Can’t Pay. Won’t Pay; Discourse of Kenyan Teachers in their Quest for Better Terms and Remuneration

Abstract

Kenyan teachers’ strikes and struggle for better pay and terms of service stretches back a long time. Teachers have formed groups on Facebook and WhatsApp where they share issues touching on their profession. These are most active during strikes. They are also active on Twitter. Data was collected from these social media platforms. Can’t pay won’t pay; Discourse of Kenyan Teachers in their Quest for Better Remunerations discusses the manner in which teachers discuss issues touching on them. They have a unique language with coded words, phrases and sentences. This jargon that the teachers use reveals their attitude towards their job and towards the insistence of the governments not to pay them. Critical discourse analysis provides the theoretical framework for the study. It is used both as a theory and a method. Descriptive survey research design was employed. It is hoped that the study will assist in understanding the strikes and general malaise in the education sector in a bid to reach out to the major stakeholders and bring back sanity to education.