World Teachers’ Day 2023; October 5th.

 

FORUM: “The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage.” World Teachers’ Day 2023. Being a teacher provides the unique opportunity to make a transformative and lasting impact on the lives of others, contributing to shaping sustainable futures and offering personal fulfilment. However, the world faces an unprecedented global teacher shortage exacerbated by a decline in their working conditions and status. With the theme "The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage", the 2023 celebrations will aim to put the importance of stopping the decline in the number of teachers and then starting to increase that number at the top of the global agenda. Through various activities, they will advocate for a dignified and valued teaching profession, analyse their challenges, and showcase inspiring practices to attract, retain and motivate teachers and educators. It will also examine the ways in which education systems, societies, communities, and families recognise, appreciate, and actively support teachers. Follow the conversation with the hashtags: #InvestInTeachers, #WorldTeachersDay, #5October.

EVENTS: The organizers and participants are invited to subscribe and participate to the World Teachers Day 2023 on October 5th and October 6th, at UNESCO Headquaters from 11:00 to 17:00 (Paris time, GMT+2). Celebrations will focus on the meaningfulness of being a teacher and the urgency of attracting and retaining qualified teachers into the profession. It will insist on the dual imperative of attracting youth to teaching programmes and the imperatives to make the profession attractive for those in service in order to curb teacher attrition. From a lifelong learning perspective, the commemorations will cover the teaching profession at different level of education, learning spaces and modalities. The Agenda programme of the Online events are "Teacher education in emergencies to support attraction and well-being" and "Global pathways to an attractive teaching profession"; The 2023 World Teachers' Day is framed within the wider context of a new social contract and the transformation of education. It will be informed by the work of the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession and the follow-up to the Transforming Education Summit. It will highlight recommendations coming out of both initiatives and will greatly benefit from the comprehensive analysis and valuable data gathered in preparation of the Global Report on Teachers to be published by UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 (TTF) at the end of 2023. UNESCO, ILO, UNICEF and Education International, the four co-convening organizations of World Teachers’ Day, will encourage decision-makers, (notably Ministers of Education), development cooperation and aid agencies, and representatives of civil society, the teaching profession, youth and the private sector, to take action to make the teaching profession more attractive through local, national and regional policies and programmes. Advocacy events (e.g., meetings, exhibitions, campaigns, awards) will be organized to highlight the pathways that can be followed to ensure the teachers we need for the education that we want. Below is the list of international initiatives and resources envisaged for the 2023 edition of World Teachers’ Day on the theme of imperatives to make the profession more attractive: Four events open to the public at UNESCO HQ and online

1. Recognition and appreciation: the role of teacher prizes in enhancing the status of the profession - 5 October -11 a.m. - 1 p.m. (Paris time), Room IX or II (TBC), UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France - This panel aims to discuss the role of teacher prizes as symbols of recognition of the work undertaken by educators, as an essential form of contribution to the improvement of their status within the community and, ultimately, as a lever to raising the appeal of the profession. Register here to participate online.
2. 2023 World Teachers’ Day Opening Ceremony - 5 October - 2.30 - 4:30 p.m. (Paris time), Room IX or II (TBC), UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France -After opening remarks of the co-conveners of World Teachers’ Day, the event will present critical data on the appeal of the teaching profession, highlighting teacher voices on what they find attractive and challenging in the profession. Register here to attend online.
3. Teacher education in emergencies to support attraction and well-being - 6 October - 12 - 2 p.m. (Paris time), online event - The roundtable will be followed by a discussion on the support teachers need to realize their commitment and their vocation in the most difficult contexts. Register here to participate online.
4. Global pathways to an attractive teaching profession - 6 October - 3 - 5 p.m. (Paris time), online event.The workshop will explore national and regional policy responses and programmes to improve the appeal of the teaching profession in response to the global shortage on teachers Register to participate!

WORLDWIDE OBSERVANCES: Get the list of World Teachers’ Day 2023 celebrations at UNESCO Regional Offices, Institutes and Member States.

STATEMENTS: Joint Message from Ms Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, Mr Gilbert F. Houngbo, Director-General, International Labour Organization, Ms Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UNICEF, Mr David Edwards, General Secretary, Education International for World Teachers’ Day, 5 October 2023.

"Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher” – Japanese Proverb.

If we are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, in particular the goal of achieving equitable and quality education, we need relevant and innovative pedagogies that prepare the learners of today for the transformation needed by society in a rapidly changing world. Teachers are one of the pillars on which this transformation depends. Research has repeatedly found that teachers are the single most important school-level variable for improving student outcomes. The centrality of teachers to the future of education was reaffirmed at the United Nations Transforming Education Summit last year, culminating in the establishment of the High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession. This renewed focus on teachers is timely, as the world currently faces a severe global teacher shortage. Halfway to the Sustainable Development Goals, 44 million teachers still need to be recruited globally to meet universal primary and secondary education needs by 2030, with 15 million of those required in sub-Saharan Africa, according to newly released data from UNESCO and the Teacher Task Force. Rural, marginalized, and forcibly displaced communities often face the most chronic shortages of qualified teachers. The fundamental cause of this global shortage is the diminishing attractiveness of the teaching profession, which undermines the recruitment of new teachers and produces high levels of attrition amongst those in service, especially within the first three to five years of entering the workforce. Teachers can typically expect to be paid less than if they entered other professions requiring similar levels of qualification, whilst also finding themselves increasingly overburdened by additional responsibilities and administrative tasks. Due to these poor working conditions, teaching is often viewed negatively as a ‘profession of last resort’, and teachers are not given the recognition and status that they deserve. The report from the International Commission on the Futures of Education – Reimagining our Futures Together: A new social contract for education – recommends that the teaching profession be reimagined as a collaborative profession. To do so, it is essential to shift the way in which we perceive teachers: they should be valued as key agents in renewing the social contract for education. Teachers are lifelong learners, catalysts for change, creators and facilitators of knowledge, and mentors who engage students and support them in understanding the complex challenges and realities of our world today.

Today,  on  World  Teachers’  Day,  we  celebrate  teachers’  critical  role  and  the  great  importance of reversing the global teacher shortage. We call upon countries to ensure that teaching is transformed everywhere into a more attractive and valorised profession where  teachers  are  valued,  trusted,  and  adequately  supported  to  meet  the  needs  of  every learner. Bold actions must be taken, if we are to reverse the current decline and successfully increase teacher number.

Photo exhibition: On World Teachers’ Day, UNESCO presents an exhibition that celebrates educators from all corners of our planet, recognizing their dedication, passion, and commitment to shaping the future. Delving into a range of topics — from digital transformation and inclusion to lifelong learning and sustainable development — the exhibition offers insights into how UNESCO and its partners champion educators globally. Explore the exhibition!