Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application
of the Recommendations concerning Teaching Personnel (CEART)

2006 Session

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1966 CEART Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers

Cover and Introduction

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Conditions for efective teaching and learning
1. Since the teacher is a valuable specialist, his work should be so organized and assisted as to avoid waste of his time and energy.
2. Class size should be such as to permit the teacher to give the pupils individual attention. From time to time provision may be made for small group or even individual instruction for such purposes as remedial work, and on occasion for large group instruction employing audio-visual aids.
3. With a view to enabling teachers to concentrate on their professional tasks, schools should be provided with ancillary staff to perform non-teaching duties.
4. Text
  1. Authorities should provide teachers and pupils with modern aids to teaching. Such aids should not be regarded as a substitute for the teacher but as a means of improving the quality of teaching and extending to a larger number of pupils the benefits of education.
  2. Authorities should promote research into the use of such aids and encourage teachers to participate actively in such research.
5. The hours teachers are required to work per day and per week should be established in consultation with teachers' organizations.
6. In fixing hours of teaching account should be taken of all factors which are relevant to the teacher's work load, such as:
  1. the number of pupils with whom the teacher is required to work per day and per week;
  2. the necessity to provide time for adequate planning and preparation of lessons and for evaluation of work;
  3. the number of different lessons assigned to be taught each day;
  4. the demands upon the time of the teacher imposed by participation in research, in co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, in supervisory duties and in counselling of pupils;
  5. the desirability of providing time in which teachers may report to and consult with parents regarding pupil progress.
7. Teachers should be provided time necessary for taking part in in-service training programmes.
8. Participation of teachers in extra-curricular activities should not constitute an excessive burden and should not interfere with the fulfilment of the main duties of the teacher.
9. Teachers assigned special educational responsibilities in addition to classroom instruction should have their normal hours of teaching reduced correspondingly.
10. All teachers should enjoy a right to adequate annual vacation with full pay.
11. text
  1. Teachers should be granted study leave on full or partial pay at intervals.
  2. The period of study leave should be counted for seniority and pension purposes.
  3. Teachers in areas which are remote from population centres and are recognized as such by the public authorities should be given study leave more frequently.
12. Leave of absence granted within the framework of bilateral and multilateral cultural exchanges should be considered as service.
13. Teachers attached to technical assistance projects should be granted leave of absence and their seniority, eligibility for promotion and pension rights in the home country should be safeguarded. In addition special arrangements should be made to cover their extraordinary expenses.
14. Foreign guest teachers should similarly be given leave of absence by their home countries and have their seniority and pension rights safeguarded
15. text
  1. Teachers should be granted occasional leave of absence with full pay to enable them to participate in the activities of their organizations.
  2. Teachers should have the right to take up office in their organizations; in such case their entitlements should be similar to those of teachers holding public office.
16. Teachers should be granted leave of absence with full pay for adequate personal reasons under arrangements specified in advance of employment.
17. text
  1. Teachers should be entitled to sick leave with pay
  2. In determining the period during which full or partial pay shall be payable, account should be taken of cases in which it is necessary for teachers to be isolated from pupils for long periods.
18. Effect should be given to the standards laid down by the International Labour Organisation in the field of maternity protection, and in particular the Maternity Protection Convention, 1919, and the. Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952, as well as to the standards referred to in paragraph 126 of this Recommendation.
19. Women teachers with children should be encouraged to remain in the service by such measures as enabling them, at their request, to take additional unpaid leave of up to one year after childbirth without loss of employment, all rights resulting from employment being fully safeguarded.
20. Authorities should recognize the value both to the education service and to teachers themselves of professional and cultural exchanges between countries and of travel abroad on the part of teachers; they should seek to extend such opportunities and take account of the experience acquired abroad by individual teachers.
21. Recruitment for such exchanges should be arranged without any discrimination, and the persons concerned should not be considered as representing any particular political view.
22. Teachers who travel in order to study and work abroad should be given adequate facilities to do so and proper safeguards of their posts and status.
23. Teachers should be encouraged to share teaching experience gained abroad with other members of the profession.
24. School buildings should be safe and attractive in overall design and functional in layout;they should lend themselves to effective teaching, and to use for extra-curricular activities and, especially in rural areas, as a community centre; they should be constructed in accordance with established sanitary standards and with a view to durability, adaptability and easy, economic maintenance.
25. Authorities should ensure that school premises are properly maintained, so as not to threaten in any way the health and safety of pupils and teachers.
26. In the planning of new schools representative teacher opinion should be consulted. In providing new or additional accommodation for an existing school the staff of the school concerned should be consulted.
27. text
  1. Decent housing, preferably free or at a subsidized rental, should be provided for teachers and their families in areas remote from population centres and recognized as such by the public authorities.
  2. In countries where teachers, in addition to their normal teaching duties, are expected to promote and stimulate community activities, development plans and programmes should include provision for appropriate accommodation for teachers.
28. text
  1. On appointment or transfer to schools in remote areas, teachers should be paid removal and travel expenses for themselves and their families.
  2. Teachers in such areas should, where necessary, be given special travel facilities to enable them to maintain their professional standards.
  3. Teachers transferred to remote areas should, as an inducement, be reimbursed their travel expenses from their place of work to their home town once a year when they go on leave.
29. Whenever teachers are exposed to particular hardships, they should be compensated by the payment of special hardship allowances which should be included in earnings taken into account for pension purposes.
Teachers' salaries
1. Amongst the various factors which affect the status of teachers, particular importance should be attached to salary, seeing that in present world conditions other factors, such as the standing or regard accorded them and the level of appreciation of the importance of their function, are largely dependent, as in other comparable professions, on the economic position in which they are placed.
2. Teachers' salaries should:
  1. reflect the importance to society of the teaching function and hence the importance of teachers as well as the responsibilities of all kinds which fall upon them from the time of their entry into the service;
  2. compare favourably with salaries paid in other occupations requiring similar or equivalent qualifications;
  3. provide teachers with the means to ensure a reasonable standard of living for themselves and their families as well as to invest in further education or in the pursuit of cultural activities, thus enhancing their professional qualification;
  4. take account of the fact that certain posts require higher qualifications and experience and carry greater responsibilities.
3. Teachers should be paid on the basis of salary scales established in agreement with the teachers' organizations. In no circumstances should qualified teachers during a probationary period or if employed on a temporary basis be paid on a lower salary scale than that laid down for established teachers.
4. The salary structure should be planned so as not to give rise to injustices or anomalies tending to lead to friction between different groups of teachers.
5. Where a maximum number of class contact hours is laid down, a teacher whose regular schedule exceeds the normal maximum should receive additional remuneration on an approved scale.
6. Salary differentials should be based on objective criteria such as levels of qualification, years of experience or degrees of responsibility but the relationship between the lowest and the highest salary should be of a reasonable order.
7. In establishing the placement on a basic salary scale of a teacher of vocational or technical subjects who may have no academic degree, allowance should be made for the value of his practical training and experience.
8. Teachers' salaries should be calculated on an annual basis.
9. text
  1. Advancement within the grade through salary increments granted at regular, preferably annual, intervals should be provided.
  2. The progression from the minimum to the maximum of the basic salary scale should not extend over a period longer than ten to fifteen years.
  3. Teachers should be granted salary increments for service performed during periods of probationary or temporary appointment.
10. text
  1. Salary scales for teachers should be reviewed periodically to take into account such factors as a rise in the cost of living, increased productivity leading to higher standards of living in the country or a general upward movement in wage or salary levels.
  2. Where a system of salary adjustments automatically following a cost-of-living index has been adopted, the choice of index should be.determined with the participation of the teachers' organizations and any cost-of-living allowance granted should be regarded as an integral part of earnings taken into account for pension purposes.
11. No merit rating system for purposes of salary determination should be introduced or applied without prior consultation with and acceptance by the teachers' organizations concerned.
Social security
1. All teachers, regardless of the type of school in which they serve, should enjoy the same or similar social security protection. Protection should be extended to periods of probation and of training for those who are regularly employed as teachers.
2. text
  1. Teachers should be protected by social security measures in respect of all the contingencies included in the International Labour Organisation Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952, namely by medical care, sickness benefit, unemployment benefit, old-age benefit, employment injury benefit, family benefit, maternity benefit, invalidity benefit and survivors' benefit.
  2. The standards of social security provided for teachers should be at least as favourable as those set out in the relevant instruments of the International Labour Organisation and in particular the Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952.
  3. Social security benefits for teachers should be granted as a matter of right.
3. The social security protection of teachers should take account of their particular conditions of employment, as indicated in paragraphs 128-140.
4. In regions where there is a scarcity of medical facilities teachers should be paid travelling expenses necessary to obtain appropriate medical care.
5. text
  1. Sickness benefit should be granted throughout any period of incapacity for work involving suspension of earnings.
  2. It should be paid from the first day in each case of suspension of earnings.
  3. Where the duration of sickness benefit is limited to a specified period, provisions should be made for extensions in cases in which it is necessary for teachers to be isolated from pupils.
6. Teachers should be protected against the consequences of injuries suffered not only during teaching at school but also when engaged in school activities away from the school premises or grounds.
7. Certain infectious diseases prevalent among children should be regarded as occupational diseases when contracted by teachers who have been exposed to them by virtue of their contact with pupils.
8. Pension credits earned by a teacher under any education authority within a country should be portable should the teacher transfer to employment under any other authority within that country.
9. Taking account of national regulations, teachers who, in case of a duly recognized teacher shortage, continue in service after qualifying for a pension should either receive credit in the calculation of the pension for the additional years of service or be able to gain a supplementary pension through an appropriate agency.
10. Old-age benefit should be so related to final earnings that the teacher may continue to maintain an adequate living standard.
11. Invalidity benefit should be payable to teachers who are forced to discontinue teaching because of physical or mental disability. Provision should be made for the granting of pensions where the contingency is not covered by extended sickness benefit or other means.
12. Where disability is only partial in that the teacher is able to teach part time, partial invalidity benefit should be payable.
13. text
  1. Invalidity benefit should be so related to final earnings that the teacher may continue to maintain an adequate living standard.
  2. Provision should be made for medical care and allied benefits with a view to restoring or, where this is not possible, improving the health of disabled teachers, as well as for rehabilitation services designed to prepare disabled teachers, wherever possible, for the resumption of their previous activity.
14. The conditions of eligibility for survivors' benefit and the amount of such benefit should be such as to enable survivors to maintain an adequate standard of living and as to secure the welfare and education of surviving dependent children.
15. text
  1. The social security protection of teachers should be assured as far as possible through a general scheme applicable to employed persons in the public sector or in the private sector as appropriate.
  2. Where no general scheme is in existence for one or more of the contingencies to be covered, special schemes, statutory or non-statutory, should be established.
  3. Where the level of benefits under a general scheme is below that provided for in this Recommendation, it should be brought up to the recommended standard by rneans of supplementary schemes.
16. Consideration should be given to the possibility of associating representatives of teachers' organizations with the administration of special and supplementary schemes, including the investment of their funds.

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Updated by AV. Approved by BR/CDH. Last update: 29 July 2003.