What a record of work is
A record of work — properly, a record of work covered — is the written account a teacher keeps of what was actually taught, week by week, as the term goes along. It is filled in after each lesson or week, not before, and it is the document that shows how much of the planned curriculum a class genuinely got through.
That "after" is the whole point, and it is what separates this document from every other one a teacher keeps. A curriculum design says what should be learned. A scheme of work plans when each part will be taught. A lesson plan sets out how a single lesson will run. All three are written in advance. The record of work is written behind the teaching, looking back — the only one of the set that reports rather than proposes.
Because of that, it is the document a supervisor turns to first when the question is not "what did you intend?" but "what actually happened in that classroom?"
Why teachers are required to keep one
The Teachers Service Commission lists records of work among the professional documents every teacher must prepare, keep updated and produce on request. TSC's professional-documents checklist names records of work, checked weekly, alongside schemes of work, lesson plans, lesson notes and assessment records, and these are the documents used to evaluate a teacher during the appraisal process, so they must be maintained, updated and available whenever a supervisor asks for them.
The reason the record carries so much weight at appraisal is that it is the natural evidence for curriculum coverage. Timely syllabus coverage is one of the things a teacher is appraised on, and coverage is a claim about the past — it can only be demonstrated by a document written as the term unfolded. A scheme of work cannot prove coverage, because a scheme is a plan; it says what was meant to happen. Only the record shows what did.
This also explains the "checked weekly" instruction. A record filled in honestly, week by week, is evidence. A record reconstructed from memory at the end of term is a guess, and an experienced Curriculum Support Officer can usually tell the difference.
Where it sits among the other documents
Read in order, the teacher's core documents tell one continuous story about a class:
- Curriculum design (or syllabus) — the official KICD statement of what should be learned in a grade and learning area.
- Scheme of work — that design spread across the term, week by week, with outcomes, learning experiences, resources and assessment.
- Lesson plan — one line of the scheme opened up into a full, deliverable lesson.
- Record of work covered — what was actually taught, entered as it happened.
- Assessment records and progress records — how learners performed on what was taught.
The record of work is the hinge in the middle. It closes the loop between what was planned and what was delivered, and it feeds the honest question that follows: if a class fell behind, where exactly, and what is the plan to recover the lost ground? A record that quietly shows two weeks lost to an unforeseen closure is not a mark against a teacher — it is the beginning of a sensible conversation about compensation lessons.
What a record of work looks like
A CBC record of work is a table, one row per lesson, grouped by week, with a short header block identifying the class. The records in our catalogue follow the format teachers and supervisors expect:
- Header block: school, learning area, name of the teacher, grade or class, and term. This is the part you fill in for your own school — the files are supplied editable precisely so you can.
- Week: the week number in the term, so coverage can be read against the school calendar at a glance.
- Strand: the CBC strand the lesson belongs to, tying each entry back to the curriculum design.
- Work covered: the sub-strand and the specific learning outcomes actually addressed in that lesson — the substance of the entry.
- Reflection: the teacher's own note on how the lesson went and what needs revisiting. This column is the one most often left blank and the one supervisors most often read.
- Sign: where the entry is signed off, by the teacher and, at the checking point, by the head of department or head of institution.
Non-teaching weeks are recorded too, and should be — mid-term break, revision week, end-of-term assessment. A record showing "Week 8: mid-term break" and "Week 13: end-term assessment" is a complete account of the term, not a record with holes in it.
Under 8-4-4 at Form 1 to Form 4 the shape is the same, with topic and subtopic in place of strand and sub-strand, since the underlying document there is the KNEC syllabus rather than a CBC curriculum design.
How to fill one well
Write the entry close to the lesson, and write what happened rather than what was planned. A few habits separate a record that helps you from one that merely exists:
Enter each week as it ends, not in a rush before an inspection. Where a lesson did not go to plan, say so in the reflection column — that column exists for exactly this, and a candid note about a sub-strand that needed a second pass is more professional than a blank space. Where a week was lost, record the reason. Keep the record in step with your scheme of work, so the two can be read side by side and any gap between plan and delivery is visible immediately.
The ready-made records in our catalogue are supplied editable so this is realistic. The strand and work-covered columns come pre-filled from the curriculum design, following the same sequence as the matching scheme of work, which removes most of the transcription. What you add is what is genuinely yours: your school and class details, your week numbers against your calendar, your reflections, and your signature.
Who this page is for
Find your class in the browse section below if you already know what you need — otherwise, here is how this page is meant to be used:
- Practising teachers — the records here are editable and follow the format supervisors expect, so you are adapting a document rather than ruling a table from scratch. Match the record to the scheme of work you are already teaching from.
- Trainee teachers and education students — this is the document most often misunderstood on teaching practice, because it is the only retrospective one. If you take one thing from this page: schemes and lesson plans are written before, the record of work is written after.
- School administrators, heads of department and curriculum support officers — records of work are the coverage evidence you will be checking, and the "checked weekly" expectation is what makes them worth checking.
- Anyone downloading for a teacher or school (including from a cyber café or business centre) — records are specific to grade, learning area or subject, and term. Confirm all three before you download, since a Grade 7 Term 2 record and a Grade 7 Term 3 record are different files.
Browse records of work by class
Pre-Primary
Lower Primary (Grades 1–3)
Upper Primary (Grades 4–6)
Junior School (Grades 7–9)
Senior School (Grade 10)
Secondary, 8-4-4 (Form 1–4)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a scheme of work and a record of work? A scheme of work is written before the term and plans what will be taught, week by week. A record of work is written during and after the teaching and reports what actually was taught. The scheme is the plan; the record is the account. Supervisors check them together, because the gap between the two is what shows whether a class is on schedule.
Is a record of work compulsory for Kenyan teachers? Yes. TSC lists records of work among the professional documents every teacher must prepare, keep updated and be able to produce, and the expectation is that they are checked weekly. They are also the main evidence of curriculum coverage at appraisal.
How often should I update it? Weekly is the standard, and it is the practical answer too. Entering work as the week closes keeps the record accurate; reconstructing a term from memory at the end produces something that reads like a guess and is treated as one.
Do these records work for 8-4-4 Form 1–4 as well as CBC? Yes. We stock records for both. The CBC records (PP1 to Grade 10) are organised by strand and sub-strand from the KICD curriculum design; the Form 1–4 records follow the KNEC syllabus by topic and subtopic. The purpose and the weekly discipline are identical.
Do the records follow a particular textbook or publisher? Some do. Alongside general curriculum-aligned records, our catalogue includes versions developed against a specific KICD-approved coursebook, so a record can follow the same sequence as the book your school uses. Where that applies, the publisher or title appears in the file's name — open the class link and check the titles.
I've been asked to download one on behalf of a teacher — what do I need to know? Three things: the class or grade, the learning area or subject, and the term. Records are published per term, so a Term 2 file and a Term 3 file for the same class and subject are not interchangeable. Confirm all three before downloading.
Download the records of work
Every record of work in our catalogue is supplied editable, so you can enter your school, teacher and class details and adjust the weeks to your own calendar. Use the class links above to go straight to your grade or form, or the link below for the full catalogue across all classes.