Each year, October 5th marks the celebration of World Teacher’s Day (WTD), which recognizes the valuable impacts teachers have in education. On September 26th, 2016, UNESCO-IICBA, in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC) and the International Labor Organization (ILO), celebrated WTD with the launch of their Teacher Policy Guide publication. This celebration also marked the 50th anniversary of the UNESCO/ILO recommendation to advocate for the working conditions of teachers.

In addition to UNESCO-IICBA, the AUC, and ILO, other partners for this seminar included: Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), Education International (EI), the University of Free State (South Africa), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and the AU member countries.

These important development partners, teaching policy experts, advocates and practitioners from across Africa discussed how to strengthen professional support for teachers and their classroom practices as part of efforts to improve the quality of education and equity of learning outcomes, including initiatives that may increase teachers’ motivation. This seminar highlighted the centrality of teachers at the core of national education systems and in the achievement of SDG4, and covered topics that are well aligned with the objectives of the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) and Education Agenda 2030. There was also great focus on improving teacher’s professional development, with emphasis on supporting and motivating teachers. The seminar included a Davos style panel discussion on these issues.  

The main objectives of the seminar were (1) to reflect on the creation of viable teacher support and motivation frameworks and their implementation -in furtherance of the goals of improving the quality of education at point of delivery and improving learning outcomes, and (2) to gather examples of best practice for empowering teachers and school leaders so they may play a more significant role in the achievement of CESA and SDG 4, and in the improvement of policy formulation.

UNESCO-IICBA will feed the outcomes and recommendations pertaining to teacher motivation in Africa into the panel discussion event in Paris on October 5th  organized by The Teachers Taskforce (TTF) Secretariat at UNESCO Headquarters.

As a result of the Seminar, the following documents were produced.

World Teachers’ Day: Teachers’ Support and Motivation Framework(pdf)

Journée Mondiale des Enseignants: Cadres de soutien et de motivation des enseignants(pdf)

World Teachers’ Day 2016: Teachers’ Support and Motivation: Policy Brief(pdf)