TSC announces a salary increase for teachers with new roles

Teachers promoted to administrative positions before or on July 18th, 2017 will move to a higher job group, besides earning improved package.
This follows a move by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to approve the appointments and the subsequent conversion of their grades.
Consequently, this ends months of anxiety on the recognition of the new roles and is expected to boost their morale at the work place.

However, those promoted to the same roles after July 18th, 2017 will not be confirmed and instead subjected to interviews to establish their suitability of the new roles.
Directorate of Teacher Management recommended that teachers who were appointed to positions of Head teachers and Deputy Head teachers July last year should be confirmed, and rightly considered for conversion under the new grading system.

In an Internal Memo seen by Education News, Acting Director – Teacher Management Mary Rotich recommends that the records of the concerned teachers be processed and payments made.
The number of teachers who were promoted to administrative positions is yet to be known.

The Internal Memo (TSC/DTM/TDHD/40) dated April 9th, 2018 and addressed to the Director of Human Resource Management and Development Josephine Maundu, Rotich states: “I recommend that all cases of Head teachers and Deputy Head teachers who were appointed on or before July 18th, 2017 be considered for conversion accordingly; more so, TSC Secretary should issue a circular putting on hold any appointment after July 18th, 2017.”

“Any appointment that may have been done after July 17th, 2017 is erroneous and such Head teachers or Deputy Head teachers will be appointed after undergoing an interview as per guidelines given by the Commission.” added Rotich.

Under the new policy on Identification, Selection and Deployment of Institutional Administrators, Head teachers and Deputy Head teachers serving in primary schools will be required to be holders of a Bachelor of Education degree while their counterparts in Post-primary institutions will be required to be holders of Masters of Education degree.

According to the new grading system introduced last year by Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) after conducting a Job Evaluation exercise, teachers who will be confirmed in the position of Senior Head teacher at Job Group “M” (Grade D1) would earn Sh66, 177 with effect from July 1st, 2018, rising to Job Group “N” (Grade D1) pocketing a maximum of Sh85, 269 effect from July 1st, 2020.

Teachers who will be confirmed in the position of Head teacher or Deputy Head teacher I in Job Group “G” (Grade C5) will earn Sh40,849 starting July 1st, 2018 climbing to Job Group “M” (Grade C5) pocketing Sh64,631 at the maximum.
In the same promotions, teachers who will be confirmed as Deputy Head teacher II in Job Group “G” (Grade C4) starting July 1st, 2018 will pocket a minimum of Sh35,927 rising to a maximum of Sh52,308 in Job Group “L” (Grade C4) effective July 1st, 2020.

The Commission’s Chief Executive, Nancy Macharia said all administrative positions in all Public learning institutions will now be filled competitively; and the positions include: Senior teacher II, Senior teacher I, Deputy Head teacher, Head teacher, Senior Head teacher, Deputy Principal, Principal, Senior Principal, Senior Master and Senior Mistress.

“The policy on Identification, Selection and Deployment of Institutional Administrators has also addressed delocalisation of school managers. This is a major paradigm shift meant to improve management of institutions. Through this new move, we will not be allowing Head teachers to serve in their home counties or be in one school for more than nine years. This will help to effectively address issues of conflict of interest that may arise,” stated Macharia.
The TSC boss said the new policy will help to effectively address issues of conflict of interest that may arise.

“I urge Head teachers to support this policy that is aimed at improving teaching and administrative programmes in our schools. It is the Commission’s hope that this policy will enhance cohesion and appreciation of our diverse culture,” said the Secretary.
The Secretary further said that the Commission has developed the necessary framework for the implementation of Teacher Professional Development (TPD) Programme which has since been rolled out.

The programme will be offered in various modules by TSC accredited Service Providers and the courses will be accessed at school level, training centres during school holidays and online.

“Service Providers for TPD Programme may include among others CEMASTEA, Kenya Education Management Institute, Kenya Institute of Special Education, British Council and Teacher Training Colleges. The training will constitute the required TPD teacher contact hours which will be adequate for recertification,” she added.

“Another TPD approach will focus on teacher professional development at the school level. In this particular approach, subject teachers in an institution will be required to be meeting for some time on specific days in a week to discuss and find solution to issues that affect teaching and learning in their subjects,” she said.
The Secretary added that teachers from different schools within the same locality will also hold formal structured sessions to address performance gaps in subject areas.

It is envisaged that the implementation of TPD Programme will institutionalise collaborative peer-to-peer learning. “There is no doubt that TPD will also help teachers continuously learn from each other and create Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) through critical reflection with colleagues,” said the Commission’s Chief Executive

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