Kuppet opposes performance appraisals

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (Kuppet) has joined the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) in rejecting the introduction of performance appraisals for their members.

Kuppet Secretary-General Akelo Misori said the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) did not consult the union before introducing performance contracting.

“The government is yet to address the issues of poor pay and understaffing in schools, which are key pillars in achieving set targets,” Mr Misori said on Wednesday morning on KBC’s Mayienga Luo FM station.

The Kuppet boss said teachers must first “be motivated appropriately" before they are given targets.

“We do not oppose the idea entirely, but there must be discussions on the gaps and setbacks that may hamper achieving such targets,” he said.

Mr Misori accused the TSC of “engaging in reactionary and diversionary issues that are calculated to disorient us from the pertinent matters affecting Kenyan teachers”.

“We fear that TSC could be using these new concepts to introduce new terms of employment to teachers and that is why we are extremely cautious,” he added.

QUALITY OF EDUCATION

He also said the union would sue the TSC for failing to remit members’ monthly contributions to the union.

“They want to intimidate us into silence by making us broke, but we will not stop fighting,” said Mr Misori.

Knut has already announced that its members will not take part in the exercise to evaluate their performance as proposed by their employer.

The appraisals target about 298,000 teachers countrywide and, according to the TSC, they are aimed at improving the quality of education in public schools.

The more than 30,000 school heads — 23,000 in primary and 7,000 in post-primary institutions — will be made to sign performance contracts while ordinary teachers would be subjected to annual performance appraisals.

The TSC would then use the appraisal findings to assign, train, promote and deploy teachers to various administrative positions.

Teachers will be assessed on how they prepare schemes of work and whether they follow the syllabus.

They will also be appraised on professional knowledge and its application, time management, innovation and creativity in teaching.

School heads will, on the other hand, be tested on their strategic development plans, leadership and management skills.