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Top on the list for urgent government attention and action is teacher pay, workload and well-being for Education International (EI) teacher unions in North Asia.

Ulaanbaatar statement:

Against the backdrop of a projected teacher shortage of 3.3 million teachers across Eastern Asia, on 17 October 2024, leaders of EI’s member organisations from Japan, Mongolia, South Korea and Taiwan came together in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to learn from each other on how to strengthen Go Public! Fund Education campaign in their countries and across the region.

In developing their Go Public! Fund Education national campaign plans, top on their list for urgent government attention and action is teacher pay, workload and well-being.

Each of the unions agreed that the recommendations of the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel provide the blueprint for change needed to arrest and reverse the serious teacher recruitment and retention challenges in their countries.

Requiring urgent attention are the following recommendations:

R4. All governments should adopt, implement and regularly revise, as needed, comprehensive and holistic national teacher policies, aligned with national priorities and the overall education strategy and plan, through social dialogue with representative teachers’ organizations and in consultation with other stakeholders. National teacher policies should cover attraction to the profession and recruitment; initial training; deployment; career pathways; in-service training and professional support; employment; and working conditions, including retention, reward, recognition and remuneration commensurate with qualifications. National policies should also address teaching standards; governance; management; well-being; assessment of teachers and monitoring of quality; and strategies for inclusion and diversity, including policies aimed at gender equality, such as attracting male teachers at the early childhood and primary levels, ensuring career development and upward mobility for female teachers, and attracting women into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Such policies should be based on an analysis of current research and disaggregated data on teachers.

R5. Governments should establish national commissions …which should include relevant financial authorities, representatives of teachers’ organizations and other relevant stakeholders, to assess and tackle shortages of adequately trained teachers. Such commissions or mechanisms should address labour market analyses, recruitment, teacher migration, attrition and retention, compensation, status and rights, workload and well-being, equity (including the ratio of qualified teachers to students)

R7. Quality education is not possible without adequate financing. Funding for public education should be guaranteed at a level of at least 6 per cent of gross domestic product and 20 per cent of total government expenditure... Such spending should be transparent and shielded from austerity measures, including in policies promoted by international financial institutions.

R8. Long-term funding for well-qualified and well-supported teachers is an investment in the quality and sustainability of education systems…Governments should invest in teachers through competitive salaries and incentives; high-quality, accessible and affordable teacher training; and continuing professional development (CPD) and quality teaching and learning materials; as well as through the provision of qualified education support personnel.

R38. Working conditions should promote teachers’ mental health and holistic well-being. Educational jurisdictions, in collaboration with teachers and their organizations, should develop systemic teacher well-being policies that are reflected in teachers’ conditions of service.

R48. Coordinated and institutionalized social dialogue between governments (at the appropriate level), representative teachers’ organizations and relevant employers’ organizations should be the principal means for developing policies on education, teaching and the teaching profession. In addition to issues related directly to employment and working conditions, social dialogue should also cover wider education policy issues, in particular in relation to technology and the transformation of education, just transitions and teaching for entry into the world of work. Collective bargaining should be used to determine conditions affecting teachers.

With a teacher shortage of approximately 4,300 teachers in Mongolia, Federation of Mongolian Education and Science Unions (FMESU) President Tsogtgerel Zambal said “our priority is competitive salaries and decent working conditions including manageable class sizes. We will continue to strengthen and adapt our national campaign informed by the UN High Level Panel’s recommendations.”

Yasuharu Nakajima, Director of Education Financing at the Japan Teachers Union (JTU), said "in Japan we have a shortage of approximately 2,550 teachers. Of great concern is a growing exodus of teachers who have been in the profession for less than 10 years. This exodus is driven by excessive, unmanageable workload which is impacting teachers' mental health. Recommendations 37 and 38 the UN High Level Panel recommendations clearly require governments to address deteriorating working conditions. To improve teachers' working conditions we must also secure greater investment in education. Deteriorating over a 10-year period, education investment in Japan is currently at 4% of GDP well below the recommended 6% of GDP."

Heeyeong Jeon, President of Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU), said "it is usually said that the quality of education cannot exceed the quality of teachers. But quality education can only be achieved when teachers are socially respected and well paid. In addition, effective education policies can only be made when the voices of teachers are heard and reflected. The UN HLP recommendations clearly state that ‘coordinated and institutionalized social dialogue between governments (at the appropriate level), representative teachers’ organizations and relevant employers’ organizations should be the principal means for developing policies on education, teaching and the teaching profession. Go Public! Fund Education!"

President Chun-Liang Hou of National Teachers Association (NTA), Taiwan, said "it is imperative that we secure a sustainable pension fund and increases in teacher salaries noting they have declined relative to other professions and in real terms because of inflation. Securing teacher representation on the government Wage Review Committee along with a legislated mechanism to increase salaries is a key priority of the NTA.

Our demands echo the UN HLP Recommendations. The newly elected Taiwanese government, President and Education Minister should value teachers' voices and rights. They should seriously consider and comply with these recommendations."

Anand Singh, EIAP Regional Director, said "the UNHLP recommendations are a major achievement for our movement, but we cannot stop here. Our Member Organisations in North Asia, like others across the Asia-Pacific region and the globe have embraced them and integrated them into their advocacy for the change the profession wants and needs."

Watch the union press conference here: