been delivered, not necessarily whether the learner could apply it independently.

The New Vocabulary (CBC, Now CBE)

Under CBC, the same organisational levels exist but with new names:

• Learning Areas instead of "subjects"
• Strands instead of "topics"
• Sub-strands instead of "subtopics"

So Mathematics (a learning area) has a strand called "Algebra," which has sub-strands called "Linear Equations" and "Inequalities." On the surface, this looks identical to the old system with new labels. It is not. See What Are Strands and Sub-Strands in CBC (CBE)? for a complementary breakdown of the structure itself; this article focuses on why the wording shift matters in practice.

Why KICD Insists on the New Words

The vocabulary change signals an intent change. KICD explicitly chose new words to break old teaching habits. Specifically:

A "topic" is something you teach. "Today we are teaching the topic of fractions." The teacher does the work; the learner receives.

A "strand" is something a learner develops competence in. "By the end of this strand the learner should be able to solve linear equations." The learner does the work; the teacher facilitates.

This is not a wordplay distinction. It changes everything downstream. Lesson plans under the old vocabulary started with "I will teach X." Lesson plans under the new vocabulary start with "By the end of the lesson the learner should be able to X" (the SLO). The teacher's job shifts from delivery to design — designing experiences that build competence, not simply transmitting content.

What Changes in the Classroom When Teachers Actually Use the New Vocabulary

Teachers who genuinely internalise "strand" thinking versus those who just rename their lesson plans look different in practice:

• They start with the outcome, not the content. What should learners be ABLE to do at the end? Then they choose activities to build that.
• They assess strand by strand, not test by test. "Maria is at AE in solving linear equations but ME in graphing." Specific, actionable, and directly mappable to the BE/AE/ME/EE bands used in CBA reporting.
• They differentiate within strands. Three learners might all be on the same sub-strand but at different competency bands. The lesson includes activities for each band.
• They cover less but go deeper. One strand done thoroughly beats four strands done shallowly. CBE explicitly accepts this trade-off in its design philosophy.

The Competency Dimension — Why SLOs Use Action Verbs

Tied directly to "strand" thinking is the requirement that every Specific Learning Outcome (SLO) uses an action verb. KICD lists the approved verbs by competency level:

• Knowledge: Define, identify, state, list, recall, recognise, describe
• Understanding: Explain, summarise, compare, interpret, predict, classify
• Application: Solve, demonstrate, calculate, construct, apply, use
• Analysis: Analyse, differentiate, organise, examine, investigate
• Evaluation: Evaluate, justify, defend, judge, critique, recommend
• Creation: Design, compose, plan, produce, create

Notice none of those verbs is "understand." "Understand" is the most over-used verb in 8-4-4-era lesson plans, and KICD specifically discourages it. You cannot directly observe whether a learner "understands" something — you can only observe whether they can DEFINE, EXPLAIN, SOLVE or DEMONSTRATE it. So that is what SLOs must say, and that is exactly what a correctly formatted KICD lesson plan requires in its objectives section.

Case Study: A Staffroom Correction in Kisumu

Take a Grade 8 staffroom in Kisumu, where a newly posted teacher submitted a lesson plan reading: "Topic: Photosynthesis. Objective: learners will understand photosynthesis." Her head of department returned it unmarked, with a single comment: "Rewrite using strand, sub-strand and an observable SLO." The teacher initially treated this as a formatting complaint. When she actually rewrote the plan — "Strand: Living Things and Their Environment; Sub-strand: Photosynthesis in Green Plants; SLO: by the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to (a) state the word equation for photosynthesis, (b) demonstrate using a leaf test that light is required, (c) appreciate the role of plants in producing oxygen" — she noticed her own lesson activities changed too. Instead of a 30-minute explanation at the chalkboard, she built in a leaf-test demonstration with learners predicting outcomes first. The vocabulary correction had forced a teaching-method correction. Her next TPAD 3 observation score reflected it.

The Lesson-Plan Rewrites Every Teacher Should Practise

Compare the old-vocabulary version to the CBC/CBE vocabulary version. Both might sound similar but they teach very differently:

Same content. Different teaching. The CBC/CBE version puts the learner doing the thinking. The 8-4-4 version puts the teacher doing the explaining.

Common Mistakes Teachers Make With This Terminology

• Renaming without rethinking. Simply swapping "topic" for "strand" in an old lesson plan template, while keeping a teacher-centred, lecture-style lesson structure underneath, misses the entire point.
• Writing SLOs with "understand." An SLO that cannot be directly observed cannot be properly assessed against the BE/AE/ME/EE bands.
• Inventing new SLOs instead of using KICD's. KICD's curriculum design documents already provide drafted SLOs and KIQs per sub-strand — teachers who skip these and write their own from scratch create unnecessary extra work and risk drifting from the official outcomes.
• Mixing CBC and 8-4-4 language in the same document. A plan that says "strand" in the heading but "topic" in the body confuses inspectors and signals incomplete understanding of the shift.
• Treating the correction as pedantry. Senior teachers who insist on "strand, not topic" are protecting the pedagogy, not enforcing trivia.

Where to Find the Current KICD Curriculum Designs

Every learning area at every grade level has an official KICD curriculum design document. They are free PDFs published at kicd.ac.ke. Each one lists:

• The strands in that learning area
• The sub-strands under each strand
• Specific Learning Outcomes for each sub-strand (KICD already drafted these — teachers should use them, not invent new ones)
• Suggested learning experiences (activity ideas)
• Key Inquiry Questions per sub-strand
• Assessment rubrics with BE / AE / ME / EE descriptors

If you are writing a lesson plan and not pulling SLOs and KIQs directly from the KICD design, you are making your own work harder and risking a flag at a TPAD inspection. Our step-by-step guide to reading a KICD curriculum design walks through exactly how to extract this information quickly, and the old vs revised KICD curriculum designs comparison explains which version you should be working from in 2026.

How This Plays Out in Schemes of Work

The same vocabulary discipline applies one level up, in the scheme of work a teacher prepares for the term. A scheme that lists "Week 3: Topic — Fractions" repeats the same error at a larger scale. The corrected version lists the strand and sub-strand for each week, with the SLOs and suggested learning experiences already aligned, so that every individual lesson plan drawn from it inherits the correct CBC/CBE structure automatically rather than needing to be fixed lesson by lesson.

How CBCEduKenya Enforces the New Vocabulary in Its Tools

Our Lesson Plan AI is explicitly programmed to use "strand" and "sub-strand" — never "topic" or "subtopic." The SLOs it generates always start with the correct phrasing and use action verbs from the KICD list. Our CBA Rubric Builder uses the BE / AE / ME / EE bands, not "F to A" grades or percentage scores, keeping every output consistent with the terminology this article explains.

Yes, this is exacting. KICD is exacting about it for good reason — the vocabulary shapes the teaching. When a staffroom consistently uses CBC/CBE language, the teaching consistently follows CBC/CBE pedagogy. When teachers slip back into "topics" and "objectives" and "understand," the teaching quietly slips back towards 8-4-4 habits, even while the paperwork still says CBC.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is "strand" really different from "topic," or is this just relabelling?

It is more than relabelling. "Topic" frames the unit as content to be delivered by the teacher; "strand" frames it as a competency the learner develops, which changes how lessons are planned, taught and assessed.

Will I be penalised at a TPAD inspection for using "topic" instead of "strand"?

TPAD 3 checks for correct CBC/CBE structure and language in lesson documentation, so consistent use of "topic" instead of "strand" is a realistic reason a plan could be flagged or marked down.

Where do I get the official strand and sub-strand names for my subject?

From the official KICD curriculum design document for your specific learning area and grade, published free at kicd.ac.ke.

Can I write my own SLOs instead of using KICD's?

You can, but it is rarely necessary and risks drifting from the official outcomes. KICD's curriculum designs already provide drafted SLOs per sub-strand for nearly every learning area.

Why is "understand" discouraged as an SLO verb?

"Understand" describes an internal mental state that cannot be directly observed or assessed. SLOs must use verbs that describe something a learner can visibly do, such as define, solve, demonstrate or evaluate.

Does this terminology apply to Cambridge/IGCSE lesson planning too?

No. Strand and sub-strand language is specific to CBC/CBE. Cambridge IGCSE planning uses its own framework of syllabus objectives and assessment objectives (AOs), which should never be mixed with CBC terminology.

What is the difference between a Key Inquiry Question and a Specific Learning Outcome?

A KIQ is the open question that frames a sub-strand for learner investigation (e.g. "Why do plants need sunlight to make their food?"). The SLO is the precise, observable outcome the lesson is working towards. Both appear together in a correctly structured CBC/CBE lesson plan.

Is this vocabulary shift unique to Mathematics and Science, or does it apply to all learning areas?

It applies across all CBC/CBE learning areas, including languages, social studies and creative arts — every learning area's KICD curriculum design uses strands, sub-strands and SLOs in the same structure.

Get the new vocabulary right in your own planning:
→ Free CBC Lesson Plan Template — editable Word download, correct strand / sub-strand / SLO structure built in.
→ CBC Schemes of Work — KICD-aligned, strand-by-strand, term-by-term.
→ Browse schemes and lesson plan packs by grade — from KSH 100.

So next time a senior teacher corrects you — "it's strand, not topic" — say thank you. They are not being pedantic. They are protecting the pedagogy from quietly reverting to a content-delivery model the curriculum was specifically redesigned to move away from.

Need help building a fully compliant lesson plan fast? Try our complete KICD lesson plan format guide, or get instant answers to CBC/CBE questions with Somo, our AI tutor — KSH 300/month, 30 questions per day.

Sources: KICD CBC/CBE Curriculum Designs (multiple learning areas); KICD CBC Teacher's Handbook; TPAD 3 assessment framework; teacher training workshops 2024–2026. Last updated: Term 2, 2026.