In Canada and around the world, the
status of the teaching profession is in decline, yet
teachers and education are central to global
development.
By Michel Agnaïeff
According
to UNESCO, the status of the teaching
profession is in decline and pay levels are
diminishing everywhere. Working conditions are no
longer attracting the most gifted to the profession,
nor are they encouraging the best teachers to remain.
The general consensus
says this status has not improved in the last 30
years – in both industrialized and developing
countries.
Yet, society expects
more and more of education and of teachers. The job
of teaching has become more complex than ever with
the social problems brought into the classroom, the
advent of new technologies and the penchant of
governments to cut first and think of the
consequences later.
UNESCO has encouraged
its member-states to redress this situation. In a
symbolic gesture in 1994, it declared International
Teachers’ Day on October 5. In his 1997
Teachers’ Day message, UNESCO’s
Director-General Federico Mayor issued an appeal to
"recognize the primordial role of teachers in
shaping tomorrow’s world and to give them the
recognition and practical support they need to
accomplish their vital task."
This issue was also
addressed in the 1996 report of UNESCO’s
International Commission on Education for the 21st
Century, chaired by Jacques Delors, former president
of the European Union.
| In Learning: the Treasure
Within,
Delors says: "We are asking a great deal
of teachers when we expect them to make good
the failings of other institutions which also
have a responsibility for the education and
training of young people. The demands made on
teachers are considerable, at the very time
when the outside world is increasingly
encroaching upon the school." |
 |
The role of
teachers is central to the over-all thrust of the
Delors report – that education is at the heart
of personal, community and global development. The
mission of education is to enable each of us, without
exception and throughout our lives, to develop all
our talents to the full.
Learning
Throughout Life
The concept of learning
throughout life is one of the keys to the 21st
century. As the world increasingly comes into the
classroom, the classroom must increasingly go into
the world. Education, to be relevant and effective,
must move into the community and into the workplace.
Education must, in short, meet the challenges of a
rapidly changing world and changing patterns of life.
Traditional responses
that are essentially quantitative and knowledge-based
are no longer appropriate. Each person must be
equipped to seize learning opportunities throughout
life.
Education, says Delors,
must be organized around four fundamental types of
learning:
- learning to know,
that is acquiring the instruments of
understanding
- learning to do, to
be able to act creatively in one’s
environment
- learning to be, to
develop one’s personality and be able to
act with ever greater autonomy, judgement and
personal responsibility
- learning to live
together, to participate and co-operate with
others in all human activity in a spirit of
interdependence.
The 1996 Recommendation
on the Status of Teachers, adopted by UNESCO and the
International Labour Organization, states that
"the status of teachers should be commensurate
with the needs of education as assessed in the light
of educational aims and objectives."
One hopes that the
growing expectations placed on education systems
worldwide will soon force a re-examination of the
critical and central role of teachers as we enter the
21st century.
The Canadian Commission for UNESCO advises the
government of Canada on its relations with the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization. The commission fosters co-operation
between Canadian organizations and UNESCO and carries
out activities in Canada in support of UNESCO’s
programs and objectives.
The discussion kit on the Delors report is
available from the Canadian Commission for UNESCO at
350 Albert Street, Box 1047, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5V8
or its web site: www.unesco.org/general/eng/publish/deloreng.html
Michel Agnaïeff is President of the Canadian
Commission for UNESCO. He is the former
Director-General of the Centrale de
l’enseignement du Québec.
