TSC Orders 340,000 Teachers to Take Refresher Courses

Teachers Service Commission (TSC) CEO Nancy Macharia addresses National Assembly's education committee on February 19, 2020.
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) CEO Nancy Macharia addresses National Assembly's education committee on February 19, 2020.
Daily Nation

All 340,000 teachers under the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), which is the government's biggest employer, must take refresher courses in order to qualify for promotions.

This move will mark a departure from the old scheme of service that allowed the automatic progression of a common cohort of personnel.

The refresher course tagged Teacher Professional Development (TPD) shall be modular-based training programs for all practising teachers.

TSC said that the TPD will be administered using technology and will address Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (PACK) and other contents that are in line with the approved curriculum.

TSC CEO Nancy Macharia addressing teachers at Safari Park Hotel on Tuesday, July 13, 2021
TSC CEO Nancy Macharia addressing teachers at Safari Park Hotel on Tuesday, July 13, 2021.
TSC /Twitter

TSC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nancy Macharia said that the intent of the TPD is to perpetually develop and improve teachers' skills, competencies and knowledge in line with the 21st-century requirements for the provisioning of quality education.

Each classroom teacher, primary school head, and secondary school principal will be required to take at least a module per year. These modules will differ for classroom teachers and school heads and senior staff.

Modules for teachers will include; Professionalism, Pedagogy, Competency-Based-Curriculum and Assessment, inclusive education practices, Comprehensive School Health and Safety, Instructional Leadership and Financial Literacy Skills.

The modules for institutional heads include; Professionalism, Competence-Based Curriculum and Assessment, leadership in high-quality instruction and assessment, professional learning environment, building a positive inclusive learning environment, comprehensive school health and financial literacy skills.

Teachers will be expected to complete at least five models in their teaching career and this is the metric expected to be used in guiding career growth for them.

“The TPD program targets to benefit all registered teachers in public and private primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in Kenya,” said Nancy Macharia.

This comes after the TSC and KNUT reached an agreement to end a four-year-old stalemate that had blocked the implementation of the TPD.

The agreement reached between KNUT and TSC paved the way for the TSC to roll out training programs and career program guidelines which were the breaking points between the two.

TSC CEONancy Macharia, Bellio Kipsang CS Education Prof George Magoha and other Education while releasing 2019 KCPE results on December 18, 2019
TSC CEONancy Macharia, Bellio Kipsang CS Education Prof George Magoha and other Education while releasing 2019 KCPE results on December 18, 2019
Simon Kiragu
Kenyans.co.ke