By Roy Hezron
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has firmly declared that it won’t bug down on its stand about the entry requirements for those who want to join the teaching service.
The country’s teacher employer revealed that some of the letters teachers write to the Commission have spelling mistakes.
The Commission’s Director of Quality Assurance and Standards (QAS) Dr. Reuben Nthamburi noted that they want to professionalize the teaching service to match other professions like law, engineering and medicine; adding that they have already told universities the kind of a teacher they want.
He stated that the challenge they are having currently is that some teachers cannot communicate effectively a reason that prompted Kenya University and College Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) to strictly put Grade C (plain) in both English and Mathematics for all those who wanted to do Bachelor’s degree in Education in both Arts and Science during the recent placement.
“You saw in the papers when we did say we want the BED programme properly reorganized, what came out? The outcry; that this can’t work. You know change is painful and always resisted. But what we are saying TSC is the client. Iam the one who takes the teacher,” noted Dr. Nthamburi.
He added that: “The challenges we are having today, if you look at some of the letters the teachers are writing, they have very many spelling mistakes…We want to have qualified teachers who can communicate well.”
Dr. Nthamburi who represented the Commission’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Nancy Macharia, was addressing the Senate Committee on Education chaired by Dr. Alice Milgo and Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) on CBC sensitization in Naivasha most recently.
He stressed that for teaching service to be professionalized and match other professions, the entry requirements need to be strictly observed and be followed, professional development training in this case Teacher Professional Development (TPD) need to be undertaken, and thereafter think about how the teachers will be remunerated and motivated.
“It is the question of what do we want best for our teachers, the future of a teacher in the country; the 21st century teacher…we would want to get a professionalized teacher, and that one we are not relenting on it,” reiterated Dr. Nthamburi.
Dr. Nthamburi added that universities should understand the new areas and emerging issues in education so that they can align their content accordingly, and revealed that they have previously met all the Vice-Chancellors of universities and soon they will meet all the University VCs and the Faculty Deans to deliberate on how they will align their courses.
“Some Universities have run very quickly, they have begun aligning their degree courses to CBC,” said Dr. Nthamburi.
Most recently, the battle of supremacy between the TSC and Universities emerged over who controls University Programme after TSC come up with proposed policy meant to review Standards of Education and Training.
The policy titled Framework on Entry Requirements in the Teaching Service which were prepared by Dr. Nthamburi; and meant to sensitize University Deans, School of Education on the Teacher Education Framework on the requirements for entry into the teaching service.
According to the proposed policy, the commission wants to remodel (change) the Bachelor of Education programme; which is one of the most famous and popular programme being offered in almost every university in the country, and replace it with Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Science (BSC) with a Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in Education.
The commission was of a view that as from September this year, Universities should start offering the programme which will take three years with one year for PGD.
This means that in the near future, the Commission will only register and employ teachers after successful completion of a professional postgraduate diploma.
According to the proposed policy framework the entry grade into BA or BSC, will be Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) Mean Grade of C+ with a B-(Minus) in three teaching subjects.
This was a shift from the current requirement where Universities admit students into the Bachelor of Education programme with a minimum KCSE Mean Grade of C+ (plus) and above or its equivalent with C+ (plus) in two subjects of specialization.
The CBC education task force in its final report recommended that the Commission for University Education (CUE) should fast-track development and review of university programmes to align with the three pathways offered in Senior Secondary School.
