UNESCO celebrates World Teachers’ Day

“Governments should support teachers by working to improve conditions in the profession and ensuring that every teacher, everywhere in the world, has the means to help build more inclusive, peaceful and sustainable societies.” This is the message from UNESCO, UNICEF, the ILO and Education International for International Teachers’ Day, which is celebrated on 5 October to honour teachers around the world.

This year, World Teachers’ Day will also mark the 60th anniversary of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. This recommendation is currently under review in light of the new challenges facing the profession, particularly those linked to digital technological advances, climate change, inclusion, migration and population movements.

The event, organised at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris, also aims to examine the various aspects of the teaching profession, which is not sufficiently recognised or valued; the limited involvement of teachers in decision-making; and the practical issues – such as pay, workloads and working conditions – which prevent teachers from fulfilling their role to the full. UNESCO emphasises that the day ‘provides an opportunity to celebrate the way in which teachers are transforming education, but also to reflect on the support they need to fully develop their talent and vocation, and to reconsider the future prospects of the profession at a global level’.

In Italia, there are around 850,000 teachers, including those on temporary contracts, and the majority are women. The most recent snapshot of their profession was taken a few days ago the OECD in its report *Education at a Glance 2026*. There is a clear pay issue. In Italy, nursery school teachers earn on average 36 per cent less than other workers with a tertiary education qualification, whilst for lower secondary school teachers the pay gap stands at 33 per cent. However, as the OECD also points out, ‘Italia has recently adopted measures aimed at increasing teachers’ salaries, including pay rises agreed upon during the recent collective agreement renewals’.