Ei-iE

Education is a human right, a public good, and a public responsibility. It relies on the millions of dedicated teachers and support personnel who make it happen in a place called school across the world every day. When this committed education workforce is undermined, the right to education is at risk.

Our latest Global Status of Teachers Survey clearly shows that the right to education IS at risk, and that we need urgent action to reverse this alarming trend.

The world needs an additional 44 million teachers in primary and secondary education alone. Millions more are needed at other levels of education.

As a direct result of the teacher shortage, millions of children around the world are being denied their right to education, they are being denied their future, and our collective destiny hangs in the balance. This is not a crisis the world can afford to ignore.

The teacher shortage: the view from the grassroots

With insights from 204 teacher unions across 121 countries, the report clearly singles out the teacher shortage as the major issue for teachers in a multitude of countries and contexts. Those who remain in the profession face crushing workloads, poor working conditions, and low salaries. EI’s Global Status of Teachers Survey is therefore a vital report since it is the first post-pandemic survey of the health of education systems in general and of the teaching profession in particular.

Unions are reporting widespread teacher shortages across all educational levels, but acute deficits are highlighted in special education, secondary education, and in specific subjects such as math, information technology, and science. While the shortages are most severe in Africa, Asia-Pacific, and North America, countries in Europe are also struggling.

Unions point to both insufficient recruitment and to the alarmingly high attrition rates as the causes of this crisis. The most significant factor driving teachers out of the profession and keeping young people from joining it are the poor pay and compensation that are far below those of other professions with similar qualifications. The limited career progression, ineffective management practices, excessive workloads, large class sizes, mental health challenges, and low professional status all contribute to the crisis. At the same time, governments often overlook these systemic issues and ignore the profession’s calls to action.

In short, teachers are overworked, undervalued, and underpaid and governments are doing little to address the challenges we face.

Underfunded systems set up to fail both students and teachers

Apart from their individual working conditions and challenges, teachers are deeply concerned about their students and education systems as a whole. The vast majority of unions report that education is not funded sufficiently, nor are the funds distributed equitably.

Another critical concern for teachers and their unions is the growing privatization of the sector that deepens existing inequities, favoring the few at the expense of the many and most vulnerable. Resources are diverted from public schools, leaving under-resourced and overwhelmed teachers struggling to provide quality education to the most marginalized and disadvantaged students.

Unions are advocating for more funding for public education and for a fair distribution of resources that responds to the needs of our most vulnerable students, including those living with disabilities and those from disadvantaged or immigrant backgrounds. What is absolutely clear to me from this report is that the world’s teachers believe that education is too important a public service for society to be left in the hands of market forces and the private sector.

The way forward

Many years ago, education unions were the first to warn about the teacher shortage. Two years ago today, on the International Day of Education 2023, we launched our Go Public! Fund Education campaign that calls on governments to invest more in public education and in teachers.

Irrespective of advances in digitalization and artificial intelligence, all the evidence shows that without qualified teachers there can be no successful education system.

From Finland to Singapore, the effective policies that strengthen the profession and create great education systems are always the same: Governments must invest in education and in the teaching profession. They must provide competitive salaries, good working conditions, and ample opportunities for professional development. They must ensure manageable workloads, professional autonomy, and smaller class sizes. They must respect teachers, trust our expertise, and work with our unions to inform policy making in education.

These are the conditions that enable teachers to thrive in their roles and to stay in the profession they love and that the world needs. These have always been our core demands as education unions.

Our advocacy drew the attention of the United Nations and drove the development of the United Nations Recommendations on the Teaching Profession. These recommendations are the way forward. They provide a comprehensive set of policies and actions that have been proven to strengthen the profession and education as a whole. They also have the enthusiastic support of our profession.

The recommendations call on governments to ensure competitive, fair, and professional salaries. They call for secure employment, good working conditions, and work-life balance. Precarious employment and the use of contract teachers and unqualified personnel must come to an end. All teachers must have a right to initial teacher training that is publicly funded. Quality continuous professional development must be free, a part of a teacher's official duties, and co-designed with the profession. Working environments must be inclusive, safe, and non-discriminatory and women’s leadership must be encouraged.

Importantly, the recommendations put social dialogue and collective bargaining at the heart of transforming education. Policies in education should be developed with teacher unions at the table and employment conditions should be determined through social dialogue, including collective bargaining!

Only by informing a proactive dialogue with knowledge from the profession can lasting solutions be found. Lastly, when all else has been exhausted, the Panel recognized that our right to strike is an essential tool.

The findings of the latest Global Status of Teachers Report reinforce the United Nations Recommendations and add to their solid evidence base. After decades of austerity, dead-end shortcuts, and fads that have weakened our profession and education systems, we now have a global consensus on how to enhance the status of our profession and end the teacher shortage.

Education unions have been instrumental in shaping this sustainable and effective approach. Our job does not end here. We must now organize and mobilize to compel governments to act. On the International Day of Education and every day, the best way to celebrate education is by mobilizing to defend it, to strengthen, and to fund it. We must redouble our efforts and ensure the United Nations Recommendations become reality for every teacher and every student around the world. We must continue to stand together and call on all governments to Go Public and Fund Education.