TSC Launches TPD Which Requires Mandatory Retraining and Licensing Of TeachersTSC Launches TPD
Teachers will now part with about 6 000 shillings every year for a six-year professional training in order to be issued with a professional teaching certificate apart from what they acquired in university.
The teaching certificate will be renewed after every five years. This was revealed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) during the rollout of the Teacher Professional Development programme at the Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA), Karen, Nairobi.
TSC said it will employ innovative assessment strategies such as reflective journals, portfolios and presentations to carry out the program.
At the end of each module teachers who are successful will have their teaching certificates renewed after every five years. TSC says teachers who fail to train will have licences revoked
TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia stated on Wednesday that the move is intended to improve Kenyan teachers’ professional standards as well as keep them up to date on emerging trends in the education sector.
TPD, she explained, is a life-long learning program divided into six hierarchical competency levels, with each level taking five years to complete.
“At the end of each module, successful teachers will have their teaching certificates renewed after every five years,” she said.
Macharia stated that in order to participate in this program, every teacher registered with the commission will be required to identify and register with one of the accredited service providers.
She urged teachers to embrace it, claiming that it benefits them in line with its goals.
Mount Kenya University, Kenyatta University, Riara University, and Kenya Education Management Institute have so far been accredited by the commission to carry out the program.
In 2016, the Commission implemented Performance Contracting for Institutional Heads and Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) for teachers, with the goal of strengthening curriculum implementation and accountability in resource utilization to improve learning outcomes.
Teacher unions had previously urged the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to recall the performance appraisal tools, claiming that the exercise had caused teachers anxiety.
There were also concerns that the tool could be used to target teachers for promotion and unfairly blame them for poor performance.
Macharia, on the other hand, stated that the quality of education has improved since the implementation of TPAD.
Last week, TSC held numerous meetings with teacher unions and associations to prepare for the new courses, which were introduced four years ago but have been stalled due to union opposition.
All senior TSC officials met with representatives of the Kenya Primary School Headteachers Association at their Nairobi headquarters to explain the modalities of the mandatory programs. Dr Mugwuku Nthamburi, TSC Director for Quality Assurance and Standards, called this meeting.
This program was introduced in 2018 to replace the service schemes that guided promotions, but it was met with stiff opposition from the Kenya National Union of Teachers, which insisted that it was TSC’s responsibility to boost the capacity of its staff on its own expense.
The unions demanded that the service schemes that allowed for automatic promotions be preserved, and they went to court to prevent the programs from being implemented.
This impasse was resolved, however, by the new five-year Collective Bargaining Agreement signed in July. All teachers will be required to complete modular training in selected institutions under this new arrangement.
As a result, this training will take place during school holidays and will be provided by Kenyatta, Mount Kenya, and Riara universities, as well as the Kenya Education Management Institute (Kemi).
The TSC boss in a statement said that “Professional development is critical in that teachers keep abreast with contemporary teaching methods, what is happening in the sector, and in the rest of the world.”
TSC says that technology, global learning, and the potential to impact a diverse range of learning styles are now more important than ever in modern instructional practices, areas that were not as important in the profession’s early years.
The modules will provide an avenue for the development of ethical aspects of teaching, as well as “an opportunity for teachers to network and test new methods of curriculum delivery.”
The training centres will be as close to the workstations as possible, and the training will not last more than five working days, though online lessons may last longer if they do not interfere with teachers’ core duties.
Furthermore, performance reports should be submitted to TSC in soft copy on or before the 15th of the month following the school holiday.
TSC Launches TPD