By Roy Hezron
A total of 26,000 teachers have been targeted to be trained on coaching and mentorship in what can be seen as a humanistic approach that Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is employing in dealing with indiscipline cases among teachers.
The programme is meant to target new teachers joining the teaching service notably new recruits, those in internship and those joining the administrative positions of leading the institutions and those having challenges in performance.
Teachers will be trained in three financial years starting with 2021/22 financial years to 2023/24 which will target a total of 13,000 teachers in each financial year.
According to the Commission Secretary Dr. Nancy Macharia, the many hours wasted inform of teacher-learner contact time results in poor learning outcomes and a drop in performance at all levels.
“To address this challenge, the Commission, in its Strategic Plan 2019 -2023, committed to implement mentorship and coaching as a preventive strategy that pre-empts indiscipline amongst teachers rather than corrective mechanisms in management of discipline,” states Dr. Macharia in the policy document.
The programme is also expected to target a total of 12,000 School administrators and Board of Management (BoMs) who will be trained on management of discipline cases, and this will capture a total of 4,000 teachers in each financial year till 2024 with 2021/22 being the baseline year.
Unlike before where the commission used a decentralized system whereby indiscipline cases were being heard at County and Regional office which saw some cases taking long before being concluded, this time the commission has decided to mentor and couch teachers’ joining the services using their fellow teachers who have been in service for a while.
A lot of indiscipline cases among teachers results to insubordination whereby teachers being reported for not taking duties, missing lessons, alcoholism and drug abuse, absenteeism among others.
In 2019, a total of 89 teachers were deregistered from the TSC register while last year a total of 71 teachers were deregistered after their disciplinary cases were concluded by the commission.
According to TSC code of conduct and ethics regulations for teachers, a teacher is supposed to ensure that his or her private and public conduct upholds the dignity and integrity of the teaching service.
The code further require teachers at all times be of good conduct whether or not on official duty and in particular maintain a neat and decent standard of dressing which befits the dignity and image of the teaching service; ensure that their personal hygiene is not offensive to workmates or those they serve; observe official working hours, be punctual and meet deadlines; and not being absent from duty without permission among others.
On the other hand, the commission will train a total of 30,000 newly appointed heads of institutions on the programme and which will capture 10,000 heads in each financial year starting 2021/22 which starts in July1, 2021 up to June 2024.
A total of 2000 teachers who have already undergone indiscipline process will also be trained on mentorship and coaching in these financials years, targeting a total of 6,000 teachers under this category.
The programme will be implemented on a cascade model, whereby National Trainers (NTs) will trainer Master Trainers (MTs) at regional and County who in turn will train trainers of Trainers (TOTs).
“This approach provides a structured way of engagement where institutions will benefit from skills of an experienced teacher/ professional with unique and exemplary performance within the immediate environment/county/region,” reads the TSC policy document on mentorship and coaching in part.
According to Basic Statistical Booklet of 2019 released by the Ministry of Education, there are 218,760 teachers in Public Primary schools as per 2019 of which 104,684 are male while 114,076 are female, while in public Secondary schools, there were a total of 105,234 teachers of which 62,110 are male and 43,124 female.
