The recommendations include enabling teachers and organizations to participate in social dialogue with governments concerning collective bargaining and policies affecting their profession.
The recommendations include enabling teachers and organizations to participate in social dialogue with governments concerning collective bargaining and policies affecting their profession.
The United Nations High-Level Panel is calling on governments worldwide to address the education crisis by elevating and transforming the role, status and future of the teaching profession.
On Sept. 15, the UN High-level Panel on the Future of the Teaching Profession finalized over 50 recommendations. These recommendations will be presented to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and officially released on World Teachers’ Day, which falls on Oct. 5.
Education challenges
Education International President and UN panelist, Susan Hopgood, described the current developments as historic. She emphasized the unprecedented consensus on the challenges confronting education systems and the teaching profession. Additionally, she highlighted the agreement on specific collaborative steps that can drive genuine progress.
The draft recommendations include several urgent appeals for government action. These encompass enabling teachers and their organizations to participate in social dialogue with governments, involving collective bargaining and policy dialogue on all aspects related to their profession. It is also suggested that this collaborative framework should primarily drive the development of education, teaching and teaching profession policies.
The panel further urged governments to create national commissions, involving relevant financial authorities and representatives from teachers’ organizations, to promptly address the shortage of appropriately trained teachers.
Enhancing accountability
In addition, the Panel emphasized that teachers’ organizations should take the lead in establishing, implementing, and overseeing professional standards for teachers to ensure accountability to the highest benchmarks within the profession. Concurrently, governments were urged to initiate the gradual elimination of contract teachers and the hiring of unqualified teachers to address teacher shortages.
In response to the escalating global education crisis, the Panel advocated for the creation of a Global Fund for Teachers in Emergencies. This fund would cater to the payment of salaries for teachers operating in crisis-affected areas.
Additionally, the panel urged international financial institutions to cease imposing public sector wage bill constraints and austerity measures that have significantly diminished education spending worldwide.
A key outcome of the UN Transforming Education Summit in 2022 is the High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession. This panel brings together crucial stakeholders in the education sector to address the escalating global teacher shortage issue.
