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Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4

In 2015, all countries committed to achieving 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Education International played a critical role in securing a stand-alone goal for education - Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4): Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Significantly, SDG4 recognised that quality education can only be delivered by qualified teachers.

However, at the current pace, governments will fail to achieve SDG 4. The COVID-19 pandemic poses additional challenges, and risks reversing years of progress on education. Urgent and decisive action is imperative.

Together with our member organisations around the world we are working to ensure that governments live up to their promise to achieve SDG 4 and all its targets by 2030.

  • We monitor progress and hold governments accountable.
  • We advocate for enhanced domestic financing for public education through fair and progressive taxation and international aid.
  • We oppose corporate interests that treat education as a market instead of a public good accessible to all.
  • We promote quality education that is free from violence, develops the “whole child”, builds tolerance, understanding, democracy, respect for human rights and active citizenship for sustainable development.
  • We promote the achievement of the “teacher target” (target 4.c), underlining every students’ right to be taught by a trained and qualified teacher.

Our work in this area

  1. News 17 October 2024

    Ethiopia: "Go Public! Fund Education" campaign launched

    In a significant step towards enhancing public education and the status of the teaching profession, the Ethiopian Teachers Association (ETA) launched the Education International (EI) “Go Public! Fund Education!” campaign in conjunction with its 11th Quality Education Conference. This initiative, supported by EI Solidarity Fund, aimed to address the pressing...

    Ethiopia: "Go Public! Fund Education" campaign launched
  2. Worlds of Education 11 October 2024

    Education voices | Teachers stand proud as allies for girls’ vision for the future

    Marking the International Day of the Girl Child

    On October 11, the International Day of the Girl Child, educators around the world reaffirm their commitment to advancing girls’ rights through education. This year’s theme, “Girls’ vision for the future” , highlights their potential to effect change and to build a world where all girls are protected, respected, and...

    Education voices | Teachers stand proud as allies for girls’ vision for the future
  3. News 2 October 2024

    On World Teachers' Day, educators demand urgent action to address the global teacher shortage

    Press Release

    [Brussels, 3 October, 2024] – As school communities everywhere celebrate World Teachers’ Day, educators across the world are calling for immediate action to address the global teacher shortage which threatens the right to education for millions of children in every continent. Underpaid, overworked, and undervalued, teachers are being driven out...

    On World Teachers' Day, educators demand urgent action to address the global teacher shortage
  4. Worlds of Education 23 September 2024

    Teachers at the heart of global sustainability: a call for urgent reform

    Rachel Wilson

    There's so much happening around the globe that it's easy to miss significant announcements. Back in February, an urgent and impactful report was released that has flown under the radar for many. While immediate global crises demand our attention, this story shines a light on a crucial yet overlooked issue....

    Teachers at the heart of global sustainability: a call for urgent reform
  5. Take action! 20 September 2024

    World Teachers’ Day: Valuing teacher voices

    Communications toolkit

    This World Teachers’ Day, join the global mobilisation calling on governments everywhere to value the voice of teachers, invest in the profession, and in quality public education.

    World Teachers’ Day: Valuing teacher voices
  6. News 18 September 2024

    The voice of teaching profession must be valued to increase the quality of education in Asia-Pacific

    Education International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Office (EIAP) seized the opportunity of the 6th Asia-Pacific Meeting on Education 2030 (APMED) to voice concerns over the lack of teacher representation and equitable discussions on teachers, highlighting that teachers and their professional insights and experiences are overlooked in too many cases when education policies...

    The voice of teaching profession must be valued to increase the quality of education in Asia-Pacific
  7. News 17 September 2024

    Nigeria: Education union and government gear up to go public and fund education

    In a significant move to strengthen Nigeria's education sector, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) launched the Education International (EI) “Go Public! Fund Education” campaign in their country. This initiative aims to secure increased funding for public education and its personnel, while addressing the chronic underfunding that has plagued the...

    Nigeria: Education union and government gear up to go public and fund education
  8. News 23 August 2024

    Senegal: Mobilizing for education funding

    In Senegal more than 3 million children either do not go to state school or find it very difficult to go to school. Insufficient public funding for education is a major obstacle to quality education for all.

    Senegal: Mobilizing for education funding
  9. News 19 August 2024

    The struggle for a standardized school year in Iraqi Kurdistan

    In the ever-evolving landscape of education in Kurdistan, the quest for a standardized school year remains a contentious issue, Kurdistan Teachers’ Union (KTU) President Abdulwahed Mohammad Haje explained. The academic calendar, marked by an array of holidays and interruptions, has long been a source of frustration for both educators and...

    The struggle for a standardized school year in Iraqi Kurdistan
  10. News 31 July 2024

    The world’s educators demand urgent action to tackle the global teacher shortage

    Teachers and Education Support Personnel around the world are overworked, underpaid, and undervalued. Deteriorating working conditions, low salaries, overwhelming workloads, and stifling bureaucracy are pushing teachers out of the profession they love and that the world needs.

    The world’s educators demand urgent action to tackle the global teacher shortage
  11. Worlds of Education 29 July 2024

    Investing in quality education and teachers: an African perspective on EI’s upcoming World Congress

    Joan Aja

    The teaching profession is traditionally known to be a noble profession and a driver for all sectors and industries we have in the world of work. The profession is highly valued but greatly ignored by many African governments: they want quality teaching but take a short-sighted approach and are unwilling...

    Investing in quality education and teachers: an African perspective on EI’s upcoming World Congress
  12. Publications

    Activating the recommendations related to teachers in early childhood education

    The United Nations High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession Recommendations
    17 July 2024

    The High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession was convened by the United Nations Secretary General in response to the global teacher shortage. Tasked with providing policy advice for governments to ensure that every child’s right to a professionally-trained, qualified, and well-supported teacher is fulfilled, the Panel identified 59 recommendations .

    Activating the recommendations related to teachers in early childhood education
    1. Download
  13. News 12 July 2024

    Teachers at the center of United Nations education plan

    NEW YORK – Only months after the groundbreaking recommendations of a United Nations panel on the teaching profession, UN Secretary Antonio Guterres put teachers at the center of what he called “a four-point plan to end the global education crisis.”

    Teachers at the center of United Nations education plan
  14. Publications

    Activating the recommendations on teacher well-being

    The United Nations High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession Recommendations
    8 July 2024

    The High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession recognises that “teachers need to work in a climate of security, support, well-being and decent working conditions”. It calls for comprehensive national teacher policies to address teacher well-being and for multi-stakeholder national commissions to be established. The commissions should address workload and well-being...

    Activating the recommendations on teacher well-being
    1. Download
  15. News 3 July 2024

    Global education leaders meet to accelerate progress towards quality education for all

    With only 6 years until the 2030 deadline, Sustainable Development Goal 4 on quality education for all is off track. Millions of children continue to be out of school, deprived of their right to education, while education systems struggle with an alarming shortage of 44 million teachers. In this context,...

    Global education leaders meet to accelerate progress towards quality education for all
  16. Worlds of Education 27 June 2024

    Upholding professional teaching standards matters

    Ella Mokgalane

    Countries without professional standards deprive their education and teaching workforce of quality and professional excellence. As part of its theory of change, the South African Council for Educators (SACE) adopted the concept of Professional Teaching Standards to provide a common language and vision of the profession that all teachers can...

    Upholding professional teaching standards matters
  17. Worlds of Education 26 June 2024

    Recognising the teacher crisis in Norway: a key step towards solving it

    Ann Mari Milo Lorentzen

    For years, we have fought for the recognition of the teacher crisis in Norway. A new multi-stakeholder strategy brings hope for change from early childhood to higher levels of education.

    Recognising the teacher crisis in Norway: a key step towards solving it