- Teacher motivation has consequences that extend beyond individual educators to the quality of learning in schools.
- Astiba Kebongo argues that transfers, supportive school leadership and professional development can help rejuvenate teachers experiencing stagnation.
- She calls for a more human-centred approach that balances teachers’ legitimate concerns with their responsibility to learners.
Teacher motivation is not merely an individual concern. It is an education-quality issue that deserves attention from teachers, school administrators and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
There is a quiet question that rarely finds its way into education policy conversations: What happens when a teacher has served in the same station for many years and gradually loses the enthusiasm that once defined their profession?
The teacher still reports to school. Lessons are taught. Assessments are administered. Records are completed. Meetings are attended.
From the outside, everything appears normal.
But behind the routine may be a teacher who feels professionally stuck.
This is the teacher who once entered the classroom with excitement but now performs duties largely out of obligation. The teacher who has accumulated years of experience but feels that professional growth has slowed. The teacher who occasionally wonders whether a different environment, new challenges or a fresh beginning could rekindle the fire.
This should not automatically be interpreted as laziness or an unwillingness to work.
Teachers are human beings before they are employees.
And human beings can become tired, frustrated and demotivated.
Teaching demands creativity, emotional energy and continuous renewal. Curriculum implementation is not simply about completing the syllabus. It requires teachers who are engaged, innovative, reflective and willing to go the extra mile for learners.
When motivation declines, professional performance may not collapse overnight. It can deteriorate quietly.
A teacher may continue doing what is required while gradually losing the enthusiasm to do what is possible.
That distinction matters.
Kenya’s Teachers Service Commission is constitutionally mandated to manage the teaching service. It carries an enormous responsibility involving recruitment, deployment, discipline, professional development and the welfare of teachers.
The Commission deserves recognition for managing this complex national mandate.
But even strong institutions must occasionally look in the mirror.
My loud question to TSC is this: how can the system respond when a teacher has served in one station for a prolonged period, feels professionally drained and genuinely believes that a change of environment could restore their effectiveness?
Could transfer become a tool for rejuvenation?
Transfers are often viewed primarily as administrative decisions.
Perhaps there is room to see them differently.
A carefully considered transfer can sometimes be a professional rejuvenation strategy.
A new school exposes a teacher to different learners, colleagues, leadership styles, challenges and opportunities. It can disrupt monotony and stimulate professional curiosity.
Of course, TSC cannot transfer every teacher who becomes dissatisfied with a station. Staffing requirements, vacancies, replacement and institutional needs must be considered.
Neither should a teacher use dissatisfaction as an excuse for poor performance.
But where circumstances permit, a legitimate request for movement deserves more than a mechanical administrative response.
Sometimes moving a teacher is not moving a problem; it is moving a professional towards renewed purpose.
However, rejuvenation cannot be entirely outsourced to TSC.
The individual teacher must also look inward.
What exactly has caused the loss of enthusiasm?
Is it the station? Leadership? Workload? Lack of recognition? Professional stagnation? Personal circumstances? Or simply years of doing the same thing without deliberately seeking renewal?
Teachers can take practical steps.
They can pursue professional development, mentor younger colleagues, join professional learning communities, experiment with new teaching strategies, take up meaningful responsibilities and acquire additional skills.
A teacher should not wait for a transfer letter before rediscovering professional purpose.
Whatever frustrations exist, learners should not become unintended casualties.
Administrators can make a difference
School administrators also have a critical role to play.
A good administrator should notice when a previously enthusiastic teacher begins withdrawing from professional activities.
Not every struggling employee needs a disciplinary file.
Sometimes, they need a conversation.
School leaders can listen to concerns, recognise good work, provide opportunities for leadership, encourage professional development and deploy experienced teachers where their strengths can be most useful.
A teacher who has served in one institution for many years is not necessarily an exhausted resource.
That teacher may possess institutional memory, experience and skills that can benefit an entire department.
Give such a teacher a meaningful project. Let them mentor younger colleagues. Involve them in curriculum innovation. Ask them to share their expertise.
When people feel valued, they are more likely to invest themselves in the institution.
Kenya’s constitutional and labour framework provides an important backdrop to this conversation.
Article 41 of the Constitution guarantees every person the right to fair labour practices. Article 47 provides for fair administrative action.
These principles are important in considering how employment-related decisions are made.
However, they should not be misinterpreted to mean that every teacher has an automatic legal right to transfer simply because they are unhappy in a particular station.
TSC must balance individual circumstances with the needs of the teaching service.
The important principle is that legitimate employment concerns should be handled fairly, reasonably and through established procedures.
Teachers, therefore, should use professional channels to present their concerns rather than resorting to absenteeism, deliberate underperformance or confrontation.
The employer, in turn, should ensure that legitimate pleas are given appropriate consideration.
TSC must listen beyond the paperwork
TSC has made progress in digitising many teacher-management services, including transfers and teacher performance processes.
But behind every application is a human being.
A digital system can process a request efficiently, but it cannot always capture the emotional and professional circumstances behind it.
Some cases require a human ear.
Perhaps a teacher has spent an unusually long period in one station. Perhaps professional stagnation has become evident. Perhaps family circumstances have changed. Perhaps the teacher simply needs a different environment to rediscover professional enthusiasm.
Not every request must be granted.
But every genuine plea should be heard, assessed and handled with fairness and humanity.
There is sometimes a perception that discussing teacher motivation amounts to pampering educators.
It does not.
Teacher motivation is directly connected to educational quality.
Kenya is implementing an increasingly demanding curriculum that expects teachers to facilitate learning, nurture competencies, assess learners continuously, integrate technology and prepare young people for a changing world.
That requires an energetic workforce.
We cannot continuously demand innovation, creativity and commitment while ignoring the possibility that some teachers may have become professionally exhausted or stagnant.
The answer is not to excuse poor performance.
The answer is to understand its causes and intervene appropriately.
A call for a more human-centred approach
This is not an indictment of TSC.
The Commission performs a difficult and important national function, and its efforts to manage Kenya’s teaching workforce deserve acknowledgement.
But good institutions become better when they are willing to examine their blind spots.
TSC may need to tighten its belt critically and humanely when handling cases involving teachers who have served for prolonged periods in particular stations and believe that a change could restore their professional effectiveness.
School administrators must also become more attentive to the emotional and professional wellbeing of their staff.
Teachers, meanwhile, must take responsibility for their own professional renewal and never allow frustration to compromise the learner.
The solution requires all three levels to work together: a teacher willing to rediscover purpose, an administrator willing to listen and an employer willing to respond fairly to legitimate concerns.
Ultimately, the question is not simply where a teacher works.
The bigger question is whether the teacher still has the professional fire to inspire the learner sitting in front of them.
READ ALSO: Nakuru: Mariashoni residents raise alarm as schools grapple with severe teacher shortage
Because when a teacher loses the spark, the first casualty may not be the teacher.
It may be the learner waiting for a teacher who still believes that tomorrow’s lesson can change a life.
By Astiba Kebongo
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