All TSC teachers serving or licensed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will be required to renew their teaching licenses every five years. This is according to new proposals that are contained in a new draft policy by the TSC.
According to Acting TSC Chief Executive Officer Evaleen Mitei, this will be done through the new Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programme that the TSC programme will offer to teachers for free.
She claimed that this new programme has been designed in collaboration with teachers and other stakeholders in the education sector.
“The purpose of TPD is to improve teachers’ competencies. Like other professions, the teaching service must also be licensed. That is why the five-year programme will lead to the renewal of your teaching licence,” said Ms Mitei.
According to Ms Mitei, renewal will be tied to the successful completion of the TPD programme over each five-year cycle.
This policy, she said, is supposed to enhance professionalism, keep teachers updated with evolving educational practices, and align teaching with other licensed professions.
The policy is part of the proposed reforms contained in the draft Teachers Service Commission (Amendment) Regulations, 2026.
She added that Kenya developed a Teacher Mobility Policy to facilitate teachers seeking employment abroad, but many have encountered challenges because the Kenya does not have a formal teacher license renewal programme after continuous professional development.
Read More: Details of new TSC promotion reforms for all teachers in Kenya
Ms Mitei further said that the TPD digital platform that is being developed by the TSC will enable teachers and school administrators in the country to access learning modules remotely. This will be done in a bid to cut down on travel costs that are incurred by teachers.
However, classroom teachers and school administrators will be required to take separate modules. In the module to be designated for classroom teachers, the modules will facilitate teachers to focus on strengthening pedagogical skills and classroom practice.
On the other end, administrators such as principals and deputy principals will take training in leadership, financial management, governance and school administration.
At the same time, Ms. Mitei said that the TSC is currently reviewing teacher staffing norms to align them with the requirements of the curriculum based education (CBE).
The TSC is also implementing the Teacher Induction, Mentorship and Coaching framework to support newly recruited teachers while providing continuous professional guidance to experienced educators.
It is also implementing the Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) system for classroom teachers and performance contracts for heads of institutions to improve accountability and institutional performance.
This comes amidst upcoming promotion reforms that the commission has draw as part of the 2026 Career Progression Guidelines (CPG).
In these reforms, the TSC has slashed the amount of time that is required for teachers to reach the highest grade from 30 to 18 years.
The reforms indicate that the teachers commission shall introduce separate career tracks to cater for classroom teachers and teachers who hold leadership and administrative roles. Under these tracks, teachers will move up within a unified grading structure that shall range from Teacher 9 to Teacher 1. Teacher 9 represents the entry-level grade while Teacher 1 represents the highest-level grade.
TSC teachers in primary school level will start their progression from Teacher 9 while those in secondary schools who hold diploma qualifications will start off at Teacher 8. According to the TSC, this shall mean that a diploma qualification will attract the same entry grade regardless of whether the teacher practices at primary school or secondary school.
For the second track catering for secondary school teachers, the majority will start off at Teacher 7. This group will mainly be made up of teachers who hold university degrees.
The proposed reforms show that this category of teachers will benefit from the first common cadre promotion of Teacher 6. After Teacher 6, subsequent promotion will primarily be based on the teacher’s demonstrated competency and performance instead of the current mode of automatic advancement.
