All teachers and other education support personnel have the right to decent work according to internationally recognised standards. This indicator examines whether national laws or policies exist to protect the rights and duties of teachers and other support personnel and whether they include specific rights such as the right to fair wages and equal remuneration for work of equal value without distinction of any kind, the freedom of association and collective bargaining, the right to non-discrimination, the right to safe and healthy working conditions, and the right to rest, leisure and reasonable limitation of working hours including periodic holidays with pay.
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Articles 7 and 13.2, General Comment No. 13 (para. 50).; Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comments No. 7 (para. 14.c, 23), General Comment No. 8 (para. 46) and General Comment No.14 (para. 79).
ILO Conventions:
- C87 - Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1947
- C98 - Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949
- C100 - Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951
- C111 - Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958
- C190- Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019
See also non-binding instruments :
- ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
- UNESCO Recommendations Concerning the Status of Teachers
- ILO Policy Guidelines on the promotion of decent work for early childhood education personnel
- Transforming the teaching profession: Recommendations of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession
Specific references about the rights of teachers and the non-binding instruments:
- ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work contains the core principles that ILO Member States are called upon to respect by virtue of their membership even if they have not ratified the ILO’s Conventions in which they are expressed. When adopted, the Declaration covered freedom of association and the effective right to collective bargaining; the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour; the effective abolition of child labour; and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. On 11 June 2022, the International Labour Conference amended this Declaration by adding to it a safe and healthy working environment as a fifth principle and right.
- ECCE personnel are often not recognised or valued by society. When monitoring ECCE refer the specific recommendations made for ECCE personnel in the ILO Policy Guidelines on the promotion of decent work for early childhood education personnel.
- Tashkent Declaration and Commitments to Action for Transforming Early Childhood Care and Education emphasises, that ‘the wages and working conditions of ECCE personnel should be at least on a par with those of primary education teachers, and contractual conditions should be stable and provide pathways for career growth. Promoting the organization and representation of ECCE personnel as well as their right to social dialogue and collective bargaining can play an important role in promoting decent work for ECCE personnel’ (para. 3(ii)). Further Tashkent Declaration emphasis regulating ECCE personnel in the non-state sector not only in terms of quality services and quality but on the contractual and working conditions (Guiding principles and strategies for transformational ECCE, para. 2.iii).