TSC to appraise teachers on national exams role

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has hinted at including involvement of teachers in this year’s national examinations as part of performance appraisal.

TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia said the idea was to reward teachers who contribute to delivery of credible examinations and results.

This year, 179,149 teachers will be involved in the administration of Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) that start in two weeks.

“The TSC is considering putting a more weight on the importance of national examinations management to teacher appraisal and promotions as we continue to revise and review our administrative tools in teacher management,” she said.

The promotion process for teachers is hinged on the appraisal system which has existed since 2016 on pilot basis.

Last year, the Labour Court blocked TSC from implementing career progression guidelines, which paved way for performance contracting while employing teachers.

Justice Byram Ongaya said the TSC had failed to convince him as to how stopping the implementation of the performance appraisal tool would paralyse its operations.

In the suit, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) claimed the TSC appraisal tools had greatly demoralised teachers, were expensive and reduced the teacher-children contact time.

In an affidavit Ms Macharia had argued that suspending the performance management tools was an affront of public interest as it makes employed teachers less accountable in exercising their duty.

In his ruling in June, Justice Ongaya directed that the commission convenes a validation meeting for finalising the performance measurement tools by December for roll-out in 2020.

At the heart of the fight between TSC and Knut was teachers’ transfers, delocalisation and enforcing the performance contracting system.

Knut secretary-general Wilson Sossion maintained teachers’ promotions should be conducted with regards to the Code of Regulations for Teachers (CORT) gazetted in September 2015.

"Chapter 12 of the CORT provides such promotion be centred on merit, duration of service, seniority, existence of vacancy and new academic qualification,” he said recently.