Teacher appraisal set to start on Monday

Teachers Service Commission Chairperson Lydia Nzomo (centre) with the commission's CEO Nancy Macharia (left) during a media briefing in Nairobi on September 9, 2015. The commission has issued guidelines on how it will appraise teachers starting from February this year. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Performance monitoring tools and guidelines to be provided through the TSC county director.

  • Heads of institutions will be assessed on resource management, service delivery, maintenance of teaching standards, integrity and national values.

  • For their part, teachers will be appraised on professional knowledge and its application, time management, innovation and creativity in teaching.

The Teachers Service Commission will from Monday start appraising more than 298,000 teachers for performance.

TSC will use the appraisal to assign, train, promote and deploy teachers to various administrative positions.

The more than 30,000 school heads, 23,000 in primary and 7,000 in post-primary institutions, will be subjected to performance contracting while teachers would be subjected to performance appraisal and development.

Heads of institutions will be assessed on resource management, service delivery, maintenance of teaching standards, integrity and national values.

For their part, teachers will be appraised on professional knowledge and its application, time management, innovation and creativity in teaching.

Other yardsticks for performance are learner protection and safety, teacher discipline and conduct, promotion of co-curricular activities, professional development and collaboration with parents and other stakeholders.

IMPROVING PERFORMANCE

TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia said the appraisal seeks to improve teacher performance, learning outcomes, identify performance gaps and provide support for professional development.

Ms Macharia has cited section 11(c) and (f) of the TSC Act 2012, which empowers the commission to monitor the conduct and performance of teachers.

The performance management tools and guidelines will be provided through the TSC county directors.

However, Knut secretary-general Wilson Sossion has asked teachers not to participate in the appraisal.

Mr Sossion has said appraisal should only be done after the matter has been discussed by the Committee on Terms and Conditions of Service for Teachers and the content of appraisal and performance contracting agreed upon by TSC and the union.

“The format to be used in addressing all these has to be discussed and agreed upon by the teachers through their union,” he said.