Teaching Profession Blog

Global Studies: Live From Paris on World Teachers' Day

Ronald Thorpe, president and CEO of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and high school English teacher Dan Brown traveled to Paris to attend a World Teachers’ Day colloquium at UNESCO headquarters on Oct. 5, 2012. In this blog, they recorded their experiences and impressions and explored the international context of the issues facing the teaching profession. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: international.

Education Opinion The Global Teacher Shortage: Shocking Facts
This infographic was circulated widely at UNESCO's World Teachers' Day event in Paris. Last month, the United Nations Secretary General announced the Education First initiative, with the aim of putting all children of school age into school. With these facts, that is one ambitious—but highly worthy—campaign.
Dan Brown, October 15, 2012
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1 min read
Education Opinion What Do We Do on Monday Morning?
What do we do on Monday morning is the perennial question that arises after attending a conference where heady ideas are discussed in an atmosphere of urgency and expectation. The question certainly was on my mind as I settled into my flight home from Paris after attending World Teacher's Day at UNESCO headquarters there.
Ronald Thorpe, October 10, 2012
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3 min read
Education Opinion Tweetable Factoids and Quotes from World Teachers' Day
-All top-performing OECD nations (Finland, Korea, Japan, Canada, Australia...) have strong teachers' unions.
Dan Brown, October 10, 2012
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2 min read
Education Opinion Educational-Technology Endeavors Around the World
My heart hammering, I asked a question during World Teachers' Day in the grand UNESCO chamber to the panel of ministers and researchers from Guinea, South Africa, Jamaica, France, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was an exciting moment, even though I couldn't figure out how to turn on my microphone for a second. As I spoke, half of the crowd of about 400 listened in their headsets as an unseen figure in a booth by the wall insta-translated my words into French!
Dan Brown, October 9, 2012
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2 min read
Education Opinion There's a Twist at the End of This Blog About the Status of Teachers
There is a twist at the end of this blog—can you wait for it or do you need to scroll to the end now?
Dan Brown, October 5, 2012
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1 min read
Education Opinion Making the Teaching Profession a Profession
[Editors' note: Below is the text of a speech given today by Ronald Thorpe, president of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, at the World Teachers' Day summit in Paris. Thorpe was a panelist for a discussion on improving teachers' status. As in all our opinion blogs, the views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Education Week or Education Week Teacher, which take no editorial positions.]
Ronald Thorpe, October 5, 2012
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8 min read
Education Opinion Sound Bites & Tidbits From World Teachers' Day
The Official UNESCO program for World Teachers' Day in Paris is unfolding in Front of me as I furiously type—or tap this—on an iPad. (Props to David Edwards from Education International for lending it to me after all of my devices died and I had no power cords or adapters.)
Dan Brown, October 5, 2012
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1 min read
Education Opinion Eye-Opening Global Teacher Shortage Facts
I'm guessing that most Americans have no idea how crushing the global teacher shortage is for students in the developing world. This fact sheet, circulated and discussed widely at UNESCO's World Teachers' Day event, is stunning.
Dan Brown, October 5, 2012
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1 min read
Education Opinion Bonjour! It's World Teachers' Day!
Bonjour and bienvenue to World Teachers' Day from Paris, France!
Dan Brown, October 5, 2012
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1 min read
Education Opinion How Can Inter-Country Teacher Videos Build Teaching as a Global Profession?
Yesterday I met with Andreas Schleicher and Michael Davidson at Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD.) Andreas and I have a relationship going back through both International Summits on the Teaching Profession and before that to important contributions he made to the Celebration of Teaching & Learning. He is the godfather of PISA and one of the most universally respected voices at the international education table. Michael, a Scotsman, with long experience in Britain and at OECD, now oversees TALIS (Teaching and Learning International Survey), which I'm pleased to say the U.S. now participates in, partly as a result of the International Summit. If you don't know TALIS (or PISA for that matter), you might want to spend some time on the OECD website.
Ronald Thorpe, October 4, 2012
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1 min read
Education Opinion Beyond the Revolving Door
In my last two posts I spoke of teaching's revolving door. However, it would be a mistake to ignore the many promising developments in our education system that are moving towards a new, more sustainable model of teaching as a profession that promotes expertise and effectiveness across the career-span. In the United States, we are moving beyond our traditional "egg carton" school structures that isolated teachers and limited professional collaboration. Teachers today are working more collegially to share and develop their knowledge and expertise.
Ronald Thorpe, October 4, 2012
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2 min read
Education Opinion More Thoughts on Teaching's Revolving Door
Although the book is nearly 40 years old, Dan Lortie's Schoolteacher raises another related issue that is actually more important today than it was in 1975. We want teachers to be more collaborative within schools, but collaboration is built best on relationships. If teachers - members of a team - are constantly coming and going, will this force those who remain to retreat to the safety of their classrooms? Lortie saw that happening in the 1970s. Or will collaboration and the connections now possible through technology actually make it less likely that good teachers leave the profession? This is a topic for further discussion.
Ronald Thorpe, October 4, 2012
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2 min read
Education Opinion The Teacher Demand: More Than Just Numbers
As educators from around the world prepare for World Teachers' Day on October 5 in Paris, France, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Institute of Statistics illustrates the global teacher challenge in stark relief:
Ronald Thorpe, October 4, 2012
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3 min read
Education Opinion How the World Recruits Teachers
One of the major topics of discussion at the UNESCO World Teachers' Day summit on Oct. will be elevating the status of the teaching profession.
Dan Brown, October 3, 2012
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2 min read
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