With the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, including Goal 4 on quality and inclusive education, and the dedicated target (SDG 4.c) on teachers, the education community recognized teachers as key to the achievement of the Education 2030 agenda.

As we celebrate World Teachers’ Day this year, we take this occasion to remind the global community that “The right to education means the right to a qualified teacher.” This theme was chosen to mark the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), which recognized education as a key fundamental right. A right that cannot be fulfilled without qualified teachers.

The right to a qualified teacher

A qualified teacher is commonly defined as a teacher “who has at least the minimum academic qualifications required for teaching their subjects at the relevant level in a given country.” Qualified teachers are fundamental to the right to education. However, this definition does not include the notion of trained teachers, defined as “teachers who have received at least the minimum organized pedagogical teacher training pre-service and in-service required for teaching at the relevant level in a given country”. This results in teachers sometimes having the academic qualification required to teach, but not the pedagogical training, or vice versa. Some teachers even lack both academic qualifications and pedagogical training. In many low-income countries, there is a shortage of both trained and qualified teachers.

There is also a lack of data regarding the minimum requirements for pedagogical training among countries, and the existing differences are not well documented. Countries differ in regards to programme duration and curriculum content, extent of and quality of field experience (i.e., practice teaching), and availability and duration of induction and mentoring. For example, teacher education programmes can last from one to four years, may or may not include a period of supervised teaching practice, and may or may not require an academic qualification. Such qualitative differences in the training and qualifications of teachers affect instructional quality in the classroom and ultimately students’ learning achievement.

The impact of teacher shortage

One of the main challenges to this right worldwide is the continued shortage of teachers. There are an estimated 263 million children and youth still out of school globally, and according to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, the world needs to recruit almost 69 million new teachers to reach the 2030 education goal of universal primary and secondary education. This ‘teacher gap’ is more pronounced among vulnerable populations – girls, children with disabilities, refugee and migrant children, and poor children living in rural or remote areas.

Teacher shortages are hampering efforts in many low-income countries to achieving quality, equitable, and inclusive education. To fill the teacher gap, countries resort to hiring teachers on temporary contracts who do not meet the training and qualifications requirements nor have proper professional status thereby increasing, rather than decreasing, the equity gap.

The equity gap is most pronounced in emergency and conflict-situations, where qualified teachers are in short supply. According to UNICEF, more than one-third of out-of-school children and youth globally live in conflict-affected areas -- 55% of whom are girls. In emergency contexts, providing migrant and refugee children with education is key to helping them cope with the new situation. But often, humanitarian agencies must recruit teachers with no preparation for responding to the complex needs of vulnerable children who have been forced to flee their homes because of armed conflict, violence or natural disaster.

A global event

This year, World Teachers’ Day celebration will spotlight teachers’ experiences in crisis and emergency contexts.

A global event will be taking place at UNESCO’s Headquarter in Paris on 5 October. The morning panel will showcase the policy issues and practical challenges of securing the right to education for children and youth living in difficult contexts. It will feature a presentation by the Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great-Britain and Northern Ireland to UNESCO who will speak about the new DFID education policy that puts a focus on addressing the teacher shortage, especially among vulnerable populations in developing and conflict affected countries. Experts from the Global Education Monitoring Report will present a few teasers from the upcoming Report on migration. Finally, the panel will showcase the work of a French NGO, “Groupement d’Educateurs sans Frontières”, who train retired teachers to work with migrant and refugee children.

In the afternoon, the Director-General’s opening address will be broadcasted live in Geneva to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Joint Committee of Experts on the Applications of the Recommendations concerning the status of teachers (CEART), which will meet in Geneva, Switzerland from 1-5 October. The award Ceremony of the UNESCO-Hamdan bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Prize for Outstanding Practice and Performance in Enhancing the Effectiveness of Teachers will take place after the formal opening ceremony.

Awarded every two years, the Prize is generously supported by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum through the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Distinguished Academic Performance. It amounts to US $300,000, which is equally divided between three winners whose projects aim at improving the performance and effectiveness of teachers in various regions of the world.

This year, the prize will be given to three programmes designed to improve teachers’ training and empower them: The Center for Mathematic Modeling of the University of Chile, the Diklat Berjenjang project (Indonesia) and the Fast-track Transformational Teacher Training Programme (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).

The Ceremony will take place in presence of UNESCO’s Director-General, Ms Audrey Azoulay, and His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.

Held annually on 5 October since 1994, World Teachers’ Day commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. This Recommendation sets benchmarks regarding the rights and responsibilities of teachers and standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, and teaching and learning conditions.

World Teachers’ Day is co-convened in partnership with UNICEF, UNDP, the International Labour Organization, and Education International.

World Teachers' Day 2018 webpage

How do the top-ranked countries in education achieve outstanding school performance? What are the reasons behind the rise of their school performance? This was the discussion subject of a conference organized by the Permanent Delegation of Argentina to UNESCO in March. As teachers constitute one of the key elements behind students’ and schools’ performance, a large focus was put on discussing what makes a good teacher. Experts from around the world gathered to share their countries’ perspectives on how to train teachers, analyse their performance and motivate them. 

Teacher training: what type and for how long?

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics defines a trained teacher as a “teacher who has fulfilled at least the minimum organized teacher-training requirements (pre-service or in-service) to teach a specific level of education according to the relevant national policy or law.” However, there is no universal agreement on what being a trained teacher means or what the minimum requirements to qualify as a teacher are.

Experience from top-ranked education systems, though, shows consistent patterns regarding teacher training and education. They all normalized pre-service training as a university course sanctioned by a degree, some of them even requiring having obtained classroom experience prior. Dr Huihua He, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, College of Education - Shanghai Normal University, indicated that it takes the completion of a four-year programme followed by one-year in-service training to become a qualified teacher. It is impossible to practice as a teacher in Shanghai without this certification.

She also underlined the importance of providing students with information and guidance on professional development. The university, to this end, integrated a “teacher professional development” course into other courses so that students have an understanding of the career ladder.

Should teachers be evaluated?

Another aspect of ensuring students are taught by good teachers is through evaluation. Ms Sonia Guerriero - Senior Programme Specialist, UNESCO – stated that teacher evaluation is necessary, as they need to keep their knowledge up to date on theory and practices as well as develop knowledge on new skills needed. Performance evaluations can be used to identify areas where teachers may need additional training.

However, there is an ongoing debate regarding what means can be used to determine a teacher’s performance. Is it through the evaluation of the students learning outcomes or through teacher evaluations?

There are several arguments against the use of students’ learning outcomes as the only means of teacher evaluation. Indeed, there are several factors that can affect students’ test scores outside of teachers’ performance, such as parental support, resources, curriculum content, and learning materials. Children’s economic and social background also play a role in their learning achievement.

Mr Hong Joon Chae – Director of the Education Budget Division, Ministry of Education, Republic of Korea – indicated that, in Korea, teachers in primary and secondary education are evaluated every year. This evaluation includes both a performance evaluation and an expertise evaluation to determine their knowledge on the subject they teach. It also includes an evaluation of the classroom climate and the teacher’s attitude.

Ms Guerriero debated that a more effective means of teacher evaluation would be to use classroom observation with mentoring and feedback by peers. Through observation, the focus can be placed on instructional practice, on-the-spot decision making, maintaining high-functioning and nurturing classrooms, content focus and depth of instruction. Evaluations can also include peer reviews of teaching through interviews and analysis of videotaped instruction. Indeed, teachers are not only there to share knowledge with their students but to also develop their skills.

Evaluation, especially through peer reviews, can also influence classroom practices, through informal in-service training. In Japan, for instance, there is a strong culture of seniority, with mentoring of younger teachers within schools. This includes evaluation of those young teachers’ performances by senior teachers, leading to teachers learning from and supporting each other.

Impact of incentives on teachers’ performance

Mr Chae underlined that, in Korea, teachers are very well paid. Indeed, teacher pay in Korea is higher than the average calculated based on OECD countries. Therefore, it is not a crucial variable for improving teachers’ performance. He noted that amongst surveyed teachers, autonomy in the classroom and professional development opportunities were indicated as affecting teachers’ performances.
This is also the case in Finland, where an important emphasis has been put on teachers’ autonomy. Indeed, Ms Jaana Palorjävi – Director, International Relations, Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland – explained that a lot of leeway is given to teachers in how to organize the school day, based on a skeleton framework provided to them.

It was also noted that teacher development programmes should focus on allowing teachers to go further than transmitting knowledge. Dr Makito Yurita – Senior Researcher, National Institute for School Teachers and Staff Development, Japan – described the teacher as a learner, a thinker and an enquirer. He also further explained that as teachers are not just preparing students for the job market but also preparing future citizens, they should be encouraged to participate in discussions on the goal of education.