World Teachers’ Day 2026; October 5th.

 

FORUM: “Standing with teachers: 60 years of protecting the profession, advancing its status and shaping our futures”. World Teachers’ Day 2026. The year 2026 will mark the 60th anniversary of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. We will celebrate progress in recognizing teachers’ vital role, we will highlight the challenges the profession continues to face, and we will call on society and policymakers to protect, promote and elevate its status. Especially the case today, as the world needs 50 million more teachers to achieve SDG 4 by 2030. Sixty years after the adoption of the Recommendation, World Teachers’ Day 2026 provides an opportunity to ask how societies envision the purposes of education today, the role of teachers in achieving them, and the obstacles to realising these purposes and enabling teachers to fulfil their role. At a time when the Recommendation is being revised, World Teachers’ Day will examine how effective policies are in elevating the status of teachers; whether these policies are negotiated through social dialogue and collective bargaining with teachers and their representatives; and the quality and availability of data and evidence used to ascertain teachers’ “status” and determine policy actions. Building on the call of the first World Summit on Teachers and its outcome document, the Santiago Consensus, adopted in August 2025, World Teachers’ Day 2026 will also celebrate teachers’ work and the progress enabled by the Recommendation, while considering its limitations, including challenges in monitoring and implementation. Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #Teachers, #WorldTeachersDay, #5October, #valuingteachervoices, #teaching, #teachingasacollaborativeprofession, #teachthem.

EVENTS: On October 5th at UNESCO HQ, from 8:00 to 06:30 pm GMT will be held the the World teacher's day 2026 and the UNESCO-Hamdan Prize. Co-convened by UNESCO, the International Labour Organization (ILO), UNICEF and Education International, the celebration will take place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and will be opened by UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany. It will bring together teachers, ministers of education, policymakers, academics, young people, teacher organizations, education partners and institutions from around the world. 

The 2026 event will have three main objectives: 

(i) celebrate World Teachers’ Day, drawing the attention of decision-makers and the international community to the chosen theme by sharing data, analyses and knowledge about the facts and challenges related to teacher status around the world, as well as promising strategies for addressing these challenges; 

(ii) advocate for changes in teacher status by calling on relevant actors to take action to address the challenges facing the profession; 

(iii) recognise innovations and promising practices in teacher professional development through theawarding of the UNESCO-Hamdan Prize for Teacher Development.

The programme will feature high-level discussions on protecting and advancing the teaching profession, opportunities for teachers and members of the public to interact and share their perspectives, and a performance by a teachers’ choir. The day will also include the award ceremony for the ninth edition of the UNESCO-Hamdan Prize for Teacher Development. Read the concept note, the agenda programme and  Register to participate!

Provisional programme 

Time (UTC+2)                                Session 

08:30 – 09:10 Welcome coffee World Teachers’ Day ceremony 

09:10 – 09:50 Welcome message and musical interlude Opening remarks by the Director-General of UNESCO, Mr Khaled El-Enany Interactive activity with the audience Keynote by Prof Gert Biesta, Professor of Education, University of Melbourne, and Adjunct Professor, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, on the 60th anniversary of the ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers (1966)

09:50 – 10:45 Panel discussion with the co-conveners of World Teachers’ Day - Mr Qun Chen, Assistant Director-General for Education, UNESCO - Ms Vera Paquete-Perdigão, Director of Labour Governance & Sectoral Policies Department, ILO - Ms Brenda Haiplik, Global Lead Teacher Development and Workforce, UNICEF - Mr David Edwards, General Secretary, Education International Musical interlude.

- UNESCO-Hamdan Prize for Teacher Development award ceremony-

10:45 – 12:30 Opening remarks by UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Education, Mr Qun Chen Presentation of the 10 finalists’ teacher development programmes - Recognition of the International Jury - Video celebrating the UNESCO-Hamdan Prize - Thematic discussions with the 10 Prize finalists Remarks by His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates Announcement of the three laureates.

13:00 – 14:30 High-level lunch (by invitation only) 

- Afternoon panel discussion -

15:00 – 17:00 Rethinking and elevating the status of teachers: Thematic conversation with Ministers of Education, teachers and international experts 

17:00 – 17:30 Visit to the exhibition of finalists’ projects 

17:30 – 19:00 Closing reception of World Teachers’ Day 2026

The international event will include two key moments: (1) a morning session featuring the official World Teachers’ Day commemoration and the award ceremony for the 9th edition of the UNESCO Hamdan Prize for Teacher Development, including a discussion with the 10 finalists on their innovative approaches and projects; and (2) an afternoon session featuring a high-level discussion with Ministers of Education and international experts on policy solutions to elevate the status of teachers and support the transformation of the teaching profession.