It is all systems go as the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) readies to roll out a three-day training for teachers on Teacher Performance and Appraisal Development (Tpad). The training is expected to result in a paradigm shift in teacher appraisal following research conducted in September and January on the effectiveness and improvements of the system by both field officers and teachers.

The training logistics, seen by Education News, indicate that each school will be represented by three teachers: one administrator, one ICT champion, and one junior school teacher. The training will also involve selected curriculum support officers, both regular and SNE (Special Needs Education).

Prior preparations sent by the TSC to the county directors of the nine counties where piloting will be carried out indicated that 556 trainers of trainees should be invited and inducted before going to their zones to train the identified teachers.

In this phase of piloting, the commission is seeking to concretize the proposed revision and upgrade through trials in real classroom and school environments. The trials are scheduled to be carried out from March 17th to 21st (this month). The nine identified counties are: Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nyeri, Meru, Baringo, Kajiado, Garissa, and Vihiga.

TPAD is an open appraisal system that allows teachers to participate in the evaluation of their own performance and engage in their professional development. In January this year, changes were made regarding teachers’ lesson observations, where fellow teachers were allowed to undertake lesson observations of their colleagues. Initially, it was the responsibility of school administrators to undertake these observations.