- TSC will shortlist three candidates for every advertised promotion vacancy during the 2026/27 cycle.
- Grade-specific scoresheets will award marks for experience, TPAD performance, age, qualifications and additional responsibilities.
- Shortlisted teachers will receive at least seven days’ notice before appearing before designated interview panels.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC), through Acting Commission Secretary and CEO Dr Evaleen J. Mitei, has released detailed scoresheets showing how teachers will be ranked during the 2026/27 promotion exercise, with candidates to be assessed using grade-specific 100-mark scoring guides.
The new guidelines introduce a shortlisting ratio of 1:3, meaning three eligible candidates will be shortlisted for every advertised vacancy before proceeding to interviews.
TSC says shortlisting must be guided by fairness, transparency, inclusivity and non-discrimination while ensuring qualified candidates across counties are given an equal opportunity for consideration.
The Commission has also directed that shortlisted candidates be given at least seven days’ notice before the interview date. Their invitation letters will indicate the date, time and venue of the interview, as well as documents they will be required to present.
Interview panels will operate at sub-county, county and regional levels depending on the grade and position being filled.
Sub-county panels will interview candidates for primary school positions, including headteachers and deputy headteachers or other positions assigned by the Commission. County panels will handle post-primary positions, including deputy principals and other designated positions, while regional panels will interview principals in secondary schools, teachers training colleges and curriculum support officers.
TSC introduces grade-specific scoresheets
Unlike a single scoring formula applied to all candidates, the Commission has developed different scoresheets for individual grades and positions.
The guidelines identify academic qualifications, acting capacity, length of stay in the current grade, Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD), seniority and experience, and professional assignments among the factors that may attract marks.
Teachers who have served in acting positions such as headteacher, deputy headteacher, senior master or senior teacher may receive additional marks depending on the specific scoresheet.
Other assignments, including participation in TSC, KNEC, KICD, Ministry of Education and CEMASTEA activities, may also attract marks in some grades.
For Chief Principal, Grade D5/T-Scale 15, the scoresheet allocates 45 marks to length of stay in the current grade, 30 marks to age, 10 marks to TPAD performance, five marks to academic and professional qualifications, five marks to specified professional assignments and five marks to co-curricular activities.
Under the Chief Principal scoring guide, a teacher who has served eight years or more in the current grade receives the full 45 marks, while seven years attracts 40 marks, six years 35, five years 30, four years 25 and three years 20.
Age also carries substantial weight. Teachers aged 57 years and above receive 30 marks, those aged between 52 and 56 receive 25, those aged 47 to 51 receive 20, those aged 42 to 46 receive 15, while those aged 41 and below receive 10 marks.
TPAD performance is worth 10 marks in the same category, with an average rating of 81 per cent and above attracting 10 marks, 61 to 80 per cent eight marks, 41 to 60 per cent six marks, 21 to 40 per cent four marks and one to 20 per cent two marks.
The Commission has, however, varied the weight assigned to different factors according to the grade.
For Curriculum Support Officer I, Grade D2/TSC Scale 12, for instance, age carries 45 marks and length of stay in the current grade 40 marks, while academic qualifications, management or leadership courses and computer application certification each carry five marks.
For Curriculum Support Officer II, Grade C5/TSC Scale 10, the scoresheet allocates 35 marks each to length of stay in the current grade and age, 20 marks to TPAD performance, five marks to academic and professional qualifications and five marks to a certificate in computer applications.
Several other grades, including deputy principals, senior lecturers, deputy headteachers and senior teachers, have separate scoring guides that combine administrative responsibility, length of service in grade, TPAD, age, qualifications and co-curricular participation.
For a number of administrative positions, the scoresheets combine acting responsibility with length of stay in the current grade.
In the Deputy Principal I scoring guide, for example, administrative responsibility and length of stay in the current grade together account for 50 marks.
Of these, 25 marks are reserved for responsibility, with teachers who have performed administrative duties such as principal or headteacher, or who were deployed by TSC or a Board of Management to perform such duties, being considered under the category. Another 25 marks are allocated to length of stay in the current grade.
Some lower administrative grades allocate as much as 55 marks to administrative responsibility and length of stay in the current grade.
The score awarded to each candidate will be determined by individual panel members during the interview, after which the actual score for each section will be calculated as the average of marks awarded by the panel members. The sum of the actual scores will determine the candidate’s final score.
PWD and gender provisions
The new promotion framework also strengthens affirmative action measures.
TSC says it will endeavour to ensure that at least five per cent of all promoted candidates are teachers registered as persons with disabilities under the Persons with Disabilities Act.
The Commission will also seek to ensure that not more than two-thirds of teachers promoted are of the same gender, while taking into account regional diversity.
Interview venues must be accessible to teachers with disabilities, while applicants with hearing or speech disabilities will be allowed the services of a sign-language interpreter.
Selection will ultimately be based on merit as determined by interview scores while observing gender representation, inclusion of persons with disabilities and regional diversity.
The TSC Board will oversee the promotion process and approve the list of successful candidates, which will then be published through the Commission’s website.
Heads and deputy heads of institutions will be posted to schools with available vacancies, while successful candidates will be required to assume duty within the period stated in their promotion letters.
TSC can revoke promotion decisions
The guidelines further give TSC power to review, correct or revoke a promotion decision where there is a material error, fraudulent information, a promotion process conducted contrary to approved procedures, an administrative anomaly or new information that materially affects the decision.
The Commission may also re-route, repost or reassign a promoted teacher where necessary.
TSC says the promotion system will increasingly be automated through the integration of Teachers Online Services, the Teacher Promotion Module, Teacher Management Information System, HRMIS, Posting/Entry/Exit Module, EDMS, TPAD, Leave Management Module and the Discipline Management Module.
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The Commission will also monitor the exercise and submit an exit report after its conclusion to identify areas requiring policy and operational improvement.
The guidelines, issued under Circular No. 13/2026 dated July 24, 2026, will remain valid up to June 30, 2027.
By Joseph Mambili
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