DPTE Trainees Protest 24-Unit Workload After KNEC Releases 2023 Results
Teacher trainees say that expecting every candidate to master and pass every unit is unrealistic, a complaint that has grown louder since the release of the 2023 Diploma in Primary Teacher Education results.
When the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) released the 2023 examination results on October 14, many Diploma in Primary Teacher Education (DPTE) candidates were hoping to close three years of training and move toward a classroom.
Instead, a large number found referrals beside one or more units. Their frustration is now turning to a bigger question: is the DPTE curriculum itself too heavy?
According to candidates, the answer is yes. A DPTE trainee is expected to study, be assessed in and pass 24 units, covering everything from English and Mathematics to Music, Indigenous Languages and Practicum.
The 24-Unit Load
The DPTE units are:
- English (9611)
- Kiswahili (9612)
- Mathematics (9614)
- Physical and Health Education (9615)
- Home Science (9616)
- Agriculture (9617)
- Social Studies (9618)
- Christian Religious Education (9619)
- Educational Resources (9622/A)
- ICT Integration in Education (9622/B)
- Education Assessment (9622/C)
- Research Skills (9622/D)
- Educational Leadership and Management (9622/E)
- Child Development and Psychology (9623/A)
- Inclusive Education (9623/B)
- Sociological and Philosophical Foundations of Education (9624/A)
- Historical and Comparative Foundations of Education (9624/B)
- Curriculum Studies (9624/C)
- Art and Craft (9625)
- Music (9626)
- Science and Technology (9627)
- Indigenous Languages (9628)
- Micro Teaching (9633/1)
- Practicum (9633/2)
On paper, the list reflects the reality of primary school teaching, where one teacher often handles most or all subjects in a class.
Trainees do not dispute that. What they dispute is the expectation that each of these 24 units be studied in depth, revised and passed in a single course.
“We Are Preparing for 24 Different Battles”
For many candidates, the problem is not any single unit but the accumulation. Each unit comes with its own content, its own assessment requirements and its own revision demands.
A trainee preparing for the Mathematics paper must also prepare for Research Skills, Music, Agriculture and a range of education theory units, often within the same assessment period.
Trainees describe the workload as overwhelming. There are subject-content units, professional-theory units and practical components, and they ask for very different skills.
Solving a mathematics problem, analysing the philosophical foundations of education, composing music, producing a piece of art and craft, and delivering a micro-teaching lesson are not tasks that one revision strategy can cover.
The pressure is compounded by the fact that passing is required in every unit. A candidate may do well in most of the course and still be referred in a single unit, which delays graduation. As the 2023 figures show, referrals at some colleges ran into the hundreds.
A Comparison That Keeps Coming Up: DSTE and the Old PTE
Much of the discussion among trainees turns on comparison. Candidates in the Diploma in Secondary Teacher Education (DSTE) specialise in two teaching subjects.
Their training is wide in professional studies but focused in content, so they can concentrate their energy on a small number of academic areas.
DPTE trainees have no such option. They are trained to teach all subjects, with no specialisation. The structure closely resembles the old Primary Teacher Education (PTE) course, which has since been phased out, in which student teachers also learned every subject rather than a chosen few.
That history is part of why the current complaints carry weight with some observers. The curriculum was reformed and the course renamed, yet trainees say the demands of the old generalist model have been carried into a diploma programme, and that the assessment load has not been rebalanced to match.
There is a counterargument. Primary schools in Kenya typically require teachers who can handle a range of subjects, and a teacher who knows only two subjects well may struggle in a primary classroom.
Supporters of the generalist model argue that breadth is a feature of primary teaching, not a flaw.
Even so, trainees say the issue is not whether they should be trained broadly, but whether every unit needs to be examined at the same intensity.
Digital Assessments Add Another Layer
The complaints about workload have been mixed with concerns about how the examinations were delivered.
Some candidates have said that technical problems during digital assessments, including system freezes, network disconnections and timing problems, interfered with their ability to complete or submit answers.
These remain allegations. Establishing whether technical failures affected anyone’s results would require an official review of examination records and system logs.
But for trainees already stretched across 24 units, even a small technical disruption can matter. With so many papers and so little room for error, a lost half hour can be the difference between a pass and a referral.
What the Referral Figures Show
The 2023 figures give the complaints a concrete backdrop. Mosoriot TTC reportedly recorded 927 referrals out of 944 candidates, with only 17 listed as having cleared the requirements for graduation.
St. Mark’s Kigari TTC reportedly had 541 referrals out of 860 candidates. Kaimosi TTC had 442 out of 665, Asumbi TTC 422 out of 750, and Thogoto TTC 367 out of 755.
Other colleges told a very different story. Moi TTC Baringo reportedly had only 14 referrals out of 513 candidates, and Bishop Mahon TTC was reported to have recorded none.
Trainees at heavily affected colleges argue that such wide differences deserve explanation. It is important to be careful here: differences between colleges do not, on their own, prove that marking was inconsistent or that the results were wrong.
Candidate preparation, teaching quality, institutional resources and examination conditions can all play a part.
But trainees argue that a 24-unit load may magnify these differences. In a course this broad, a college with fewer resources, or with gaps in staffing for specialised units such as Music, Art and Craft or Indigenous Languages, may find it harder to prepare its students across the entire list.
That is a hypothesis, not a finding. Only verified data and an explanation from KNEC could show whether the number of units contributed to the outcomes.
The Real Cost of a Referral
For a teacher trainee, a referral is more than a number on a result slip. It means more time, more money and more uncertainty.
A referral generally means a candidate has not met the required standard in one or more units and must follow the applicable procedures to clear them.
It is different from a result cancellation, and from a Course Requirement Not Met (CRNM) status, whose consequences depend on the applicable regulations.
Candidates face practical consequences. Graduation is delayed. The cost of resits and extra preparation falls on families that have already funded three years of training.
And because the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) recruits only those who have met the qualification requirements, a pending unit can mean missing a recruitment window.
The original report linked the results to an anticipated November recruitment exercise. Candidates should check current recruitment dates and eligibility through official TSC announcements rather than assume anything.
A remarking application does not automatically make a candidate eligible, and it does not guarantee that marks will rise or that a referral will become a pass.
Remarking Is One Route, but Not the Whole Answer
Many affected candidates are preparing to apply for remarking. This is a reasonable step for anyone who believes their result contains an error, and a successful application could change a result if a mistake is found.
Trainees should contact their college administration first and confirm the deadline, required documents, fees and the channel through which applications must be submitted.
They should also keep copies of their result slips and, if they experienced technical problems during an assessment, note the specific details of what happened.
But remarking addresses only individual errors. It does not address the structural complaint at the heart of the current debate, which is that 24 units may simply be too many to master and pass within the time available.
Even if every script were remarked flawlessly, a trainee who struggled with the sheer volume of material would not necessarily see a different outcome.
What Trainees Want to Be Heard
Based on the concerns raised, DPTE candidates are asking for several things:
A review of the assessment load. They want the relevant authorities to examine whether 24 separately assessed units is a realistic expectation, and whether some could be combined, weighted differently or assessed continuously rather than through final papers.
Clarity on the digital examination process. They want to know whether system problems affected submissions, and what safeguards exist.
Transparency on college differences. They want an explanation for why referral rates vary so widely between institutions.
Clear guidance on referrals and resits. They want plain information on what each result category means, what deadlines apply and how outstanding units can be cleared.
None of these requests assumes that the results are wrong. They ask for explanation, and for a system that trainees can understand and plan for.
The Other Side of the Argument
A balanced reading of the issue has to acknowledge the case for the current structure. Primary teachers in Kenya are expected to be versatile.
A graduate who has covered the full range of subjects, together with child psychology, inclusive education and curriculum studies, is arguably better equipped for a primary school than one trained narrowly.
Practicum and Micro Teaching, in particular, are the units that most directly prepare trainees for the classroom.
Educators who defend the model may also point out that not every unit carries the same weight of difficulty.
Some units are practical, some are built on continuous assessment, and several theory units overlap in content. The perception of 24 heavy papers may be stronger than the reality.
Still, perception matters. If trainees across several colleges feel the load is unmanageable, and if hundreds at a single institution were referred, then the education authorities have good reason to look closely at what is happening, whether the cause lies in the curriculum, the assessment method, the delivery of the course or a combination of these.
A Question That Will Not Go Away
For now, DPTE trainees are caught between two timelines: the one that will decide their remarking applications and resits, and the one that may eventually decide whether the course itself is restructured.
The first is urgent and personal. The second is a policy question that will need evidence, consultation and time.
What trainees are asking is not complicated. They want to become teachers, and they accept that teaching in a primary school means knowing a little of everything.
They are asking whether the road to that goal has been designed in a way that a determined, capable student can realistically walk.
KNEC has not yet responded to the concerns in detail, according to the reports available. A clear explanation of the assessment process, the meaning of the result categories and the steps open to affected candidates would go a long way toward settling nerves.
And a wider conversation about whether 24 units is the right number may be one the sector can no longer postpone.
Until then, thousands of trainees are left to decide whether to apply for remarking, prepare for resits, or wait for answers.
Whatever they choose, their message is the same: the workload is too much, and they want to be heard.