High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession - 1st meeting

The High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession will convene for the first time on July 18, 2023. This inaugural meeting, one of five planned gatherings, will be closed to the general public and conducted online. 

The Panel, appointed in June 2023, is an initiative of the United Nations Secretary-General as follow-up to the Transforming Education Summit. Its mandate is to produce a set of evidence-informed recommendations on how to deliver on the commitment that every learner has a professionally trained, qualified, and well-supported teacher who can flourish in a transformed education system. The scope covers educators from early childhood through tertiary education, including technical and vocational education and training. The work of the Panel is being supported throughout by a joint UNESCO-ILO Secretariat. 

The Teacher Task Force will be represented at the High-level Panel by one of its co-Chairs, Ms Matsie Angelina Motshekga, Minister of Basic Education of South Africa.

The discussions of the Panel will focus on six imperatives for the future of the teaching profession: quality, equity, diversity and inclusion, humanity, sustainability, and dignity. These imperatives guide the Panel's efforts to shape an inclusive and forward-looking teaching profession that prioritizes the well-being of both teachers and learners.

The working methods are carefully designed to ensure a thorough and comprehensive approach. With co-chairs comprising former Heads of State and the participation of a variety of stakeholders, including youth, the Panel brings together diverse perspectives and experiences. It will also draw on consultations organized by the Secretariat, briefs to inform the Panel as well as existing relevant literature.

The Panel will both draw on and inform preparations for the forthcoming first global report on the teaching profession to be published by UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2023 in early 2024.