Shocking details of inaccurate teachers’ reports and officials laxity

The just released 2017 report shows that top Teachers Service Commission (TSC) managers at the county level are sleeping on the job

The teachers’ appraisal report has returned a shocking verdict of cooked results, poor dedication of teachers and sheer disinterest that threaten to sabotage performance tools.

The just released 2017 report shows that top Teachers Service Commission (TSC) managers at the county level are sleeping on the job as huge discrepancies emerge on teachers and schools data under their supervision.

It is emerging that the officials enter inaccurate performance appraisal data, which they send to the head office for action.

“It was noted that field staff did not maintain or update records on Performance Contract (PC) and Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD),” says the report.

In addition to these, supervision of teaching and learning is affected, as most schools are not visited and more Ministry of Education events documented compared to TSC activities.

Also noted are general breaches of performance contracting and appraisal tools guidelines and timelines, which the report finds were not strictly followed by the TSC directors.

The details are contained in TSC feedback report on implementation of the performance tools for 2017.

Acting TSC director of teacher management, Mary Rotich, said the Commission conducted the county assessment of the implementation of the tools between October 9 and 13 last year across all counties.

In an internal memo, Mrs Rotich says some counties registered commendable achievement in the implementation of the tools.

The report finds that there was laxity in performance of duties among some County Directors (CDs), Sub County Directors (SCDs) and Curriculum Support Officers (CSOs).

“They did not know the number of schools or teachers they had and there were instances of performance contract copies not countersigned by the County Directors,” reads the report.

The revelation paints a picture of poor communication and coordination among TSC county staff, setting the appraisal tools for failure.

Teacher absenteeism

“County Directors (CDs) could not show evidence that they monitored the performance of the officers they supervised, especially the SCDs and CSOs,” reads the report.

TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia recently said the tools have reduced cases of teacher absenteeism and upped academics performance in national examinations.

The TSC has been implementing reforms to institutionalise a performance culture in the teaching service.

The document analysis however finds that county directors rarely visited their juniors at the sub-county, pointing at punishable oversights that may collapse the initiative.

“There was no evidence to show that County Directors had mechanisms to supervise SCDs and CSOs in Performance Contract and TPAD implementation,” reads the report.

The report finds that some of the tools from the Ministry of Education were being used by CSO’s for lesson observation and lesson attendance.

Overall, the report finds that there is poor collaboration among the three levels of CDs, SCDs and CSOs, as coordination and harmonisation of reports was lacking.

The report says some CDs did not adequately share information with other field officers. For instance, it was noted that CDs had not shared PC and TPAD monitoring feedback report given by the Commission with other officers.

This means there was no feedback to specific schools in regard to PC and TPAD implementation as a result of county level monitoring. And feedback from the Commission’s head office was also not relayed.

The end result of these, according to the report, is that schools did not get feedback and the same were not well documented.

“Where officers visited schools they alleged that they only talked to the teachers without formal feedback. Hence, it was not easy to verify if feedback was given and what it entailed,” reads the report.

However, even with the shocking revelations, the report finds that there was remarkable improvement in the implementation of the tools.