World Teachers' Day 2024

World Teachers Day - A History

For almost 30 years, the 5th October has been a celebration of teachers around the globe, known as World Teachers’ Day (or International Teachers' Day).

This date commemorates the signing and adoption of the ‘Status of Teachers’ recommendation. This is a document which outlines the rights and responsibilities of teachers. It also recognises the importance of teachers in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4.

World Teachers' Day 2024

World Teacher's Day 2024 will fail on Saturday 5th October. This year's theme is: "Empowering Educators: Strengthening Resilience, Building Sustainability".

World Teachers' Day 2023

2023's theme was: "The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage".

From the Unesco website:

"Being a teacher provides the unique opportunity to make a transformative and lasting impact on the lives of others, contributing to shaping sustainable futures and offering personal fulfilment. However, the world faces an unprecedented global teacher shortage exacerbated by a decline in their working conditions and status."

"With the theme "The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage", the 2023 celebrations will aim to put the importance of stopping the decline in the number of teachers and then starting to increase that number at the top of the global agenda. Through various activities, it will advocate for a dignified and valued teaching profession, analyse their challenges, and showcase inspiring practices to attract, retain and motivate teachers and educators. It will also examine the ways in which education systems, societies, communities, and families recognise, appreciate, and actively support teachers."

How to Celebrate World Teachers’ Day

The aim of World Teachers’ Day is to celebrate the contributions teachers make to the lives of children and young people around the world. The day also promotes improvements in teaching standards. The theme of the 2023 World Teachers’ Day is - ‘The teachers we need for the education we want'

World Teachers' Day is a day of celebration and awareness not only in schools but in global organisations. The Global Schools program led a social media campaign in 2022 to share the work of teachers worldwide on social media. Schools have assemblies and children may take part in activities to thank their teachers and recognise the impact that they have.

World Teachers Day FAQs

How to become a teacher?

To teach in a maintained school in the UK you will need qualified teacher status (QTS). To achieve this you need to go through teacher training.

To be accepted on a teacher training course you will need certain qualifications including:

• GCSEs at grade 4 © or above in English and maths (and science for primary teaching

• A degree (this does not have to be in the subject you are training to teach). You may be able to train in a different subject if you have:

  • A related degree

  • Relevant professional experience

  • An A level in the subject

  • Completed a subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) course

• If you do not have a degree you can complete a degree with QTS, there are then different paths you can follow to achieve QTS including:
  

  • Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE)

  • Assessment only QTS

  • School direct route

  • School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT)

  • Teach First

The details of each are outlined at Get Into Teaching

How much do teachers get paid?

The teacher pay scale outlines the pay structure for teachers. The pay varies depending on an individual's roles and responsibilities.
Newly qualified teachers (NQTs) in the UK will start at £30,000 from the end of 2023 (in London the starting salary is around £5,000 higher). A main scale classroom teacher with no additional points can earn up to £41,333. However, with additional roles and responsibilities, this can increase to £46,525. Headteachers can earn up to £131,056 (outside London).

How many hours do teachers work?

The teacher contract in the UK states that teachers will work 195 days. A teacher must be available to teach students on 190 of these days, the other 5 days are for development (INSET).

The teacher contract states that they should be available for work for 1,265 hours a year over 195 days. This is 6.5 hours a day (32.5 hours a week). The contract also states that they must also work more hours as necessary to perform their job effectively. A teacher workload survey in 2019 found that the average hours worked were almost 10 hours a day (50 hours per week).

How many weeks a year do teachers work and how many holidays do they get?

Teachers work 39 weeks a year which means that they have 13 weeks where they are not required to be in school or available for INSET. This is not a ‘holiday’ but undirected time, some of which is taken as a holiday.

What do teachers do during summer?

Usually, teachers will spend part of their summer holiday preparing for the next academic year. This may involve: 

• Lesson planning

• Professional development

• Development of resources

• Room displays

• Reorganising the curriculum

The remainder of the time is often spent taking holidays, catching up with friends and family and on hobbies.

What other jobs can teachers do?

Teaching provides you with a wide range of transferable skills and experiences. This means there are many opportunities open to teachers who no longer wish to teach in brick and mortar schools. These include;

• Education officers for a range of organisations such as museums and charities

• Tutoring

• Content creation for companies such as Save My Exams

• Youth work

• Careers advisor

• Educational consultant

• Supply teacher