Costing and financing the teaching profession: a strategic investment in education, a paper co-published by the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 and UNESCO at the World Summit on Teachers, examines the challenges and opportunities associated with sustainable financing of the teaching profession, highlighting the relevance of salary structures, workload, international aid, and innovative funding.
What are the key findings regarding the costing and financing of the teaching profession?
The report addresses the mounting crisis in the teaching profession, revealing that the global education community is off-track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), partially due to education financing gaps. The need for 44 million primary and secondary teachers still persists, and new calculations estimate that new teacher salaries will come at a cost of US $120 billion annually. Fiscal austerity on education budgets has impacted teacher financing, leading to severe restrictions in public sector wage bills in over 30 African and Asian countries. Ending the global teacher shortage demands comprehensive, long-term investment strategies that promote equitable recruitment, fair remuneration, continuous professional development, and better working conditions.
What role does debt play in education financing?
The principal source of education financing comes from domestic public expenditure. While 52 countries have increased their education budgets in 2021, 32 countries reduced theirs because of rising debt servicing obligations. The UN’s Human Rights Council warns that 3.3 billion people live in countries where governments spend more on debt repayments than on essential public services, including education and healthcare. Debt-related solutions include debt swaps, which reduce a proportion of debt in exchange for reinvestments in different sectors, such as education.
Why is it necessary to advocate for the continuous professional development of teachers in the midst of a global teaching crisis?
Continuous professional development (CPD) often can compensate for insufficient initial teacher education and is a necessary tool for improving teaching skills, education quality and outcomes. Because many countries, particularly in low- and middle-income contexts, struggle to invest in effective initial teacher education, it is essential to provide ongoing training and opportunities that rectify this. Neglecting CPD in public financing perpetuates disparities in teaching quality, therefore reinforcing educational inequalities. In Sub-Saharan Africa, CPD constitutes less than 2% of total recurrent education expenditure, resulting in reliance on donor-dependent training programmes, which are often less coherent and sustainable.
How has international aid contributed to supplementing domestic education budgets?
International aid has historically been crucial in supplementing domestic education budgets, particularly for teacher recruitment, training, and salary support in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) through budget support, core funding, technical assistance, and pooled funds. However, donor preferences tend to favor short-term, measurable outcomes over systemic investments, resulting in a proliferation of smaller training initiatives. Donor coordination and accountability should be structured in a manner that aligns with national plans, strengthens teacher welfare, and boosts system efficiency.
What role do public-private partnerships play in teacher funding?
Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are collaborative agreements between government entities and private sector companies to finance, build, and operate projects that serve the public. In the context of global education financing, there has been an increase of PPPs that extend into teacher recruitment, training, and remuneration. While PPPs are intended to expand access, improve efficiency, introduce innovation, and compensate for resource constraints within public education systems, they frequently prioritize cost efficiency over pedagogical quality and labour rights. Therefore, it is vital to scale PPP arrangements under stringent public oversight and in alignment with national education plans and teacher protections.
What are the major challenges involved in the costing of the teaching profession?
Teacher shortages have proven to be one of the most critical challenges, exacerbated by demographic trends such as aging teacher cohorts, gender imbalances, and uneven geographic deployment. These elements both fuel a greater demand for teachers and increase the cost of recruitment and workforce stabilization, eliciting fiscal restrictions and financial and logistical bottlenecks. Teacher attrition presents one of the most significant financial burdens, as high turnover rates incur substantial recruitment, induction, and training costs. The problem of reducing the cost of teacher deployment while bettering working conditions and advocating for continuous professional development remains one of the largest within the field.
How can governments address financing for teachers?
There are several effective ways that governments can appropriately address financing for teachers, including:
- Mobilizing domestic resources for teachers by prioritizing education in national budgets;
- Enshrine legal safeguards for education financing through a legally mandated minimum budget allocation;
- Invest in high-quality ITE and CPD that is accessible for all teachers and linked to career progression;
- Develop robust data systems and funding tools such as education accounts, integrated payroll systems, and workforce simulation models.
- Further explore PPPs and innovative financing methods, ensuring transparent governance with national education priorities.
What are the recommendations for donors and international partners?
Donors and international partners are encouraged to participate in the following ways:
- Coordinating donor funding within sector-wide approaches to minimize fragmentation;
- Supporting domestic resource mobilization and debt relief through assisting governments in progressive tax policy reforms and debt management negotiations.
- Promoting capacity building for workforce planning by investing in effective costing tools, data systems, and policy frameworks.
How can teachers, teachers’ unions, and other stakeholders support sustainable financing for teachers?
Teachers, teachers’ unions, and other stakeholders all play a unique role in advocating for sustainable financing for teachers and are urged to abide by the following recommendations:
- Proactively engaging in national and local education policy dialogue;
- Collaborating with governments to co-design competency-based career frameworks and professional development standards;
- Promoting collective bargaining for equitable salary structures, comprehensive benefits, and protection against precarious employment arrangements;
- Building partnerships with communities and fostering peer support and mentoring networks.
Access the full paper here.