Teachers who have not secured employment are set to benefit from the government’s new Diploma program in Teacher Education and Early Childhood Teacher Education which will increase their chances of employment.
According to Dr. Julius Jwan the PS in the State Department for early Learning and Basic Education, the programme, which is set to kick off in April 2023, basically targets teachers who are not employed yet by the Teachers Service Commission, County government or private sector.
In an advert, the PS says the upgrading program majorly targets unemployed teachers with Certificate in Early Childhood Development Education and Primary Teacher Education who will be absorbed in public Teacher Training Colleges.
‘For the teachers with certificate in ECDE and who want to upgrade to Diploma in Early Childhood Teacher Education (DECTE), they must have a valid ECDE certificate from a certified and recognized institution. The certificate should not be provisional. The program courses will be residential fully residential and shall last for 5 terms. The 4 terms out of five will be tuition and one term being for practicum, the PS said.
Dr. Jwan added that those with P1 Certificates and who will be upgrading to Diploma in Primary Teacher Education (DPTE) are must have a valid PTE Certificate for them to benefit from the program. The course must take a total of 1500 hours, a duration of 4 terms: 3 tuition terms, 1 term for practicum lasting for 300 hours.
The course shall last for 1890 hours with 300 hours teaching practice.
Interested teachers who meet the requirements can make applications at the Sub-County Directors of Education offices countrywide as from July 28, 2022 to August 18, 2022.
To avoid disqualification the candidates have been asked to register in one center only and not in two centers.
Both courses shall fully be residential, with trainees being required to complete the required hours for Course Work and pass the stipulated assessment by Kenya National Examination Council to be awarded the Diploma.
The shift in policy in teacher training between 2019 and 2020 saw the Ministry of Education order all TTCs both public and private be registered afresh to reflect their new status of training the new Diploma course in particular, Primary education.
The policy only saw about 41 TTCs being authorised to offer the new course, the Diploma in Primary Teacher Education (DPTE), a move that might have locked out some private colleges which were deemed not fit to offer DPTE.
