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Bonjour! It’s World Teachers’ Day!

By Dan Brown — October 05, 2012 1 min read
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Bonjour and bienvenue to World Teachers’ Day from Paris, France!

Photo from my wandering yesterday at Jardin du Musée Rodin

Ron Thorpe and I were among the first to arrive at UNESCO headquarters for the official program. I’ve got my croissant and tea, and I’m ready to take a stand for teachers... once everyone else shows up.

The day’s agenda is a feast of international perspectives:

• Opening Ceremony featuring Irina Bokova, director general of UNESCO

• “Take a Stand for Teachers!” speakers from UNESCO’s Education Sector, including David Atchoarena, Director of Teacher Development and Higher Education

• Discussion panel on “attracting the best to teaching and retaining them” chaired by Oliver Liang and Marinlena Viviani from International Labour Organization. The panelists are a hit parade of ministers, cultural attaches, and other senior officials:


  • Rima Al Baksheet, Jordan
  • Winsome Gordon, Jamaica
  • Kourouma Ibrahima, Guinea Republic
  • Luc Ria, France
  • Maker Mwangu Famba, Democratic Republic of Congo,
  • Nollitha Vukuza-Linda, South Africa

• Discussion panel on “improving teacher status” moderated by David Edwards from Education International. Panelists are researchers and organization leaders working on elevating the teaching profession:


  • John Bangs, Cambridge, UK
  • Tunde Kovacs Cerovic, Belgrade University, Serbia
  • Sofialeticia Morales Garza, Mexico
  • Aniceto Sobrepena, Philippines
  • Ron Thorpe, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, USA

• Closing remarks from Francesc Pedro, Chief of the Section for Teacher Development and Education Policies at UNESCO,

There’s also a side exhibition on UNESCO’s Hamdan bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Prize for Outstanding Practice and Performance in Enhancing the Effectiveness of Teachers.

More as the story develops!

The opinions expressed in Global Studies: Live From Paris on World Teachers’ Day are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.