World Teachers' Day

The recent UNESCO GEM Report on leadership in education found that only about half of countries emphasize teacher collaboration in their leadership standards . And barely one third of leadership programmes reviewed focused on developing school leaders’ preparedness to share responsibilities through openness, collaboration and partnerships. Only a few countries highlight the value of teacher collaboration in teacher evaluations as well, acting as an incentive for teachers to embrace leadership roles. The Report called for policies on shared school leadership to be developed and implemented.

A new fact sheet by UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) & Teacher Task Force, estimates that only 14% of low-income countries have policies mandating continuing professional development for primary school teachers. The trend is declining, with the share of trained primary teachers in sub-Saharan Africa dropping from 85% to 69%, and trained secondary teachers from 79% to 59%, between 2000 and 2024. This lack of support for teachers undermines educational quality and equity, contributing to more teachers leaving the profession. The global shortage highlights the urgency: 44 million additional teachers are needed by 2030 to achieve universal primary and secondary education. " On this World Teachers’ Day, UNESCO, ILO, UNICEF and Education International call on governments, partners and the international community to make a collective commitment to ensuring that collaboration is recognized as a norm within the teaching profession – because it is only through effective cooperat...