A PTE (Primary Teacher Education) certificate will not be enough to grant one license to teach in a primary school from next year.
This was revealed from a report published by the teacher employer, Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
TSC says primary school teachers with only PTE certificates will be irrelevant as all primary schools will be fully locked into Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) from Grade 1 to 6.
However in its framework the Commission says it will recruit P1 teachers who undertook the Competency Based Teacher Education (CBTE).
These are PTE teachers who upgraded their certificates to the current Diploma in Primary Teacher Education (DPTE).
It further says the lowest entry grade into the teaching profession will be a Diploma. Meaning only teachers with DPTE will be considered for employment in primary schools.
Those employed will be placed in job group C1 meaning TSC will in future scrap job group B5 for teachers which is the current entry grade for primary school teachers.
Currently TSC has a total of 46,000 teachers employed on internship terms. TSC plans to confirm the teachers on permanent terms in 2025.
The Commission recruited 20,000 intern teachers in February. In August another 20,000 interns were employed.
In January 2022, TSC posted a total of 1,995 intern teachers to schools. TSC also renewed internship contract for 4,005 teachers whose one year term ended in December 2021. This brought the total number of intern teachers to 46,000.
The primary school intern teachers will not be affected by this paradigm shift. They will be confirmed after serving for two years.
In previous recruitment TSC only awarded the P1 teachers ten marks for upgrading to Competency Based Curriculum.
Thousands of primary and nursery school teachers enrolled for upgrading of their certificates to the CBC Diploma.
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 first cohorts of trainee teachers completed their studies and were issued with a Diploma certificate from Knec.
Registration Fees for DPTE Upgrade Programme KNEC 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 were redone to include new information to align them to competency based curriculum.
In CBTEC a primary school teacher will 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.
The upgrading programme take 4 school terms for DPTE. Graduates for the Upgrading Programme will teach all the subjects offered in the area of training.
The taskforce said blended learning and distance learning will be considered in due course.
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.