Dismantling the Transmission Model: A Socioconstructivist Interrogation of Didactic Authority in Competency-Based Curricula

Abstract

The transmission model of instruction, predicated on unidirectional knowledge transfer from educator to learner, has persisted as a structural default in competency-based education (CBE) frameworks despite mounting evidence of its epistemological inadequacy. This study employs a mixed-methods design—combining systematic curriculum mapping across 14 higher education institutions with semi-structured faculty interviews (n=67)—to interrogate how didactic authority is encoded within CBE scaffolding. Findings reveal a persistent paradox: institutions nominally adopting socioconstructivist pedagogical principles continue to operationalise assessment rubrics that reinforce transmissive hierarchies. This paper argues for a critical reconceptualisation of instructional authority through distributed cognition theory and dialogic pedagogy, proposing an evidence-based Relational Competency Framework (RCF) as a structural alternative for curriculum designers and institutional policymakers.