The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has briefly reopened its Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) online system. Teachers with incomplete appraisals can now finish and submit them. Headteachers, principals and other appraisers can appraise their staff and countersign.
The reopening follows weeks of technical problems on the portal. Teachers and school heads across the country reported slow-loading pages, failed log-ins, uploads that would not save and entries that disappeared after submission.
What teachers can now do
Teachers who could not complete their appraisals can log in and finish the outstanding sections:
- Teaching standards, where teachers rate their performance against the appraisal framework.
- Learner progress records.
- Attendance records.
Everything is done online. Teachers enter scores, appraisal details and supporting evidence on the portal.
Under the revised structure, scores are required for individual learning areas, not one composite grade. A teacher of Creative Arts and Sports, for example, submits separate evaluations for Art and Craft, Music, and Physical Education. Teachers who handle several learning areas have more fields to complete and need extra time.
Supporting evidence is scanned and uploaded. Lesson observation forms and class attendance registers should be assembled and checked before the upload starts.
What headteachers and appraisers can now do
Appraisers can appraise their teachers on the portal. School heads are then appraised, after which countersigning can be completed. An appraiser’s action decides whether a teacher’s submission is finalised, so a delay at this stage holds up everything after it.
TSC has repeatedly warned administrators against failing to appraise teachers, and against refusing to countersign appraisals without valid cause. Ratings should be fair and backed by evidence, and comments should help teachers improve.
The order to follow
- Teachers complete and submit their appraisals.
- Appraisers work through the submissions.
- School heads are appraised, and countersigning follows.
- The ICT teacher or designated officer compiles the TPAD summary once the figures are final.
Compiling the summary too early risks errors, because figures change as late entries and countersignatures come in.
From the portal to the summaries
The TPAD process has two stages. Teachers first complete their appraisals online. Summaries are then compiled and averaged from the submitted TPADs using the Excel sheet that the Commission provides. Headteachers and principals submit them to the Sub-County Director through the zonal Curriculum Support Officer (CSO). Many schools hand the compilation to ICT teachers.
A summary is only as complete as the TPADs behind it. One missing or incorrect entry can distort the school’s consolidated figures.
Making use of the window
TSC has reopened the portal for a short period, so schools should plan now:
- Log in early rather than in the final hours, when traffic is heaviest.
- Scan and organise evidence in advance.
- Heads should tell staff the internal deadlines, so appraisers have time to review submissions.
- Where a teacher meets a fault, record it and report it through the appropriate channels.
Heads also have their own obligations, including termly Performance Contracts submitted to Sub-County Directors.
Following the TPAD calendar
The TPAD calendar spreads the work across the term:
- Planning meetings are held by the last week of the holiday.
- Professional documents are submitted by the end of the first week of term.
- Lesson observations and gap identification take place between the second and tenth weeks.
- Rating meetings are completed by the end of the term.
Schools that keep to this calendar upload data and evidence steadily, and the portal does not face a surge at the end of term.
TSC’s digital plans
TSC has invited bids through a notice on MyGov for a consultant to train teachers on artificial intelligence applications and to review, develop and deploy its TPAD online systems. The training covers digital capacity building, pedagogical innovation, AI applications, data ethics and practical AI tools for Competency-Based Education.
The revised appraisal framework includes a standard on integrating technology in teaching and learning. It assesses teachers on their use of digital content, their engagement of learners through virtual platforms and their use of adaptive teaching methods.