Cabinet Secretary for Education Prof George Magoha has expressed his support for the move to do away with the Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) degree program that would qualify to teach in Secondary schools.
Speaking to journalists after overseeing the unveiling of a three-classroom block at Sagam Secondary school located in Siaya, Prof Magoha said that TSC’s move to force teachers to undertake a Bachelor of Science course and then undertake a one-year postgraduate diploma in Education will enable teachers to acquire the right skills to teach the Competency-Bassed Curriculum (CBC) in secondary schools.
Since the B.Ed course was introduced in 1972, it has been the course for Kenya Secondary School Teachers.
Consequently, the Teachers Teachers Service Commission (TSC) wants all universities to stop offering the course within a few months.
Instead, the Commission wants students wishing to pursue a teaching career to take regular ART or SCIENCE degrees and then undertake a one-year post-graduate diploma in education so as to qualify to be registered as teachers.
The proposal to do away with the B.Ed course comes with other recommendations.
The first is that certificates will no longer be considered as the minimum qualification for entry into teaching in the country at all levels (including primary schools).
Admission into all diplomas and Degrees in Teacher Education courses will be based on demand.
Besides, TSC is of the opinion that the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) and TSC alongside Universities and the Commission for University Education to develop a curriculum for teachers’ educators (i.e. trainers).
In the CBC program, teachers will be expected to be computer literate, i.e. be smart and be able to use smartphones, be innovative and use project-based learning to help learners. They will also be required to learn new technologies and embrace classrooms that are learner-centered and use personalized instructions.
The Commission has begun a radical reform in the education sector that is already attracting opposition from unions of teachers as well as Universities and Academic Staff Union (UASU).