Monitoring of international normative instruments regarding the teaching profession
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The Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendations concerning Teaching Personnel (CEART) is a Joint Committee under the auspices of UNESCO and the International Labour Organization (ILO) for monitoring the implementation of the two international normative instruments concerning teachers and teaching:
- The ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers, which was adopted in 1966 at a conference, held at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris. It sets forth the rights and responsibilities of teachers, and standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, and teaching and learning conditions.
- To complement the 1966 recommendation, the Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel was adopted at the 1997 UNESCO General Conference. This Recommendation covers all teaching and research personnel in higher education.
The Joint Committee consists of 12 independent experts who meet every three years to monitor, promote, and report on the application of the 1966 and 1997 Recommendations. Experts are drawn from all regions of the world, taking into account geographical and gender representation, as well as their expertise in the areas covered by both Recommendations. Members of CEART serve in their personal capacity.
CEART is the foremost world body concerned with international standards for teachers. The Joint Committee advises ILO and UNESCO on better ways to promote knowledge and use of the Recommendations to Member States. The CEART Working Group on Allegations examines allegations from teachers’ organizations on the non-observance of the Recommendations in Member States. It issues findings and makes suggestions for the resolution of the problem or conflict.
CEART issues its own triennial reports, summarizing educational trends and the status of teachers worldwide, and proposing concrete actions for governments, social partners, ILO, and UNESCO. CEART reports are discussed by the ILO Governing Body, the International Labour Conference, and the UNESCO Executive Board, and through them reports are shared with Member States’ governments and employers’ and workers’ organizations. The recommendations of the Joint Committee are nonbinding, being intended to guide the actions of national authorities, employers’ and workers’ organizations, and other education stakeholders on how to improve the condition of the teaching profession within their respective mandates, using the two Recommendations as guidelines.