Kenya: No promotions for lazy teachers, Teachers Service Commission warns

Secondary School Headteachers follow proceedings during the 40th Edition of the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) Annual National Conference at Wild Waters Centre in Mombasa County Monday 15th June 2015. The year 2015 annual conference is themed "Re-evaluating Relevance and Quality of Education in Kenya. [Photo/Kelvin Karani/STANDARD]

Teachers will from now henceforth be promoted based on their performance appraisals.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) yesterday warned that teaching would no longer be a question of being in the classroom.

Commission Chairperson Lydia Nzomo said TSC was rolling out a performance appraisal system that would define the quality and usefulness of their staff.

“It will no longer be business as usual that teachers only go to school to teach regardless of the performance of a child. Our focus is now on quality education,” said Dr. Nzomo.

Speaking on the sidelines of ongoing secondary school head teachers conference in Mombasa, Nzomo said the increasingly poor grades in national examinations was worrying.

Also of concern was the high number of exam irregularities. She said many studies blamed poor performance on lapses by teachers ranging from absenteeism to failure to grasp subject matter

All 288,000 teachers will no longer benefit from automatic promotions if they fail their performance appraisals.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) yesterday announced that starting this school term, all teachers must clearly state their "performance targets complete with deliverables".

Commission Chairperson Lydia Nzomo said TSC was rolling out a performance appraisal system that would define the quality and usefulness of their staff.

"It will no longer be business as usual that teachers only go to school to teach regardless of the performance of a child. Our focus now is on quality education," said Dr Nzomo.

Speaking on the sidelines of an ongoing secondary school headteachers conference in Mombasa yesterday, Nzomo said the rising number of poor grades churned out by both primary and secondary schools was a cause of increasing concern at the commission.

"Every year, thousands of children score D-plus or E and we ask whether it is a lapse on the child's part or whether they are not being taught well," said Nzomo.

She said of the 446,696 candidates who sat Form Four exams in 2003, only 123,365 managed a C-plus and above. In the same year, she said a total of 3,353 were involved in examination irregularities.

"If teachers are evaluated based on the targets they set, then we can even see a reduction in examination irregularities. Principals must be the first line of quality assurance and starting this term, they must set targets for themselves and for teachers under them," said Nzomo.

QUALITY ISSUES

Flanked by Commissioner Cleopas Tirop, Nzomo said various studies pointed fingers at the teachers' lapses ranging from absenteeism and failure to grasp the subject matter.

A recent Uwezo Kenya report found that even though teacher attendance in schools had increased, only three out of 10 children in Standard Three could do Standard Two work.

"We now want to get value for money and this means that we start to eliminate some of the excuses. All teachers must set targets, which shall be evaluated by our new quality assurance staff whose roles we are redefining," said Nzomo.

Nzomo said TSC was tightening teacher performance and warned that teaching would no longer be a question of being in the classroom.

She said the commission was designating staffing officers to sub-county and county offices to deal with quality issues.

"The teachers shall be evaluated by the heads and senior quality assurance officers shall evaluate the heads all the way to the county office. These performance reports shall be forwarded to head office where we shall act on them accordingly," said Mr Tirop.

Tirop said TSC was redefining the roles of Teacher Advisory Centres and conducting suitability studies that would set their minimum qualifications.

The caution comes as The Standard established that TSC is implementing a pilot performance appraisal system that empowers learners to mark a register whenever a teacher appears in class.

Under the Teacher Performance and Integrity in Kenya programme, teachers get a chance to be appraised by their peers on professional knowledge, practice and engagement. The programme is a partnership between TSC and British Council.

CLASS ATTENDANCE

The British Council has financed the appraisal system at a cost of Sh200 million. The project has so far been rolled out in six counties: Samburu, Uasin Gishu, Kisumu, Nyeri, Kwale and Kitui.

Under the programme, all class representatives have been issued with a 'teachers' classroom attendance register'.

Every teacher is marked present or absent by the students to track class attendance. The kit has slots for teachers name, time of arrival and time of leaving class.

"If a teacher was supposed to be in class between 9am and 10am, the pupil notes down the time the teacher enters the classroom and the time he leaves," reads the document.

The deputy head teacher shall analyse attendance of each teacher per week and submit the documents to the head teacher.

"The head teacher shall then make a report to the county director every end of term," says the document.

And on Teacher Appraisal and Development, three key areas shall be appraised - professional knowledge, practice and engagement. Professional knowledge includes content knowledge or the entire curriculum as well as subject knowledge.