Teacher Task Force Calls to Support 63 Million Teachers Touched by the COVID-19 Crisis

The International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, an international alliance of which the European Commission is a member, has issued a Call for Action on Teachers to ensure that teachers are protected, supported and recognised during the COVID-19 crisis. Leadership and financial and material resources for teachers are necessary to make sure that quality teaching and learning can continue at a distance during the crisis, and that recovery is rapid.

The Task Force is calling on governments, education providers and funders – public and private – and all relevant partners to:

1. Preserve employment and wages: This crisis cannot be a pretext to lower standards and norms, or push aside labour rights. The salaries and benefits of the entire teaching and education support staff must be preserved.
2. Prioritise teachers’ and learners’ health, safety and well-being: Teachers need socio-emotional support to face the extra pressure being put on them to deliver learning in a time of crisis as well as provide support to their students in these anxious circumstances.
3. Include teachers in developing COVID-19 education responses: Teachers will have a crucial role in the recovery phase when schools reopen. They must be included at all steps of education policy-making and planning.
4. Provide adequate professional support and training: Little attention has been given to providing teachers with adequate training on how to ensure that learning continues. We must move swiftly to ensure that teachers receive the necessary professional support.
5. Put equity at the heart of education responses: Greater support and flexibility will be needed for teachers who work in remote areas or with low-income or minority communities, to ensure that disadvantaged children are not left behind.
6. Include teachers in aid responses: The Teacher Task Force urges financing institutions to help governments support education systems, particularly the teaching workforce’s professional development. Such support is particularly urgent in some of the world’s poorest countries, which are already struggling to meet education needs because of critical shortages of trained teachers.

For more information, download the call in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

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