Teachers to earn promotion points for nurturing learners' talents under new TSC rules

It has now emerged that teachers taking part in developing learners’ talents will have an upper hand in promotions under new guidelines issued by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

Teachers involved in co-curricular activities will earn additional marks during promotion interviews, with those participating at higher levels of competition earning progressively more points.

The details emerged amid the ongoing promotion exercise of 34,016 vacancies, comprising 33,906 positions for teachers and 110 positions for Curriculum Support Officers.

 In a document titled Guidelines on Promotion of Teachers FY 2026–2027 states that it will include sports coaching, mentoring and talent development as part of a broader scoring system being used by the TSC in the 2026/2027 financial year promotion exercise.

TSC acting Chief Executive Evelyne Mitei said the progressive scoring was intended to reflect the increasing responsibility and impact associated with participation at different levels.

“We want to recognise teachers who invest their time and expertise in identifying, nurturing and developing learners’ talents,” Mitei said.

In the guidelines, a teacher whose learners participate at the international level will earn five marks, while national, regional, county and sub-county participation will attract four, three, two and one mark respectively.

The recognition covers the teacher’s role  in developing learners’ abilities and supporting them to participate at different levels of competition.

The move comes as the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system takes shape and places greater emphasis on identifying and developing learners’ talents and abilities beyond academic performance.

Under CBE, schools are expected to provide opportunities for learners to develop competencies through a range of activities, including sports, performing arts and other areas of talent development.

This means teachers involved in nurturing talents will now have an upper hand during promotion interviews.

“This is part of our effort to ensure that teacher promotions recognise the whole contribution of a tchr as an educator, mentor, coach and role model. Ultimately, we are saying that every teacher who goes the extra mile to develop a learner’s talent deserves to have that contribution recognised.” Mitei told the Standard.

But on their part, Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) wants TSC to award the same marks for Master’s and PhD qualifications across all teacher grades, arguing that the current system discriminates against teachers in lower grades.

Moses Nthurima, KUPPET deputy secretary general said a PhD currently attracts five marks in some grades but three in lower grades, while a Master’s attracts four and two marks respectively.

KUPPET also wants years served to be considered in specific bands instead of grouping everyone who has served seven years and above together. It proposes bands of seven, 10, 13 and 15 years.

“They cannot put those who are seven years and above into one blanket. They need to be specified seven, 10, 13 and 15.” Nthurima said.

The Standard has established that a total of 126,801 teachers have been shortlisted to compete for the positions with the commission closing interviews for the teacher promotion last week.

For post-primary teachers and Curriculum Support Officers the interviews will be between September 17 and October 13.

The government allocated KSh 2 billion to fund over 34,000 teacher promotions for the 2026/27 financial year.

Of the vacancies, 34,016 positions have been set aside for promotions, offering career progression opportunities for teachers who meet the required qualifications and experience.

The promotion exercise includes 13,490 positions for Senior Teacher II, 5,956 posts for Senior Master IV and 4,210 vacancies for Senior Teacher I.

At the same time, the Commission has also announced the recruitment of 20,000 post-primary teachers as part of efforts to strengthen staffing in Junior Schools and facilitate the implementation of Competency-Based Education.

The recruitment and promotion exercises are expected to address staffing gaps while providing serving teachers with opportunities to advance through the career structure.

According to TSC more than 122,000 teachers have been promoted since the 2022/23 financial year.

TSC’s 2022/23 annual report records 11,231 competitive promotions and 11,069 common-cadre promotions, giving 22,300.

For FY 2023/24, TSC reported 36,504 promotions, of which 36,171 were competitive and 333 were based on achievements.

Another 21,383 teachers were promoted in the 2025/26 financial year.

The new guidelines come amid a planned shake-up in teachers’ promotions is in the offing.

The  new scheme aims to restore academic qualifications as a key promotion criterion to consider academic qualifications, including master’s and PhD degrees, a practice that was dropped in 2017.

It will also reduce job groups from 11 to 9 to address stagnation.

The reforms also seek to review the career progression guideline adopted in 2017 by allowing teachers who choose to remain in the classroom to rise through the ranks and earn the same grades and salary scales as their counterparts in administration.

The overhaul is expected to end widespread concerns among teachers that the career progression guidelines that have led to stalled promotions over the past decade.

The proposal is currently with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission for consideration.

“The SRC will do the job evaluation and establish the job worth of each teacher before providing a summary structure (financial compensation) under the new proposed job groups,” Mitei told The Standard.