Focus on collaboration as a key lever for teacher professional learning and broader educational transformation.

 Last year, the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession published a set of Recommendations that seek to strengthen the role of teachers in the transformation of education and to advance SDG 4. A core message from the Recommendations - echoing UNESCO’s seminal report onthe Futures of Education - is the need to promote teaching as a collaborative profession, supported by coherent systems throughout teachers’ careers. In parallel, global education frameworks have emphasized the collective and relational nature of teaching, underlining that quality education is shaped by cooperation, shared responsibility and professional solidarity. The 2025 World Teachers’ Daycelebration therefore focuses on collaboration as a key lever for teacher professional learning and broader educational transformation. 

World Teachers’ Day is co-convened by UNESCO in collaboration with the ILO, UNICEF and Education International. This year, for the first time, the international celebration will not take place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris but will be hosted by the African Union in the framework of the Pan-African Conference on Teacher Education (PACTED) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This choice is particularly timely, aligning with the launch of a new Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) and the African Decade for Education — together marking a renewed continental and global commitment to prioritizing education and the teaching profession as drivers of sustainable development. The morning will feature an opening ceremony with high-level representatives from convening partners, followed by a panel discussion including teacher perspectives on the importance of collaboration in building supportive and sustainable professional environments.