Early last month, The ministry of education in conjunction with TSC recommended that all unemployed but able teachers are required to start Diploma upgrading in this month(October 2021).
It is equally important to note that most teachers who applied for the Diploma upgrading programme have acknowledged receiving invitation to attend a specified Teacher Training College (TTC) to start the training this October 4th.
According to the information from the taskforce, recommendations indicate that both P1 and ECDE teachers will have to undergo the mandatory training which starts next month.
This exercise shall take 4 terms for DPTE (Diploma Primary Teacher Education) and 5 terms for DECTE (Diploma Early Childhood Teacher Education). Both will have course work and a full term for exercise.
After the exercise, successful graduates for the Upgrading Programmes shall be expected to teach all the subjects offered in the area of training.
Furthermore, the taskforce said that blended learning and distance learning for the Diploma upgrade programme will be considered in due course.
It should also be noted that the total number of the content and pedagogical hours in the Upgrading Programmes will be 786 hours for DPTE and 1176 hours for DECTE.
With ECDE upgrading, teachers will do all the learning areas in DECTE with more hours than in PTE upgrading but will both have a teaching practicum of 300 hours.
Additionally, all P1 teachers will only study the subjects which they didn’t do in college.
According to the taskforce report,it is indicated ,“The CBTEC expects a primary school teacher to be grounded in all the subjects offered in primary schools, therefore upgrading PTE teacher trainee will be exempted from the subjects they had specialised in and take only those they did not take in the certificate course,”
This exercise currently only affects PTE and ECDE who are not in any form of employment.
“All teachers in service with Teacher Service Commission (TSC), County Governments and Private Schools will be expected to start the blended upgrade program when the school calendar normalizes having been disrupted by COVID 19 Pandemic,” said team made of officials from TSC, MOE and KICD.
P1 teachers who want to upgrade to Diploma Primary Teacher Education (DPTE) they must meet the following requirements;
a. Applicant must possess a valid PTE Certificate
b. Applicant must be registered by the Teachers Service Commission.
c. Duration of the course shall be 1500 Hours.
d. Course shall be fully residential.
e. Trainee shall take all courses specified in the upgrading programme of Diploma in Primary Teacher Education
f. Trainees shall undertake a Teaching Practicum of 300 Hours.
g. Be awarded the Diploma, the trainee must complete the required hours for Course Work and the stipulated assessment by the Kenya National Examination Council.
h. Applicants shall be required to produce evidence of adherence to positive morals and good behavior.
For ECDE teachers who want to upgrade to Diploma in Early Childhood Teacher Education (DECTE) they must meet these key requirements;
a. Possess a valid ECDE Certificate.
b. Be registered by the Teachers Service Commission.
c. Course shall be1890 Hours.
d. The course shall be fully residential.
e. The trainee shall take all courses specified in the upgrading programme of Diploma in Early Childhood Teacher Education (DECTE).
f. The trainees shall undertake a Teaching Practicum of 300 Hours.
g. To be awarded the Diploma, the trainee must complete the required hours for Course Work and pass the stipulated assessment by the Kenya National Examination Council.
h. Applicants shall be required to produce evidence of adherence to positive moral values and good behavior.
Fee structure for Diploma upgrading varies from college to college with most priavte TTCs charging between sh. 79,000 to sh. 84,000 while public TTCs charging sh. 65,000 to sh. 68,000.
