New TSC Deployment Requirements for Junior Secondary School, JSS Teachers in Kenya
Teachers in Kenya are categorized into various cadres depending on their academic qualifications and length of service. The highest cadre of TSC teachers comprises school administrators who are the highest paid in the new Career Progression Guidelines that are pegged on the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement CBA signed between Teachers’ unions and the Teachers Service Commission-Kenya following the lapse of the 2017-2021 CBA.
The second tier of TSC teachers comprises senior masters in secondary schools who are remunerated well owing to the extra responsibility allowance on their payslips.
The Teachers Service Commission however recently resolved a stalemate surrounding the promotion of primary school teachers with higher qualifications be it degree, masters or PhD.
Mandatory Requirements for P1 Teachers Seeking Deployment to Junior Secondary School
According to the latest TSC promotions guidelines, P1 teachers with the following qualifications shall be deployed to secondary schools which have been earmarked to host junior secondary school JSS starting January 2022;
Any teacher wishing to be deployed to instruct junior secondary school learners must:
Be a Kenyan citizen
Possess a valid P1 Certificate
Be a holder of a Bachelor’s Degree in Education with 2 Subjects of Specialization for instance Maths and Geography
Must have attained a minimum of C+ plus KCSE Mean Grade or it’s equivalent and at least C+ plus or it’s equivalent in the two teaching areas/subjects.
TSC Training for P1 Teachers Deployed to Teach in Junior Secondary School 2022/2023
The Teachers Service Commission, TSC, has also committed to improve the quality of education by training all teachers who will be deployed to teach in Junior Secondary School in January 2023.
This training is pegged on the fact that junior secondary school is an intermediate level and a basic learning process that will form the basis for career pathways for CBC learners.
Learners at this stage therefore need a lot of attention and proper guidance to make the right career choices.
JSS will encompass Grades 7, 8 and 9.
The first cohort of CBC learners will join junior secondary school in January 2023 after sitting for the newly introduced Kenya Primary School Education Assessment, KPSEA national examinations in November 2022. This cohort of learners are currently winding up their grade six syllabi.
Members of Parliament pushed for the recognition of diploma, degree, masters and PhD certificates for teachers who chose to upgrade their academic qualifications while in service.
The Parliamentary education committee further directed TSC to initiate negotiations with Teachers’ unions on the career progression guidelines aimed at upholding the rights of teachers who acquire relevant qualifications while in service.
The Teachers Service Commission was also directed to provide clear guidelines on the relevant courses to be undertaken by teachers for them to be promoted.
The Teachers Service Commission however stood its ground saying that it will only use Teacher Professional Development TPD refresher modules as the benchmark training for promoting teachers.
The above conclusion was arrived at after the TSC was forced to halt automatic promotion of teachers with higher qualifications on January 9, 2014 owing to the growing numbers.