Riyadh, 26 May 2025 - The Arabic edition of the Teacher Task Force & UNESCO Global Report on Teachers 2024 is presented today in collaboration with the UNESCO Regional Center for Quality and Excellence in Education (RCQE). It provides a strategic framework for improving teachers’ working conditions, strengthening their professional development, and enhancing the attractiveness of the teaching profession.

Like many regions around the world, the Arab States are grappling with growing challenges in teacher retention, driven by factors such as heavy workloads, limited salary growth, and a need for greater professional recognition.

The Arabic edition of the Global Report on Teachers, published by UNESCO, the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, and the UNESCO Regional Center for Quality and Excellence in Education (RCQE), was presented today in Riyadh. The event took place during the high-level Leaders in Education Summit, held alongside the Saudi Arabia Global Educational Supplies and Solutions (GESS) conference from 26 to 28 May.

Report highlights: Mixed realities for teachers in the Arab States

The Global Report on Teachers offers key insights into the teaching profession across the Arab region. Whereas substantial progress has been made, just 8 out of 19 countries in primary education and 2 out of 16 in in secondary education in Northern Africa and Western Asia will recruit enough teachers to close the gaps by 2030.

Data from the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) further underscores the magnitude of the challenge: in Saudi Arabia, 62% of lower secondary school principals reported shortages of qualified teachers—well above the OECD average of 21%—placing the country among the highest globally alongside Viet Nam (86%) and Colombia (53%) (OECD, 2019c).

Undesirable working conditions and poor remuneration can contribute to this. While countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar offer relatively high monthly salaries—US$7,514 and US$5,083 respectively—teachers in Egypt earn considerably less, at just around US$745 making it difficult to support all family needs. Moreover, despite the high salaries in some countries, upper secondary teachers in Saudi Arabia still earn on average just 0.91 times the salaries of other professions requiring the same qualifications, which may contribute in the longer term towards attrition. In Lebanon, deteriorating economic conditions have led three-quarters of teachers to consider leaving the profession, while Jordan continues to face shortages due to decades of outmigration.

Quantitative shortages are further exacerbated by qualitative shortages. Whereas many countries in the region have achieved rates of 100% of teachers having the required qualifications to teach, especially among Gulf countries, this varies with just 41 per cent and 38 per cent of primary teachers in Lebanon and the Syrian Arab Republic also having the minimum level of professional qualifications.

Yet, the Report also points to signs of resilience. During the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual communities of practice emerged across the region, supporting both professional development and teacher well-being. In Saudi Arabia and Oman, societal narratives continue to frame teachers as nation-builders and intellectual leaders, highlighting the symbolic value of the profession.

A strategic tool for advancing SDG 4 through the valorization of the teaching profession

The report comes at a pivotal moment as countries in the Arab States region work to reimagine and reinvigorate the teaching profession. It provides a strategic framework for improving working conditions, strengthening professional development, and enhancing the sustainability and appeal of teaching. As noted during the event, it is a vital reference for guiding targeted reforms and context-specific strategies to accelerate progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 4 on quality education.

Call for collaboration and reform

In his keynote address, Mr. Carlos Vargas, Chief of UNESCO’s Section for Teacher Development and Head of the Secretariat of the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, stated: “We deeply appreciate Saudi Arabia’s support for global education and for hosting and empowering UNESCO RCQE to strengthen teaching worldwide.” Dr. Abdulrahman bin Ibrahim Almedaires, Director-General of UNESCO RCQE, reaffirmed the joint commitment of the Centre, UNESCO HQ, and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030: “This report reflects our shared dedication to advancing the teaching profession and finding practical, scalable solutions to achieve inclusive, quality, and sustainable education for all.”

Ministers and experts unite for action to support teachers

The presentation gathered ministers and senior officials from across the Arab States, alongside international experts, education leaders, and partner organizations. Discussions emphasized the need for practical, locally adapted policies and stronger multilateral cooperation. Education ministers echoed the urgency of action, and UNESCO RCQE reaffirmed its leading role in fostering regional and international collaboration to transform education and support teachers.

A joint commitment to valorize the teaching profession

In closing, UNESCO, the Teacher Task Force, and UNESCO RCQE reaffirmed their shared commitment to strengthening the teaching profession across the Arab world, driving forward transformative change to meet national priorities and global education goals.

Further resources:

• Highlights of the Global Report on Teachers in Arabic and English
• Page of the launch event
• UNESCO work to support teachers
• UNESCO Regional Center for Quality and Excellence in Education (RCQE)

The Teacher Task Force and the World Bank are joining forces to see how data can benefit the development of teacher policies.

Using the Systems Approach for Better Education Results for Teachers (SABER-Teachers) tools and guidelines, the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 (Teacher Task Force) is collaborating with the World Bank to carry out a stocktaking review of the requirements of the teaching profession in 25 countries. The study covers the following regions of the world: Europe (France, Ireland, Slovenia, Norway, Turkey, Croatia), Arab States (Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Algeria), Sub-Saharan Africa (DR Congo, Mauritania, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Ghana), Latin America and the Caribbean (Haiti, Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil), Asia (India – Karnataka, Lao PDR, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand).

The review was guided by the following questions: what is the minimum level of academic qualification required to become a teacher? What are the main tasks performed by teachers? What system is put forward to guide salary packages, deployment and transfer of teachers? What criteria guides teacher performance evaluation? What solutions have countries put forward or envisaged? What does this review suggest as recommendations in order to improve the situation?

All data collection, related analysis and report preparations were completed by the Teacher Task Force with support from staff of the World Bank Group.

Data for better policies

The SABER-Teachers is an initiative from the World Bank to produce comparative data and knowledge on education policies and institutions, with the aim of helping countries systematically strengthen their education systems.

The main goal of teacher policies is to ensure that every classroom has a motivated, supported and competent teacher at its helm. However, evidence on the impact of teacher policies on the ground remain insufficient and scarce. Indeed, teacher policies’ impact can vastly differ based on the national context and the other education policies already in place.

SABER-Teachers helps governments strengthen their frameworks for effective teaching by identifying gaps in their teacher policies. To this end, SABER-Teachers analyses teacher policies formally adopted by a given education system. These studies aim to fill these gaps by disseminating comprehensive information on teacher policies based on data collected and analysed from various countries.

Country reports

The reports produced from this collaboration will focus specifically on policies in the area of teachers. To this end, the following eight teacher policy goals have been set up for evaluation:

• Setting Clear Expectations for Teachers
• Attracting the Best into Teaching
• Preparing Teachers with Useful Training and Experience
• Matching Teachers’ Skills with Students’ Needs
• Leading Teachers with Strong Principals
• Monitoring Teaching and Learning
• Supporting Teachers to Improve Instruction
• Motivating Teachers to Perform

To identify these goals, three criteria were applied. Each goal had to be linked to student performance through empirical evidence. They had to be a priority for resource allocation, and they had to be actionable, meaning that they identified actions that governments could take to strengthen education policy.

The resulting reports describe the performance of each country’s Education system in achieving each of the eight teacher policy goals. They also contain comparative information from education systems that have consistently scored highly on international student achievement tests and those that have previously participated in the SABER-Teachers initiative.

The first reports from this collaboration to be published are from Singapore, Croatia and Norway. The upcoming reports to be published in 2018 are the following: Slovenia, France, Qatar, Namibia, Mexico, Brazil and the Philippines. 

Reports from this collection are available in our library. More reports are available on the SABER website.