The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) set December 2022 as the deadline for completing the Teacher Professional Development (TPD) modules which required one (1) to complete.
The TPD modules began in December 2021.
Around 90,000 teachers have opted to enrol for the TPD introduced by the Commission in December last year.
According to an April 2022 document titled Framework and Roll out of Structured TPD in Kenya, 96,186 teachers had registered for the TPD’s introductory module. Among these were 85,105 classroom teachers, 4,286 Principals of secondary schools and 6,795 Headteachers of Primary Schools.
Owing to the Commission’s unpredictability when it comes to its recruitment and promotions, it is believed that many teachers have taken caution and decided to join the TPD to avoid missing out on TSC promotions.
In recent days the Commission has been using different employment and promotion criteria during mass recruitment and promotions. The employment and promotion criteria typically favour those who have complied with the introduced policies.
During 2021’s mass recruitment of teachers, TSC awarded TSC interns with an automatic 30 marks which gave them an obvious advantage when it came to absorption on permanent and pensionable terms. This forced those who had doubts about the internship programme to apply leading to huge numbers of those applying for the internship programme.
In 2019, when a few teachers applied for the internship programme, interns used to earn Kshs. 10,000 and Kshs. 15,000 for primary and secondary school interns respectively.
Since that time, the amount paid to TSC interns has increased from Kshs. 15,000 to Kshs. 20,000 for interns in primary and secondary schools respectively.
Another example is when the Commission introduced the Career Progression Guidelines (CPGs) which used teachers’ performance for promotions and which led to the introduction of Performance Contracting (PC) for Heads of Institutions and the Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) for teachers in January 2016. This led to teachers who did not take part in TPAD having low ratings and consequently missing out on TSC promotions.
The Commission then made it a must for all teachers for teachers who are applying for promotions to provide evidence of participating in TPAD during the application process and interviews. Those who failed to perform their responsibility regarding TPAD faced disciplinary action, some being served with “show cause letters” or others even being interdicted.
Career Progression Guidelines replaced the Schemes of Service (SoS).
Despite the National Assembly stopping the Commission from continuing the roll-out of the TPD modules, the Commission has still insisted on teachers completing their Introductory Module by December 2022.
Upon commencement of the TPD programme, all serving teachers will be required to acquire a Teaching Certificate that is renewable after every five years. Subsequent applicants for Certificate of Registration will be issued with both Certificates.