Oct. 5 is World Teacher’s Day and we want to celebrate the incredible teachers in our communities. Many of them are helping to shape the educators of the future by working with teacher candidates from Brock and other institutions.
This year’s World Teachers’ Day theme is “The right to education means the right to a qualified teacher.”
The theme was chosen in honour of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), which recognized education as a fundamental right. Without trained and qualified teachers, this right cannot be fulfilled.
Around the world, children and youth have limited access to their right to education because of a shortage of teachers. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute of Statistics, the world needs to recruit nearly 69 million new teachers to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal of universal primary and secondary education. For girls, children with exceptionalities, children living in poverty, children in remote areas, or refugee and migrant children this “teacher gap” is even wider. Right now, more than 265 million children out of school worldwide. Of those, 22% are of primary school age.
The first World Teachers’ Day was held in 1994. It commemorates the signing of the 1966 Recommendations Concerning the Status of Teachers by the UNESCO and International Labour Organization’s (ILO). This Recommendation sets benchmarks for the rights and responsibilities of teachers. It also sets standards for the initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment of teachers as well as teaching and learning conditions. World Teachers’ Day is co-convened in partnership with UNICEF, UNDP, the ILO, and Education International.
We know a great teacher can make all the difference. If you want to recognize an incredible teacher making an impact here in Canada, consider nominating them for the Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence or the Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence in STEM. The nomination period for the 2019 awards is now open.
