TSC to launch nationwide retooling exercise for Senior School teachers in August

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has announced a face-to-face retooling exercise for Senior School teachers in preparation for the implementation of the Competency Based Education (CBE) curriculum.

The exercise will be conducted from August 11 to August 15, 2025 within Sub-County levels across the country. All senior school teachers including those handling regular and Special Needs Education (SNE) learners will be trained according to the subject pathways offered in Senior School under the CBE framework.

According to the announcement, the retooling will be conducted on a non-residential basis with teachers expected to commute daily to designated training venues. However, SNE teachers and those from Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) regions will be considered for residential arrangements with accommodation allowances as applicable.

TSC says that the exercise will focus on clustering teachers into specific groups based on the three Senior School pathways. These are the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) pathway, the Social Sciences pathway and the Arts and Sports Science pathway.

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All secondary schools, are therefore directed to nominate teachers who will attend the training, whereby each school is required to select teachers according to the number of teaching staff on duty.

The selection criteria have been outlined in a table provided by the Commission indicating how many teachers each school should nominate depending on its size.

For example, schools with five to seven teachers will nominate three while schools with eight to twelve teachers will nominate four. The selection must ensure that the nominated teachers cover all the pathways relevant to the subjects offered in the school. For SNE schools, nominations should reflect the specific areas of specialization such as Hearing Impairment (HI), Visual Impairment (VI), Mental Handicap (MH) and Physical Assessment (Pa).

The training will be delivered using a smart cascade model. Master trainers will first train Trainers of Teachers (ToTs) who will then facilitate the five-day face-to-face sessions with the selected Senior School teachers.

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Each training venue will host around 60 participants who will be guided by at least three ToTs. The training content will focus on preparing teachers for the curriculum pathways and equipping them with the necessary instructional strategies aligned with CBE.

TSC is therefore asking school heads to compile and submit the names of selected teachers in an Excel format to the TSC Sub-County Directors by July 28, 2025. This data will help TSC to organize logistics, allocate trainers and ensure that all schools are adequately represented in the retooling process.

The exercise is aimed at ensuring that Senior School teachers are fully prepared for the rollout of Grade 10 in January 2026 as part of the continued implementation of CBC in Kenya.

The County and Sub-County Directors will oversee the exercise and ensure compliance with the guidelines. They will also coordinate venue arrangements and monitor the quality of training delivery. After the exercise, reports and attendance data will be submitted to the TSC headquarters for documentation and further planning.

By Benedict Aoya