- Edwin Jemenya says promotion decisions should recognise experience, merit, responsibility and years of service.
- He says teacher unions and heads’ associations can help raise concerns affecting career progression and fairness.
- Jemenya maintains that stakeholder participation can strengthen transparency and confidence in the promotion process.
A teacher’s promotion is not merely a change of job title. It is recognition of professional growth, experience, leadership and years of service.
That is why the process through which teachers are promoted must be transparent, credible and trusted by those it affects most.
This is precisely why teacher unions and heads’ associations have an important role to play in Teachers Service Commission (TSC) promotion interviews.
As the current promotion interviews continue, there is an opportunity for teacher bodies to do more than simply occupy seats in interview rooms.
They can help ensure that the promotion process recognises and rewards deserving teachers, particularly those who have accumulated years of experience and demonstrated commitment to the profession.
Across schools, there are experienced teachers who have served for many years, taken on additional responsibilities and continued to contribute to the education of learners, yet remain stuck at the same grade.
Concerns about prolonged stagnation are not new. A parliamentary report on teacher career progression recorded complaints from teachers who had remained in the same grade for more than 10 years, while some had reportedly stagnated for over 15 years despite possessing the required qualifications and experience.
At the same time, concerns have been raised about situations where newly recruited teachers can find themselves progressing through the promotion structure while more experienced colleagues remain behind.
That is a concern that deserves serious attention.
Experience should not become a disadvantage
There is nothing inherently wrong with newly recruited teachers progressing when they meet the requirements for promotion.
Career progression should be based on clear and lawful criteria.
But the system must also ensure that years of experience, demonstrated responsibility, professional development and actual contribution to schools are properly recognised.
TSC has stated that competitive promotions consider merit and ability, seniority and experience, existence of vacancies, time served in a grade, validity of teaching certificates and available budget.
The current 2026 promotion exercise also uses a scoring framework that gives weight to administrative responsibility, length of stay in the current grade, performance, qualifications and professional engagement.
Teacher unions and heads’ associations are uniquely positioned to bring the realities experienced by teachers to the attention of those responsible for the promotion process.
They interact directly with teachers and school leaders. They hear the frustrations of educators who have waited years for career progression. They understand the practical responsibilities teachers shoulder beyond what may appear on paper.
Their participation can therefore help ensure that these realities are not ignored.
Teacher bodies should use their voice
Teacher unions and heads’ associations should not wait until frustrations have accumulated before raising concerns over career progression.
If unions exist to represent teachers, then the career progression of those teachers cannot be treated as a peripheral issue.
If heads’ associations represent school leaders, then matters affecting leadership appointments and professional progression should equally command their attention.
Their role should go beyond salaries, allowances and working conditions.
Career progression, professional recognition and fair access to promotional opportunities are fundamental issues within the teaching profession.
Where their participation is provided for within the applicable framework, they should use that space meaningfully, constructively and firmly.
The TSC remains the employer and appointing authority, but teachers are the professionals whose careers are being determined.
Teacher unions represent teachers’ employment and professional interests, while heads’ associations can provide the perspective of school leaders familiar with the practical demands of managing institutions and leading teaching and learning.
Their involvement can therefore contribute to stakeholder confidence in the process without taking over TSC’s constitutional mandate.
Promotion interviews are highly sensitive because opportunities are limited.
TSC has shortlisted more than 70,000 teachers for 34,016 promotion vacancies in the ongoing exercise, making competition particularly intense.
When teachers compete for limited positions, even the perception of unfairness can damage confidence in the entire exercise.
TSC has, however, assured teachers that the current interviews are being conducted under clear procedures and that promotion decisions will be based on merit, performance, professional conduct, experience and other established criteria.
A properly structured process that accommodates legitimate stakeholder input can provide an additional layer of confidence and transparency.
The issue is not about giving unions or associations control over TSC decisions.
It is about ensuring that organisations representing the profession can raise legitimate concerns and contribute meaningfully within whatever role the applicable framework provides.
Speak for teachers who feel overlooked
The ongoing interviews should remind teacher unions and professional associations that their responsibility extends beyond negotiating salaries and allowances.
They should be asking difficult but necessary questions:
Are experienced teachers receiving fair consideration?
Are promotion criteria being applied consistently?
Are teachers who have carried additional responsibilities being appropriately recognised?
Is the career progression system adequately recognising professional experience?
These are precisely the conversations teacher bodies can help bring to the table.
No teacher should expect promotion simply because they have served for a particular number of years.
Equally, experience should not become irrelevant simply because a colleague joined the profession more recently.
A credible promotion system should strike a fair balance between experience, merit, qualifications, performance, responsibility and the established requirements for each grade.
If teacher unions and heads’ associations use their voice effectively, they can help address some of the frustrations that have persisted in the profession and ensure concerns about deserving teachers being overlooked are properly examined.
The ongoing promotion interviews provide an opportunity to confront these concerns honestly and constructively.
The message to teacher bodies should be clear:
Demand your space. Use your voice. Defend the interests of your members.
Because when crucial decisions about teachers’ careers are being made, teachers deserve to have their concerns represented.
Teachers have given years of service to the education of Kenyan children.
Their experience should count.
READ ALSO: TSC invites teachers to tell their story through poems, songs and drama
A promotion system that recognises merit must also ensure that experience is not forgotten.
By Edwin Jemenya
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