Teachers are doing much more under CBC; they deserve better pay

Teacher Phones Ajayo playing with pupils at Phonestar Academy, Bidii Center, Kitale, June 2021. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

The introduction of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) and the remodelled system of teaching occasioned by coronavirus pandemic have brought about drastic changes in public school teachers’ job description.

The new changes in job value-and-worth in the teaching profession now require the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to expedite job evaluation and also undertake a salary survey to develop an affordable and competitive remuneration and benefits structure for teachers.

Teachers are now overburdened due to the new curriculum and Covid-19 situation. Indeed, it is for this reason that SRC should be compelled to develop a harmonised salary structure to minimise disparities in the teaching service. At the same time, it should reflect on the relative worth of each new job in the profession.

The new jobs in the teaching service occasioned by the new curriculum include teachers integrating ICT in learning and teaching; keeping data on individual learners’ skills and weaknesses through regular competency-based assessments in a portfolio; preparing effective lessons in CBC; offering feedback; managing classroom materials; productively navigating the new curriculum and collaborating with other staff and parents in actualising the syllabus.

It is equally important to note that under the new dispensation, teachers will have added duties (jobs) as the Senior Secondary cycle has four distinct specialisation streams, namely: General, technical, talent and vocational.

Senior secondary schools would follow the same core curriculum that include development of morals and values, communication skills, scientific and technological competencies. All these mean new duties and responsibilities for teachers.

It should be recalled that senior secondary is a level where specialisation will begin with learners making choices from a range of disciplines organised in pathways and tracks.

It provides for three pathways: Arts and Sports Science; Social Sciences; and Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics (STEM). This calls for remarkable and high-level career guidance by teachers.

Teachers at some stage will assume the duties of Kenya National Examination Council, especially during school based assessment (SBA) where the tests will be administered and scored by teachers during the learning process using standardised tools.

Considered as an added responsibility, teachers will use SBA to complement reporting of summative assessments to measure and enhance achievement of competencies at the various level of learning.

Teachers will also carry out classroom assessments, which are formative and diagnostic in nature. They will be carried out while teaching and learning are in progress, rather than at the end of the term. The aim is to determine the progress and level of achievement of the specific learning outcomes.

Therefore, SRC has no option but to conduct a fresh job evaluation exercise to determine the value and worth of the newly created jobs for teachers under the new curriculum.

Mr Sossion is a member of parliamentary committees on Education and Labour