UNESCO/ILO Recommendation Concerning the Status of the Teaching Profession & UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel

The ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers (1966) and the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel (1997) are two international instruments which set out principles concerning the rights and responsibilities of educators, ranging from the pre-school level through university. Drawing on a large body of international standards on labour and education, these two instruments provide guidance for governments, employers, teacher unions, and other stakeholders in the crafting of effective teacher policies.

The ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers was adopted on 5 October 1966 at a special intergovernmental conference convened by UNESCO in Paris in cooperation with the ILO. It sets forth the rights and responsibilities of teachers, and standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, teaching and learning conditions. It also contains numerous recommendations for teachers’ participation in educational decisions through consultationand negotiation with educational authorities.

Teaching Personnel was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO in 1997, also following years of preparatory work between UNESCO and the ILO. This standard is a set of recommended practices covering all higher education teaching personnel.