Empowering teachers, building sustainable societies
“Empowering teachers, building sustainable societies” is the World Teachers' Day slogan for 2015.
It is recognized that teachers are not only a means to implementing education goals; they are the key to sustainability and national capacity in achieving learning and creating societies based on knowledge, values and ethics. However, they continue to face challenges brought about by staff shortages, poor training and low status.
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics estimates that to achieve the goal of universal primary education by 2020 countries will need to recruit a total of 12.6 million primary teachers.
World Teachers’ Day on October 5 highlights the fact that teachers must be empowered as a critical step towards quality education and sustainable societies.
The Incheon Declaration at the World Education Forum (WEF) in May 2015 clearly recognized the importance of empowerment. At the forum 1600 participants from 160 countries committed to “ensure that teachers and educators are empowered, adequately recruited, well-trained, professionally qualified, motivated and supported within well-resourced, efficient and effectively governed systems”.
The Oslo Summit, “Education for Development”, held in July 2015, highlighted the need for further investment in teacher education. The proposed Sustainable Development Goals to be adopted at the UN Summit in September 2015, include a specific objective under Goal 4 to by 2030 “substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing States”.
UNESCO and partners encourage and promote events for World Teachers’ Day. Please register events at www.worldteachersday.org and take action to empower teachers.
Follow Us
Partners
Celebrations around the world
Videos
EVENT, PARIS 5 October
RELATED INFORMATION
PRESS RELEASE
Key documents
- The ILO/UNESCO Recommendations
EN | FR | SP | AR | RU | CH | - ILO Guidelines ECE personnel
EN | FR | SP - GMR policy paper on early grade teaching
EN | FR | SP - Rethinking Education
EN | FR | SP | AR - Empowering teachers: teaching in the post-2015 education agenda
EN - A guide for gender equality in teacher education EN
- Global citizenship education EN
- The ESD Sourcebook on teacher education
EN | FR | SP | AR | KOR - Integrating sustainability issues in teacher education
EN | FR | SP | AR | RU - Advocacy Toolkit for Teachers
EN | FR | SP
-
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS ON ECCE
-
Policy guidelines on the promotion of decent work for early childhood education personnel (ILO, 2014)
Directives sur la promotion du travail décent pour le personnel de l’éducation de la petite enfance (OIT, 2014)
Investing against evidence: the global state of early childhood care and education (UNESCO, 2015)
Caring and learning together: A cross-national study of integration of early childhood care and education within education (UNESCO, 2010)
Moscow framework for action and cooperation: Harnessing the wealth of nations (UNESCO, 2010)
Cadre d’action et de coopération de Moscou : Mobiliser la richesse des nations (UNESCO, 2010)
Inclusion from the start: Guidelines on inclusive early childhood care and education for Roma children (UNESCO 2014)
Global action week 2012: “Right from the start! Early childhood care and education now!” (UNESCO website)
Contribution of Early Childhood Education to a Sustainable Society (UNESCO, 2008) (English & Spanish)
UIS INFOGRAPHIC
More Links
Websites
- Statistics on Teachers (UIS)
- UNESCO Teacher education
- International Task Force on Teachers for Education for All
- Education International
- Internal Labour Organisation
- UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE)
- UNESCO The International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA)
- Global action week 2015
- Global Monitoring Report
- UNESCO-Hamdan Prize
