Hire teachers who can teach for quality

By Wachira Kigotho

The significant challenge facing primary and secondary education today is not the shortfalls in the number of teachers in schools but teachers who have no ability to work with students to improve performance.

Increased access to primary and secondary schooling has placed great demand on teachers, especially since the free primary education was introduced in 2003. Most teachers work under stress, in overcrowded classrooms and dilapidated buildings without the necessary learning resources.

Cost of fires

This aspect has escaped many stakeholders and more so the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), which has been campaigning for teacher quantity across the board. Even without the burden of having to deal with large classes and insufficient learning resources, there is need for improvements in teacher recruitment and training.

Statistics from the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) indicate performance in KCSE has been on a downward trend. For instance, last year only 24 per cent of candidates obtained mean grades of C+ and above compared to 30 per cent the previous year and 26 per cent in 2006. The number of candidates who scored mean grade E rose to 7,067 last year from 2,952 in 2007 and 3,711 in 2006. Similarly, the number of candidates who obtained grade D- cascaded to 42,084 last year from 24,467 in 2007 and 27,583 in 2006 while those who scored mean grade of A went down to 817 last year from 1,157 in the previous year and 1,165 in 2006.

Behind the picture

Unless there are other unexplained factors behind the picture provided by those statistics, it seems teachers’ effectiveness has been on a downward trend. According to Unesco, while financial resources invested in schools could influence learning they cannot replace the teachers. "Teacher effectiveness is a strong determinant in student learning," says Prof Lorin Anderson of the University of Carolina and a senior education consultant to Unesco.

In a Unesco study, Increasing Teacher Effectiveness," Lorin argues students who are assigned ineffective teachers have lower gains in academic achievement than those who are taught by a sequence of several highly effective teachers.

Commenting on factors that impact on teachers ‘ effectiveness, Prof Dylan William of the Institute of Education, University of London recently singled out professionalism, clear thinking, expectations and leadership skills. He also cited stronger emphasis on selection of teachers and their quality teacher education.

But in recent months there has been public debate on recruitment, training and promotion of teachers. Amid efforts to increase their membership, officials of the Knut and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers have been campaigning hard for teacher quantity.

Sticky point

And at the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), top officials are divided on eventual recruitment and promotion of teachers. The sticky point has been the eligibility of promotion of P1 teachers who may have obtained university degrees in subjects that are not offered in secondary schools. Taking into account that primary school teachers who obtain additional education and training are transferred to secondary schools, such is bad policy unless those teachers have teaching subjects.

There are over 10,000 P1 teachers who have graduated or are about to graduate with various BEd degrees from different universities in Kenya and Uganda having specialised in subjects that are not offered in secondary schools. If those teachers will be posted to secondary schools to teach subjects they taught in primary schools then academic achievement in high schools should be expected to fall even further.

"Some P1 teachers may be very good in teaching primary school children, but would be ineffective in secondary institutions without having studied at university the subjects they intend to teach," says a TSC official who sought anonymity.

The issue is that where teacher development needs to be viewed as a lifelong process, more emphasis should be put on professional development rather than acquisition of certificates that cannot be directly used towards student achievement. In a comprehensive review of the school-based learning programmes, the TSC recently noted a decline in the performance of subjects taught by teachers undertaking those courses. "There is inadequate preparation and absenteeism among teachers on the programmes have increased," states the Report on School Based Learning Programmes. According to the report most teachers attending those courses failed to marking examinations and preparing report forms.

Nevertheless, ineffectiveness of teachers is amplified by lack of resources to meet educational requirements of their students, especially those from poor backgrounds.