- TSC has been urged to reserve interviews for teachers seeking leadership roles rather than requiring them for classroom teaching positions.
- Chematui has argued that qualified teachers’ experience and professional record should carry more weight than repeated interview processes.
- There should be a clear distinction between recruitment procedures for teaching and rigorous interviews for administrative appointments.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) needs to fundamentally reconsider its approach to interviewing teachers.
A teacher who has undergone the prescribed academic and professional training, obtained the required qualifications, been registered to practise and accumulated years of classroom experience should not be subjected to an endless cycle of interviews to prove that they are capable of teaching. The teaching profession must be treated as a profession, not as a permanent audition.
Teachers are trained professionals. They spend years acquiring pedagogical knowledge, undertaking teaching practice, developing classroom-management skills, assessing learners and gaining practical experience. Their professional qualifications and record should therefore be given the recognition they deserve.
There is a clear distinction between teaching and administration. When a teacher seeks to move into a leadership position such as headship, deputy headship or another administrative role, an interview is justified. Such positions demand additional competencies in leadership, institutional management, strategic planning, supervision, decision-making and conflict resolution, and it is reasonable for TSC to assess those competencies before entrusting a teacher with greater administrative responsibility.
But where the role remains classroom teaching, the emphasis should be on professional qualifications, experience, performance and demonstrated competence. A teacher who has successfully served in the classroom for years should not continually be made to sit before interview panels as though their professional journey begins anew each time an opportunity arises. At what point does experience become evidence of competence? TSC should answer that question.
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This position is not a call for lower standards. It is a call for smarter and more professional standards. Accountability can and should remain firmly in place, with teacher performance assessed through professional appraisal, classroom observation, continuous professional development, learner outcomes and other established mechanisms. Where professional misconduct or incompetence occurs, appropriate action should be taken. But accountability should not be confused with repeatedly questioning the professional identity of qualified teachers.
Professional experience must count. A teacher who has spent years educating children, mentoring learners, supporting colleagues and contributing to the development of a school has accumulated valuable professional capital. That experience should not be reduced to a few minutes before an interview panel.
TSC should therefore draw a clear line between recruitment into teaching and progression into administration. For entry into the profession, appropriate recruitment procedures are necessary. For experienced teachers seeking to continue serving in the classroom, however, their qualifications, professional record and demonstrated competence should carry substantial weight. For administrative appointments, interviews should rigorously assess leadership capacity, since that is where interviews belong.
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Teachers are not asking for preferential treatment. They are demanding recognition of their professional standing. The Commission has a responsibility to create a system that respects teachers, rewards experience and maintains high professional standards without subjecting qualified educators to unnecessary and repetitive processes.
TSC must modernise its approach. If a teacher wants to lead, interview them for leadership. If a teacher wants to teach, recognise their professional qualifications, experience and record. The classroom is where teachers demonstrate their profession every day, and their competence should not be determined solely by how they perform before an interview panel. Let teachers teach. Let experience count. Let professionalism speak for itself.
By Willy Chematui
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