UN establishes High-Level Panel on Teaching Profession to build on outcomes
of Transforming Education Summit
Building on the outcomes of the Transforming Education Summit in September 2022, the United Nations Secretary-General has today announced the establishment of a High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession and appointed its two co-chairs.
The panel will be co-chaired by Ms. Kersti Kaljulaid, the former President of the Republic of Estonia and Ret. Justice Paula-Mae Weekes, the former President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
Supported by a joint United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) – International Labour Organization (ILO) Secretariat, the panel will draw together expertise from ministries of education and labour; teachers; students; representatives of teacher unions as well as representatives of civil society, the private sector and academia. The full list of panel members is shown below.
Education remains a centrepiece of global and national efforts to achieve sustainable development, protect human rights and sustain peace. Today, however, the world is experiencing a global learning crisis and education systems are struggling to respond to the needs of a rapidly changing world. At the Transforming Education Summit, national governments from over 130 countries committed to take urgent action. In this context, teachers – the single most influential variable in achieving learning outcomes – are under considerable strain. A persistent global teacher shortage on the one hand, and concerns around the role of teachers in an increasingly digital learning environment on the other hand, are among the many factors that are making the job of teaching increasingly challenging.
The High-Level Panel will build on the discussion on this topic held at the Transforming Education Summit and clarify the role of teachers in education transformation. They will offer recommendations to ensure that every learner has a professionally trained, qualified and well-supported teacher who can flourish in a transformed education system. The Panel’s report, to be delivered by end of November 2023, will serve as a contribution to broader efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4, as an input to ongoing preparations for the 2024 Summit of the Future and help advance follow-up on the Transforming Education Summit.
Press Contacts:
Ms Rosalind Yarde, Chief, News and Media, Department of Communication and Public Information, International Labour Organization
T: +41 22 799 7697
E: newsroom@ilo.org
Annex: List of members of the High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession
Co- Chairs
- E.Ms. Kersti Kaljulaid, Former President of the Republic of Estonia
- E. Ms. Paula-Mae Weekes, Former President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
Members:
- Ligia Deca, Minister of Education, Republic of Romania
- Ida Fauziyah, Minister of Manpower, Republic of Indonesia
- Matsie Angelina Motshekga, Minister of Basic Education, Republic of South Africa
- Jaime Perczyk, Minister of Education, Republic of Argentina
- Jutta Urpilainen, Commissioner for International Partnerships, the European Commission
- Sebastien Berger, Executive Director, Global Student Forum
- Gerhard F. Braun, Chair, German Employers Association’s Education Committee
- Mamadou Cellou Souare, La Confédération Générale des Entreprises de Guinée
- Linda Darling-Hammond, President and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute and Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education Emeritus at Stanford University
- Susan Hopgood, President, Education International
- Gorgui Sow, Independent Education Policy and Advocacy Specialist
- Manal Hdaife, Primary School Principal, Lebanon, and Chair of the Arab Countries Cross-Regional Structure (ACCRS) of Education International
- Mike Thiurman, General Secretary of the Singapore Teachers Union
- Denise Vaillant, Academic Director, Institute of Education, ORT University (Uruguay) and Chair of the Joint ILO–UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendations concerning Teaching Personnel
- Andria Zafirakou, Winner of the 2018 Global Teacher Prize, the United Kingdom
Ex-officio members
- Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO
- Gilbert Houngbo, Director-General of the ILO
- Mr. Leonardo Garnier, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on follow-up to the Transforming Education Summit
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