UNESCO World Teachers’ day 2015

 UNESCO | World Teachers’ day – Monday 5 October 2015

Every year, traditionally, Sorbonne University UNESCO Club, together with the French Federation for UNESCO, participate actively in the celebration of the World Teachers’ day 2015.

5 October is the World Teachers’ Day  (WTD), and “Empowering teachers, building sustainable societies” is the WTD slogan, in line with education to 2030.  Sorbonne University UNESCO Club, as usual, will celebrate and promote this important day.

The United Nations’ (UN) World Teachers’ Day celebrates the role teachers play in providing quality education at all levels. This enables children and adults of all ages to learn to take part in and contribute to their local community and global society.

World Teachers’ Day (WTD), held annually on 5 October since 1994, commemorates the anniversary of the signing in 1966 of the UNESCO/ILO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers. The 1966 Recommendation, as well as the 1997 Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel, constitutes the main reference framework for addressing teachers’ issues on a global scale.

Every year on the 5 October, the World Teacher’s Day celebrates and highlights the contribution of teachers towards the education and development of children around the world. The celebration of this year’s WTD comes just after the adoption of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) in September in New York. This is a unique opportunity to recall the key role that teachers should play in the new education agenda. In May 2015 at the World Education Forum (WEF) in Incheon, Korea, participants committed to “ensure that teachers and educators are empowered, adequately recruited, well-trained, professionally qualified, motivated and supported within well-resourced, efficient and effectively governed systems”.

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Participants at the parallel session “Teachers for the Future we want” recognized furthermore that teacher quality is the most significant condition for learning and that the empowerment of teachers must be considered as a top priority in all education and development strategies. World Teacher’s Day 2015 – Mobilizing for a Roadmap 2030 for teachers This year’s WTD will address the challenge of mobilizing a roadmap for teachers towards 2030. A considerable intensification of efforts is needed to provide sufficiently qualified, motivated and supported teachers by the end of 2030. It is still a challenge for education systems around the world to pay adequate attention to factors affecting teacher effectiveness, such as policies on training, recruitment, deployment, management, assessment and professional development. Listening to teachers is essential to enlighten current debate on the role of teachers in Education 2030.

 

In this spirit, a panel discussion will be organized with the participation of teachers from different countries. Teachers will have the opportunity to share their experiences and discuss their role as teachers in the perspective of 2030. 1 Draft Incheon Declaration , Education 2030 : Towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization The post 2015 UN development agenda seeks to achieve inclusive and sustainable global development. Early Childhood Education (ECE) is the foundation for building inclusive and sustainable societies. The benefits of early support are throughout life and they extend throughout society. Despite the increased recognition on the importance of ECE, the teaching personnel have not received the same level of appreciation. Among the entire teaching profession, ECE teachers in many parts of the world, typically receive minimum or no training, the lowest pay and benefits with no career prospects, and have low socio-economic status overall.

For ECE to become a powerful force for tackling discrimination and for bridging gaps of inequity, its teaching force must be thoroughly trained and supported to be able to deliver quality teaching and care. They must have adequate training and work conditions so that they can integrate the content and practice of a holistic early childhood care and education and ensure that our youngest children are able to transition smoothly into primary education. To address the persistent concerns on ECE teachers, a roundtable discussion is organized during the WTD 2015 to discuss ECE as a profession (status, working conditions) and innovations for teaching young children for sustainable future.

Objective of the Day:

– To celebrate and highlight the contribution of teachers towards the education and development of children around the world.

– To discuss issues in and prospects for the development and professionalization of early childhood education personnel.

Expected outcomes:

– Increased teachers’ voices on the direction on Education 2030.

– Awareness raised on the importance of empowering ECE teachers for building a strong foundation for quality learning throughout life.

– Recommendations on the development and professionalization of ECE personnel.

Participants:

– Permanent Delegations

– NGOs in partnership/affiliated to UNESCO

– Teachers and teacher training institutions

– Experts on ECE

– Representatives of global/regional networks on ECE