The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has given teachers across the country one week to complete their Second term Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) appraisals.
Teachers now have until the end of the week when schools will be closing complete their TPAD.
According to the teachers’ employer, TPAD allows teachers in both primary and secondary schools to evaluate their own performance and initiate their professional development.
In the Commission’s view, through the appraisal and development system, teachers are more empowered to regain the lost glory of the teaching profession and public confidence and support.
TSC uses TPAD to promote teachers as they are required to provide evidence of TPAD compliance in the Commission’s interviews.
The Commission also integrated Teacher Professional Development (TPD) training on the TPAD portal.
The first group of TPD trainees will complete the introductory module of the training this December this year and shall then receive a certificate for the same.
The Commission has pledged before that it shall punish teachers who fail to participate in the Commission’s TPAD exercise. Show cause letters have been issued on the same to teachers who do not complete their TPAD appraisal every term before the lapse of the set deadlines.
In the month of July, the Commission released data which revealed that most teachers are conversant with the TPAD system.
The TPAD data revealed that 93% of TSC teachers managed to complete the online appraisal forms by the end of the third term as compared to 87% by the end of the second term and 86% in the first term.
347,760 teachers had completed the online forms by the end of the third term representing an increase of 4,917 of the teachers who carried out the task in the previous term.
TPAD was launched in 2016 for teachers and was later in 2019 renamed TPAD2 following several modifications.
However, the appraisal tool met fierce resistance from teachers, especially from the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) which at the time was led by the then Secretary-General Wilson Sossion.
KNUT was not alone in this as the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Teachers (KUPPET) also rejected the policy change saying that they were not consulted following the introduction of the appraisal tool and that the appraisal process was laborious and a waste of time.
The teachers’ unions accused the Commission of disrupting learning and teaching by forcing teachers to spend many hours in cyber cafes downloading and filling the forms of appraisal.
TPAD Calendar of Activities at the Institution Level
S/NO | TPAD Activity | Action By | Time Frame |
1. | Planning meetings before school opening involving all staff to set school TPAD Activity calendar | Heads of Institutions, Senior Management Team, Teachers | By last week of the school holiday. |
2. | Submission of professional documents | Head of an institution All Teachers | By the end of the first week of the term |
3. | Undertaking lesson observations and identifying and documenting teacher’s professional gaps | Appraisees and appraisers | Between 2nd-week ad 10th |
4. | Undertaking teacher professional development to address professional gaps | Appraises, appraisers, institutional administrators | Throughout the term; from 1st week to the last week of the term |
5. | Internal Monitoring & Evaluation of the implementation of the TPAD process. | Heads of an institution, Deputy Head of Institution, Heads of Department | Continuous throughout the term |
6. | Monitoring the implementation of TPAD Process at the county level; zonal, sub-county & county | Curriculum Support Officers, Sub County Directors, and County Directors | Throughout the term; from 1st week to the last week of the term |
7. | TPAD rating meetings | Appraise (teachers) and appraiser (HODs, deputy heads, Heads of Institution, CSOs, SCD) | By the closing date of the term |
8. | Uploading of TPAD data and evidence. | Appraise (teachers) and appraiser (HODs, deputy heads, Heads of Institution, CSOs, SCD) | Throughout the term |