CBC Staffing Crisis: TSC Drops Two-Subject Requirement for Teacher Recruitment.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has announced that it will begin registering and recruiting teachers with a single teaching subject as part of reforms intended to support the implementation of the Competency-Based Education (CBE) curriculum and address staffing shortages in specialised learning areas.
The policy marks a departure from the long-standing requirement that secondary school teachers possess qualifications in at least two teaching subjects before qualifying for registration and employment by the commission.
Speaking during the ongoing Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) Annual Conference in Mombasa, TSC Acting Chief Executive Officer Evaleen Mitei said the commission had reviewed Legal Notice No. 50, which outlines the requirements for teacher registration, to align the regulatory framework with the demands of Competency-Based Education.
“The Legal Notice No. 50 is in the Code of Regulations. It is the legal notice that defines the requirements for registration of a teacher. To support CBE, the commission has reviewed that legal notice to be in compliance with CBE requirements,” Ms Mitei said.
According to the commission, the review is intended to facilitate the registration of teachers in specialised learning areas introduced under the Competency-Based Education curriculum, where the traditional two-subject qualification model has proved inadequate.
The reforms come approximately six months after more than 1.1 million learners transitioned to senior school under the Competency-Based Education system, increasing demand for teachers in specialised subject areas across the country.
TSC indicated that the expansion of subject choices and the introduction of technical, creative and applied learning areas have created significant staffing gaps in schools, particularly in subjects requiring specialised expertise.
Among the specialised learning areas experiencing teacher shortages are aviation, building construction, electricity, marine and fisheries, media technology, theatre and film, sports science, fine arts and Mandarin.
The shortage has compelled many schools to recruit instructors using Boards of Management (BoM) funds amid continued concerns over delayed capitation and increasing operational costs.
Kenya Secondary School Heads Association National Chairman Willie Kuria said the shortage of specialised teachers remains one of the most significant challenges affecting the implementation of Competency-Based Education in senior schools.
“We have a serious staffing deficit. Under CBE, we need qualified personnel for specialised subjects like aviation, marine technology and building and construction. Currently, we don’t have these staff. I doubt there is a school in the country that is fully equipped with these teachers,” Mr Kuria said.
Mr Kuria, who is also the Chief Principal of Murang’a High School, noted that school administrators have increasingly been compelled to recruit professionals outside the conventional teaching workforce due to the limited availability of qualified teachers in newly introduced learning areas.
He stated that the shortage affects schools across the country and is no longer confined to individual institutions.
“Principals are forced to source these professionals independently because the Teachers Service Commission has yet to provide them. These specialists are scarce in the labour market; you have to literally ‘tarmac’ to find someone capable of teaching building construction,” he said.
Mr Kuria called upon the Ministry of Education, the Teachers Service Commission and universities to accelerate the training and deployment of teachers in technical and specialised subjects to support the implementation of the Competency-Based Education curriculum.
According to TSC, there are currently 132,335 teachers serving in senior schools. However, the commission indicated that the specialised requirements of the Competency-Based Education curriculum have exceeded the capacity of the existing staffing structure.
Commission data shows that the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) pathway, which has enrolled approximately 60 per cent of the 1.1 million learners transitioning to senior school, requires the highest number of teachers.
TSC estimates that approximately 677,144 learners are enrolled in the STEM pathway, requiring 35,111 teachers to serve 15,046 classes.
The commission further estimates that the Social Sciences pathway requires 14,630 teachers, while the Arts and Sports pathway requires an additional 8,778 teachers.
Among the learning areas experiencing acute staffing shortages are agriculture, creative arts, home science, Mandarin, marine studies and fisheries.
TSC stated that the introduction of single-subject teacher registration forms part of broader reforms aimed at modernising teacher management and aligning teacher recruitment, registration and deployment with the requirements of Competency-Based Education.
“One of the key priorities of Kenya’s education reforms is the provision of equitable access to quality education for all learners. To support this, the commission undertakes the recruitment and deployment of qualified teachers across the country as guided by its Teacher Selection and Recruitment Policy, which supports schools to have the human resources necessary to deliver quality education,” Ms Mitei said.
The commission stated that the reforms are expected to improve teacher distribution, reduce staffing shortages, enhance learner-teacher ratios and strengthen access to qualified teachers, particularly in marginalised and hard-to-staff regions.
Read Also: Teachers to Renew Licences Every Five Years Under New TSC Policy
In addition to the changes affecting secondary school teacher registration, TSC has revised entry requirements for primary school teachers by replacing the Primary Teacher Education (P1) certificate pathway with diploma-level training as the minimum qualification for entry into the profession.
The commission has also introduced stage-based pathways for Special Needs Education learners as part of ongoing reforms intended to align teacher preparation, registration and deployment with the Competency-Based Education framework.
“As a response to the needs of the new curriculum, that legal notice is also going to register teachers with one teaching subject so that we can address the challenges that we have in the new areas of the curriculum,” Ms Mitei said.
CBC Staffing Crisis: TSC Drops Two-Subject Requirement for Teacher Recruitment.
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