The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has introduced some changes in the Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) system.
The minor changes were injected to streamline the monitoring and assessment of teachers during lessons.
The changes were revealed in early January by the TSC County and Sub County officials during the primary school headteachers conference.
The headteachers had converged to deliberate their issues for the term through their umbrella Kenya Primary School Heads Association (KEPSHA).
TPAD which is an open appraisal system allows teachers in primary and secondary schools to participate in evaluating their own performance and initiate their professional development.
Through the appraisal and development system, TSC aims to empower teachers to regain the lost glory of the teaching profession and public confidence and support.
In the lesson observation TSC has now allowed teachers to observe their fellow teachers and complete the lesson observation form.
Unlike in previous school terms where only school administrators were allowed to enter a class and observe teachers and fill the lesson observation form, non administrator teachers can now initiate lesson observation exercise.
The changes are a relief to school administrators who can now use the time to attend to more pressing issues.
Upon completion of the lesson observation form the teachers will then avail them to the administrators for uploading to the online TPAD system.
TSC uses TPAD to promote its teachers. During promotion interviews teachers must download and produce evidence of TPAD compliance for them to be considered.
Teachers who fail to comply by taking the appraisal and lesson observations also risk disciplinary action from the Commission.
The Commission advertised 25,288 promotion slots for both primary and post primary school teachers fro this year.
In the January and February promotion interviews TSC awarded scores as follows based on TPAD ratings.
TPAD Rating
81+ 10 Marks
61- 80 – 8 Marks
41-60 – 6 Marks
21 – 40 – 4 Marks
1- 20 – 2 Marks
In the interviews teachers were required to produce the TPAD for the last three years i.e 2022, 2023, 2024.
TPAD CALENDAR OF ACTIVITIES AT THE INSTITUTION LEVEL
| TPAD Activity | Action By | Time Frame | |
| 1. | Planning meetings before school opening involving all staff to set school TPAD Activity calendar | Heads of Institutions , Senior Management Team, Teachers, | By the last week of the school holiday. |
| 2. | Submission of professional documents | Heads of institution All Teachers | By the end of the first week of the term |
| 3. | Undertaking lesson observations and identifying and documenting teacher’s professional gaps | Appraisees and appraisers. | Between 2nd week and 10th week of the term |
| 4. | Undertaking teacher professional development to address professional gaps. | Appraisees, appraisers, institutional administrators. | Throughout the term; from 1st week to the last week of the term |
| 5. | Internal Monitoring and Evaluation of the implementation of TPAD process. | Heads of institution, Deputy Head of Institution, Heads of Department | Continuous throughout the term |
| 6. | Monitoring the implementation of TPAD process at county level; zonal, sub county & county | Curriculum Support Officers, Sub County Directors and County Directors | Throughout the term; from 1st week to the last week of the term |
| 7. | TPAD rating meetings | Appraisee (teachers) and appraiser (HODs, deputy heads, Heads of Institution, CSOs, SCD) | By the closing date of the term |
| 8. | Uploading of TPAD data and evidence. | Appraisee (teachers) and appraiser (HODs, deputy heads, Heads of Institution, CSOs, SCD) | Throughout the term |