Shorter ladders, a separate classroom track and competitive promotion above the entry rungs. The reshuffle will not help everyone equally.
Teachers are about to get the new Career Progression Guidelines (CPG). Speaking on World Teachers’ Day on 5 October, President William Ruto said SRC Chairman Sammy Chepkwony had briefed him that the revised CPG which replaces the current guidelines introduced in 2018 is undergoing job evaluation and will be out in two weeks.
The new CPG is to be integrated with the 2025-2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in July 2027, when teachers will be receiving a salary increment.
That makes the grade placements in the new structure matter even more, because they will determine where each teacher lands when the increment takes effect.
The TSC’s 9 June 2026 stakeholder presentation of the proposed guidelines shows what the new structure looks like, and with it who stands to gain or lose.
The big picture: 56 levels become 43
The TSC says the 2018 CPG has problems that the new one is meant to fix:
The fix is to cut the number of levels across the service:
| Category | Current levels | Proposed levels |
|---|---|---|
| Primary (regular) | 8 | 6 |
| Primary (SNE) | 5 | 5 |
| Junior and Senior School | 9 | 7 |
| Secondary (SNE) | 9 | 6 |
| Teacher Training Colleges | 10 | 7 |
| KISE and KLB | 7 | 6 |
| Curriculum Support Officers (regular) | 4 | 3 |
| Curriculum Support Officers (SNE) | 4 | 3 |
| Total | 56 | 43 |
What “competitive” means
Under the proposal, the lower rungs are “common cadre” grades. These are the entry and early grades, such as Teacher 9 to 7 in primary and Teacher 8 to 6 in secondary. Every rung above them is marked competitive.
That means promotion will be based on merit and demonstrated excellence, not simply on years served. Merit counts in two ways.
Talent beyond the classroom. A teacher who excels in music and drama, sports or science fairs is expected to rise toward the top of the promotion lists, ahead of colleagues with no such record.
Performance in the classroom. Teaching results will count as well. Teachers who consistently produce excellent scores from their learners are expected to be promoted.
TSC recognition. Awards from the Commission will also weigh on the ladder. These include:
Winners of these awards are expected to move up the promotion ladder.
The likely winners
1. Teachers who deliver consistently excellent results.
A teacher whose learners post strong scores year after year now has a clear route up. Classroom excellence is no longer overshadowed by administrative posts.
2. Teachers recognised by the TSC.
Winners of the Wajibika awards for strong TPAD performance, and of TOYA, are set to move up the promotion ladder. Teachers who take TPAD seriously and document their work well stand to benefit.
3. Classroom teachers who don’t want to be administrators.
Every category now has a “classroom growth” track alongside the administrative one. A teacher can advance to Teacher 5, 4, 3 and beyond without becoming a deputy principal or head. The TSC says it wants to separate administrative positions from professional tasks, and this is how.
4. Teachers whose talent shows up in results.
If promotion is competitive, those who coach winning choirs, drama groups and sports teams, or lead science fair projects, gain the most. Their work is visible and measurable.
5. Primary diploma holders (DPTE and DTE PP&P).
Diploma holders in primary now have a clearly defined entry point and a guaranteed first step up. Their position is covered in detail below.
6. Primary school heads and deputies.
Primary leadership gets new, higher-sounding titles at higher teacher grades:
Primary now has a Principal ladder that mirrors secondary. Whether pay follows depends on job evaluation.
7. Lower-placed holders of merged grades.
Where two grades are collapsed into one, the person on the lower grade tends to benefit. Examples:
8. SNE teachers in secondary.
Secondary SNE goes from nine levels to six, the sharpest cut for any teaching cadre. That means a much shorter climb.
9. Teachers, lecturers and officers in the other cadres.
TTC lecturers, KISE and KLB staff and curriculum support officers all get shorter ladders, so fewer rungs lie between them and the top.
The likely losers
1. Teachers who rely on seniority.
Anyone who expected to move up the ladder simply by waiting their turn above the common cadre will find the system works differently. Competitive promotion rewards visible excellence, and long service alone won’t carry them.
2. Teachers whose results and appraisals are average.
A teacher with no standout learner scores, no TPAD recognition and no TSC award will find it hard to compete with colleagues who have all three. Teachers who treat TPAD as a formality may pay for it.
3. Teachers without a co-curricular profile.
Those who teach less visible subjects, or who work in schools with few resources for music, drama, sports or science fairs, may struggle to stand out.
4. Teachers in tough school environments.
Strong scores are easier to achieve in well-resourced schools. Teachers in under-resourced and rural schools, with large classes and few books, may struggle to match those results through no fault of their own. Unions will likely press the TSC to say how fairness will be ensured.
5. The higher-placed holders of merged grades.
The flip side of merging is that a teacher who held a distinct, higher grade may now share a level with former juniors. Examples include:
If job evaluation places the merged grade lower than they had hoped, they could lose out.
6. Primary diploma holders who hope to climb quickly.
The guaranteed climb for diploma holders stops at Teacher 7. Everything above it, from Teacher 6 upward, is competitive.
7. Anyone chasing a post at the top.
There are fewer levels overall, so the competition for the top grades will be fiercer. Only a few can be Chief Principal, Senior Principal or Principal.
8. Primary SNE teachers.
Their levels stay at five, so they gain nothing structurally from the reshuffle.
Primary diploma holders: DPTE and DTE PP&P
Primary teachers with a Diploma in Primary Teacher Education (DPTE) or a Diploma in Teacher Education, Pre-Primary and Primary (DTE PP&P) get a defined path under the proposal:
Entry at Teacher 8. This is the entry grade for diploma holders. Today’s Primary Teacher 1 (C1) maps to Teacher 8.
Common cadre up to Teacher 7. Teacher 7 is the common cadre for diploma holders and carries the designation Senior Teacher (Primary). Today’s Senior Teacher 1 (C3) and Senior Teacher 2 (C2) are merged into this one grade.
Competitive from Teacher 6. Moving beyond Teacher 7 means competing for Teacher 6, which carries the Deputy Principal (Primary) designation, and for Principal II, Principal I, Principal and the grades above them.
This is where the merit-based meaning of “competitive” will bite hardest. A DPTE or DTE PP&P holder with consistently strong learner results, a TPAD-based Wajibika award or a TOYA, or a winning choir, drama group, sports team or science fair project, will be well placed. One with none of these may find the later steps harder.
Certificate holders sit one rung below. The PTE certificate entry is Teacher 9, and Teacher 8 is both the entry for diploma holders and the common cadre for PTE holders.
A certificate holder moving up to Teacher 8 therefore shares a grade with a fresh diploma graduate, which may cause tension among teachers who see qualifications as the difference between them.
The proposal does not show a separate primary entry grade for degree holders, so teachers should look for how the final CPG treats primary teachers who go on to upgrade their qualifications.
Diploma and degree holders in secondary and TTC
The structure treats qualifications distinctly elsewhere too:
Degree holders start a rung higher than diploma holders, which settles the old complaint about different treatment of similar qualifications, though some diploma holders may feel the gap is a loss.
The caveat: this is about grades, not pay
None of this is final until job evaluation is done. The TSC’s way forward is:
The CPG is due to be folded into the 2025-2029 CBA in July 2027, alongside the salary increment due that month.
Whoever turns out to be a winner or loser will therefore be settled when the job evaluation results are published and the salary scales are attached to the new grades.
Teachers should read the final document closely when it appears, particularly where their current grade is merged into another.
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