- John Kenga has questioned why TSC subjects long-serving subject teachers to stressful interviews when age and service already carry significant scoring marks.
- TSC should use verified records, including qualifications, performance, conduct and years in grade, to promote eligible teachers without interviews.
- TSC must distinguish ordinary career progression from competitive recruitment, reserving interviews for leadership positions only.
If age and length of service carry significant marks, why the interview marathon?
Preparations for next week’s teacher interviews are gaining momentum across the 47 counties as the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) seeks to fill promotion vacancies.
But an important question remains: why should subject teachers who have stagnated in the same job group for years go through stressful interviews when TSC’s own scoring criteria already recognise age and length of service? This is not an argument against merit. It is an argument for fairness and efficiency. TSC already knows every teacher’s age, employment date, job group, length of service, qualifications and professional record. So what exactly is the interview intended to establish that its records do not already show?
The TPAD Question
The Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) system provides an indication of teacher effectiveness, but its scores should not automatically become the decisive factor in promotion. Where teachers participate in assessing their own performance, subjectivity can arise, and TSC should therefore strengthen objective and independently verifiable measures of performance.
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If Age and Service Count, Why the Interview?
If age and length of service carry significant marks, why spend substantial time and resources interviewing teachers whose records already provide much of the required information? TSC could identify teachers who have served the required period in their grade, met academic and professional requirements, maintained satisfactory performance, demonstrated good conduct, participated in co-curricular activities from sub-county to international level, and had no serious disciplinary record. Such teachers could be promoted automatically or through a simple verification process.
An Interview Is Not a Classroom
Being an effective teacher does not necessarily make someone an effective interviewee. Some excellent teachers become anxious under interview pressure, and years of classroom experience, mentoring, assessment and service cannot be adequately measured in a few minutes before a panel. TSC should distinguish career progression from competitive recruitment; interviews may make sense for leadership positions, but ordinary progression should be based primarily on clearly defined requirements and verified records.
Don’t Penalise Teachers for Growing Older
Teachers spend years serving Kenyan children while their job groups remain unchanged. Their experience grows, qualifications improve, and responsibilities increase, yet progression can remain uncertain. That is stagnation, and it should not be normalised. TSC should recognise sustained commitment and satisfactory performance rather than repeatedly subjecting experienced teachers to stressful interviews.
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TSC Can Do Better
The Commission has the data and capacity to create a more efficient system. Qualifications, verified performance, professional conduct, years of service, length of stay in grade and co-curricular participation should count. Once a teacher meets the required threshold, promotion should follow without an unnecessary interview marathon. Teachers are not asking for favours; they are asking for a system that recognises what they have already contributed.
So, TSC, if age and length of service already carry significant marks, why interview teachers whose records can help determine who qualifies? Recognise experience. Reward commitment. Use objective data. Promote fairly. The teachers have served long enough. It is time for the system to serve them too.
By John Kenga
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