Burkina Faso CAP-CEG
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Cheat sheet
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ExploreAbout this exam
The Certificat d'Aptitude Pédagogique - Collège d'Enseignement Général (CAP-CEG) is the Burkinabè professional teaching credential that qualifies a holder to teach in a collège d'enseignement général, the lower-secondary cycle. It is aimed at candidates who already command an academic subject at the level required and now need to demonstrate that they can teach it: trainee teachers in initial formation, contract or auxiliary teachers seeking to regularise their status in the public service, and graduates who hold a licence or equivalent in a teachable discipline and want to enter secondary teaching. The examination is organised around the professional acts of teaching rather than pure subject recall. Candidates are assessed on school legislation and professional ethics, educational psychology and adolescent development, general pedagogy and didactics, the didactics and content of their chosen specialty, assessment and remediation, official programmes and national education policy, classroom management and school-community relations, and an oral interview with a teaching demonstration. Preparation therefore combines three strands: consolidating disciplinary mastery, learning the vocabulary and frameworks of didactics and evaluation, and rehearsing the practical exercises - lesson planning, test construction, and standing in front of a class or jury. Working through past papers and practising timed lesson plans under a mentor is the most efficient use of study time. This page is an independent study resource and is not affiliated with the ministry or the examining body; always confirm the current programme and administrative conditions with the official authority.
What you'll study
About Burkina Faso CAP-CEG preparation
What exactly does the CAP-CEG allow me to do?
It certifies you to teach in a collège d'enseignement général, the lower-secondary cycle. Holders are typically recruited into the public teaching service or confirmed in a teaching post. Confirm the current recruitment and appointment conditions with the ministry responsible for education, since they are set administratively, not by this page.
What is the examination format?
It combines written papers on the professional and disciplinary domains, an oral examination, and a practical teaching demonstration or lesson before an examiner. The precise weighting and the list of papers depend on your teaching specialty, so check the official programme published for your session.
How many questions, how long, and what is the pass mark?
These are fixed per session by the organising authority and change between sessions, so no figure is quoted here. The official body publishes the current number of papers, durations, coefficients and the admission threshold. Obtain the official notice for your session before you plan your revision.
Is the exam difficult?
It is selective rather than encyclopaedic. Candidates who fail usually lose marks on didactics, evaluation and the oral demonstration, not on subject knowledge. If you can plan a coherent lesson, justify your choices with pedagogical vocabulary, and design a valid assessment, you are already ahead of many candidates.
Can I retake it if I fail?
Retake rules, waiting periods and any credit for papers already passed are set by the organising authority and vary by session. Read the official notice carefully, because some systems allow you to carry forward a mark from one paper. Do not assume a rule from another country applies.
In what order should I study the domains?
Start with your specialty didactics, since it carries the most weight and feeds the oral demonstration. Then build general pedagogy and evaluation, because they give you the vocabulary to talk about your own teaching. Legislation, psychology and policy are lighter and reward short, regular revision rather than long blocks.
How should I prepare for the oral and the lesson?
Rehearse aloud, repeatedly, in front of someone. Prepare a small set of lesson skeletons you can adapt, practise writing a board plan in a fixed time, and train yourself to justify each choice in one sentence. Record yourself, or ask a colleague to interrupt with jury-style questions.
What are the most common failure modes?
A lesson with no stated objective, activities that do not match the objective, an assessment that tests something else, and an oral answer that describes what was done without explaining why. Also common: ignoring the official programme, and citing legislation vaguely instead of naming the rule.
Where do I find the official programme and dates?
From the ministry responsible for education and the body that organises the certificate. Only their published notice is authoritative for dates, registration, fees, papers and coefficients. This page is an independent study aid and does not represent them.