PTE teachers upgrading their skills to the current Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) have gotten a boost after the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) released a new scoresheet.
In the new scoresheet, the Commission has awarded 10 marks to teachers who will produce CBC upgrade certificate during recruitment interviews.
This means P1 teachers who are undergoing upgrading in various Teacher Training Colleges (TTC) will have an upper hand in next TSC mass recruitment.
The Diploma upgrading students will be out after completing their September practicum this year.
TSC has already hinted at favouring the teachers by recognizing their certificates which will be inline with the new curriculum.
In this July 2022 recruitment the Commission has introduced an option for P1 teachers to indicate if they have the CBC upgrade certificate.
The Commission has released a scoresheet showing that the teachers will get 10 marks for upgrading their teaching skills.
It is not clear whether the Commission will use the teacher trainees assessment number during this recruitment exercise. TSC has so far only indicated the applicants to produce CBC upgrade certificate.
The Diploma upgrading students are expected to undergo a full term practicum after general elections before they are awarded the coveted CBC certificate.
The Kenya Teachers Colleges Association will meet for two days on 4th July to deliberate on the issue.
Among the key issues the Principal of teacher training colleges will look at ahead of the September practicum are;
1. Trainers guide
2. Learning areas cluster
3. Work sharing between teacher trainees and the regular teachers/mentors
4. Roles of regular teacher/mentor
5. Number of trainees per school and per class
6. Types of schools for posting (Public/Private)
7. September practicum schedule/time plan
8. Number and spread of internal assessments per teacher trainee
9. Students welfare during practicum
10. Professional documents (schemes, lesson plans, assessment records etc)
A number of Commission officials have hailed P1 teachers who are upgrading their skills and are part of the 229,000 set to graduate with the new CBC Diploma.
Last month, Mr. David Nganyi, who is the TSC Coast Regional Director in charge of Quality Assurance and Standards, assured the trainee teachers of firsthand employment once they successfully graduate.
Nganyi who was speaking during the Kenya Teachers Colleges Sports Association (KTCA) Coast Region Athletics Championship held at Shanzu TTC, said there is no way TSC could employ the unskilled when there are skilled once out there.
“We are eargerly waiting for you, as soon as you graduate we will directly absorb you so long as you have passed all the units,” said Nganyi.
During the end of last year, TSC Director for Quality Assurance and Standards, Dr. Reuben Nthamburi also hinted on giving first priority to teachers with CBC skills.
Nthamburi urged those teacher who have not enrolled for the upgrade programme to do so before its too late.
A taskforce had recommended both P1 and ECDE teachers to undergo the mandatory training to be at par with the demand of the new curriculum. The training started in October last year.
The trainees will be issued with a Diploma certificate at the end of the training.
Registration Fees for DPTE Upgrade Programme Assessments
| Assessment Fee Payment Breakdown | Amount (Kes) |
| Basic Fee | 1,200 |
| Assessment Fee for all Subjects | 12,000 |
| Practicum Fee | 2,500 |
| Total Assessment Fees | 15,700 |
In the CBTEC the professional learning areas have been redone to include new information to align them to competency based curriculum.
The CBTEC expects a primary school teacher to be grounded in all the subjects offered in primary schools, therefore upgrading PTE teacher trainee will be exempted from the subjects they had specialised in and take only those they did not take in the certificate course.
Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) proposed upgrading Programme distributed as follows:
1. Professional Learning Areas – 414 hours
2. Content and Pedagogy – 786 hours
3. Practicum – 300 hours
Total – 1,500 hours
The upgrading programme shall take 4 terms for DPTE. This period will not be extended despite a suggestion by TTC Principals to extend it by six more months.
Graduates for the Upgrading Programme shall be expected to teach all the subjects offered in the area of training.
The next intake will be in September 2022 for P1 teachers who want to upgrade to the new Diploma.
The taskforce said blended learning and distance learning will be considered in due course.
CALENDAR FOR DIPLOMA UPGRADING STUDENTS
| Term | Opening | Closing | Duration |
| Term 1 | 4th October 2021 | 23rd December 2021 | 12 weeks |
| Holiday | 23rd December 2021 | 3rd January 2022 | 1 week |
| Term 2 | 3rd January 2022 | 8th April 2022 | 14 weeks |
| Holiday | 8th April 2022 | 29th April 2022 | 3 weeks |
| Term 3 | 3rd May 2022 | 5th August 2022 | 14 weeks |
| Holiday | 6th August 2022 | 25th September 2022 | 7 weeks |
| Term 4 | 26th September 2022 | 25th November 2022 | 9 week practicum |
For P1 teachers who want to upgrade to Diploma Primary Teacher Education (DPTE) they must meet the following requirements;
1. The applicant must possess a valid PTE Certificate
2. The applicant must be registered by the Teachers Service Commission.
3. The duration of the course shall be 1500 Hours.
4. The Course shall be fully residential.
5. The trainee shall take all courses specified in the upgrading programme of Diploma in Primary Teacher Education
6. The trainees shall undertake a Teaching Practicum of 300 Hours.
7. To be awarded the Diploma, the trainee must complete the required hours for Course Work and the stipulated assessment by the Kenya National Examination Council.
8. Applicants shall be required to produce evidence of adherence to positive morals and good behavior.