Following the Inaugural General Meeting of the APPG on Global Education on the 14th of October, Parliamentarians were joined by representatives of the National Education Union (NEU), Celia Dignan (International Secretary) and Olly Mawhinney (International Policy Specialist), to discuss the NEU’s latest report on the global teacher shortage published on World Teacher’s Day (5th October).
Members pay attention as Celia (2nd Left) presents
The report, ‘Prioritise teachers to transform education: How tackling the global teacher shortage can unlock the UK’s development agenda,’ draws from the UN’s High-Level Panel Recommendations on the Teaching Profession emphasising the importance of qualified teachers in achieving high-quality education systems across the world.
Findings from the report reveal that in order to meet the targets of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) by 2030, 44 million teachers are needed in classrooms globally with an additional 15 million teachers specifically for Sub Saharan Africa. The report notes that the UK has its own troubles grappling with the effects of teacher shortages, demonstrating the global nature of this issue. The impact of the teacher shortage extends beyond the classroom, it is a barrier to social progress, economic development, and global equity.
With about 5 years left to achieve the 2030 targets, urgent action needs to be taken to address this critical issue. The NEU report recommends a number of actions the UK Government can take. It urges the UK government to lead global efforts in advancing the rights, working conditions and supply of qualified teachers in emergency and crisis-contexts as well as supporting international reforms that promote progressive taxation. To bring more focus to the issue, it also recommends the creation of a new FCDO global teacher strategy that will “re-prioritise investment in quality, publicly provided, free education, with a focus on supporting lower-income countries to recruit, train, and retain qualified teachers, and invest in their safety and working conditions.” Further, it calls on the UK government to increase ODA to education and advocate for domestic resource mobilisation, debt relief and cancellation, to ensure lower-income countries have the fiscal capacity to increase education funding.
Full recommendations and further information can be found in the report.
Thank you to the National Education Union for leading an insightful dialogue on the teaching profession and the role that the UK has to play in addressing the issue globally.