As ministers and education leaders prepare to convene for the World Summit on Teachers (WST) on 28-29 August, the global teaching profession faces an unprecedented recruitment and retention crisis. The world needs 50 million more teachers by 2030 across early childhood, primary and secondary education, yet qualified educators are fleeing classrooms due to systematic government failures.
The WST, convened by UNESCO and hosted by the Government of Chile, brings together ministers, UN agencies, teacher unions, civil society organisations and education experts to address the shortage and advance implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 4 - inclusive and equitable quality education for all.
Building on this commitment to transformation, Education International arrives in Santiago with a clear framework for addressing the global teacher shortage that centers on concrete solutions and immediate action.
Teacher voices from across all continents will bring firsthand accounts of public education systems under pressure. Their unified message: structural transformation is essential, not cosmetic fixes.
Post about the Summit
Here are sample messages that you can share on your social media:
📢I am joining colleagues at the UNESCO World Summit on Teachers to call on governments to address the global teacher shortage of 50 million and commit to fully funding public education.
👩🏼🏫👩🏽🏫👩🏿🏫The World Summit on Teachers is an unprecedented opportunity to move from words to action!!! Governments MUST commit to fully funding public education and investing in teachers.
Privatisation threatens young children’s rights: Unions and partners call for urgent public investment in early childhood education
Early childhood education (ECE) is increasingly recognised as a cornerstone of the right to education. Yet across the world, a widening gap between public commitments and public investment is allowing privatisation to prosper — often at the expense of children, families, and education workers.
Keeping education alive in exile: Palestinian teachers supported by global union solidarity
Solidarity and emergency support by Education International (EI) and its member organisations have made a concrete difference for Palestinian teachers displaced by war, enabling them to continue supporting students and upholding the right to education under extraordinarily difficult circumstances.
PISA 2025: Education unions get ready for action on new data
As governments around the world await the results of the OECD’s 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) this September, trade unions are mobilising to ensure that teachers’ voices are included in the conversation.
The teacher shortage is not gender-neutral: Researchers call to address inequality
The Education International (EI) Research Network (ResNet), which brings together trade unionists and researchers, explained that the global teacher shortage cannot be understood — or confronted — without addressing the gendered inequalities that shape education systems, the workplace, and the profession itself.
Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4
30 June 2026
Still cooking with a failed recipe: New report reveals the IMF’s staggering double standards and harmful policies
The new report
from ActionAid International, Education International, and partners exposes how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has continued to push low-income countries to prioritise debt repayments over public services, despite claiming to support better education outcomes.
Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4
29 August 2025
Historic Santiago Consensus puts teachers at the heart of education transformation
World Summit on Teachers delivers comprehensive framework demanding sustainable investment in teaching profession
Ministers, teacher unions, and education leaders meeting at the World Summit on Teachers in Chile have adopted the Santiago Consensus
, a comprehensive framework that commits governments to address the global shortage of 50 million teachers through concrete policy action.
