NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 22-The Teachers Service Commission has rolled out Teacher Professional Development Programme (TPD), a new module that will see public school teachers renew their professional certificates after every five years.
The Commission said it will use innovative assessment strategies in carrying out the programme, including the use of reflective journals, portfolios and presentations.
TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia on Wednesday said the move is aimed at improving the professional standards of Kenyan teachers, as well as keeping them abreast with the emerging trends in the education sector.
She said TPD is a life-long learning programme organized in six hierarchical competency levels where each level takes five years to complete.
“At the end of each module, successful teachers will have their teaching certificates renewed after every five years,” she said.
Macharia said every teacher registered by the commission will be required to identify and register with one of the accredited service providers, to undertake this programme.
She urged teachers to embrace it, saying it benefits them in line with its objectives.
The commission has so far accredited Mount Kenya University, Kenyatta University, Riara University and Kenya Education Management Institute to implement the programme.
In 2016 the Commission introduced Performance Contracting for Heads of Institutions and Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) for teachers, with an aim of strengthening curriculum implementation and accountability in the utilization of resources in order to improve learning outcomes.
Teacher unions had earlier on urged the employer to recall the performance appraisal tools, claiming that the exercise had created anxiety among teachers.
There were also concerns that the tool could be used to victimize teachers when seeking promotion and unfairly blame them for poor results.
Macharia however, noted that since the implementation of TPAD, the quality of education had improved.
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