Celebrating World Teachers Day

What is World Teachers day?

In 1966 the ILO/UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers was adopted which sets out benchmarks regarding the rights and responsibilities of teachers and standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, and teaching and learning conditions.

The Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education, and the dedicated target (SDG 4.c) recognized teachers as key to the achievement of the Education 2030 agenda. World Teachers Day has become the occasion to mark progress and reflect on ways to counter the remaining challenges for the promotion of the teaching profession.

World Teachers Day is celebrated on the 5th October every year and is brought to you in partnership with UNICEF, the International Labour Organization and Education International.

Here is a short video explaining more about what World Teachers Day is:

Why it’s important to us


The Steve Sinnott Foundation has been committed to developing and supporting teachers from the start.


Our very first project was building schools in Nepal’s Palpa District with Manisha UK, and since then we have enabled Manisha Nepal to develop an annual teacher training programme tailored to the needs of the schools and region. The programme offers continued support throughout the school year via the placement of volunteer senior teachers and Newly Qualified Teachers.


We have delivered programmes hosting groups of teachers from Sierra Leone in the UK for teacher training and professional development. We worked with EducAid so that the teachers have then been able to deliver the same programmes to their colleagues in Sierra Leone.


We have opened Learning Resource Centres in Haiti, Nepal and we are currently opening one in The Gambia later this year. These centres provide teaching and learning resources to support the local teachers, online and remote learning facilities, offer support and sharing of learning and expertise. They provide access to a global support structure where practical knowledge can be pooled, challenges can be discussed and solutions can be shared.


Working with teachers in Ghana, we supported the development of the ‘A Big Book’ project – a partnership between the Ghana Education Service, and the UK based Educators International. This project provided, in Ghana’s Northern Region, bilingual early-grade reading materials developed by Ghanaian teachers. We are continuing working in partnership with Cuban and Haitian teachers to develop and disseminate a literacy programme in Haitian Kreyòl in Haiti.


Our Chief Executive, Ann Beatty is the UNESCO ASPnet co-ordinator for the UK and through this network of over 11,000 schools worldwide we are continuing to promote global learning and access to Education For All. Being part of this community allows the Foundation to encourage children to learn about and understand different cultures; promote critical thinking, teach campaigning skills and help them to get actively involved in working to extend the benefits of education to everybody.


World Teachers Day is an opportunity for communities to celebrate and support how the work of teachers is changing the world for the better. 



How will you celebrate World Teachers Day?


The theme for the 2020 World Teachers Day is “Teachers: Leading in crisis, reimagining the future”. For us this highlights an essential point about the role of teachers in the world and why we are working to support them.


Right now, we are supporting teachers in The Gambia through our project with the Gambia Teachers Union to deliver solar radios to students throughout the rural areas. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, lessons are being broadcast through radio, but many children lack access to radios and have limited access to power. By delivering solar powered radios we have enabled over 3,800 children and teachers to access education in The Gambia during the pandemic so far.  


We are about to start our new Positive Periods campaign. This has been the result of 2 years of pilot research and will enable teachers to learn about periods and how to make reusable sanitary pads so that they can teach students in their schools as well as community members about managing periods so that girls can continue to go to school and not miss up to a quarter of their education because they lack any means of managing periods and the stigma attached to them.


We are delighted to be able to share a wonderful poem composed and read by one of our ambassadors Sovel Cunningham of Quiet Mind Poetry which you can see below. This poem transports us back to our first day at school, and invites us to think about the changes we go through from year to year. More of Sovels work can be found here https://www.justbeingme.life/


Please leave a comment below to tell us what you are doing to celebrate World Teachers Day on the 5th October 2020.


You can find out more about the day here: https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldteachersday 

The Steve Sinnott Foundation • October 2, 2020

An Education Revolution

By Ann Beatty • April 6, 2025
This week while out and about in Hertfordshire and we visited the British Schools Museum. We discovered the first school opened by Joseph Lancaster, was known as the ‘Poor Childs Friend”, was in 1810. It was his lifelong mission that all children regardless of their circumstances, should benefit from an education. Apparently, Joseph heard a small girl say, “Oh that I could read!” and this inspired him to create a simple education system that eventually would benefit children across the world. Joseph was the tenth son of a poor man himself from South London. His aim was to offer free education for everyone. However, it would be 93 years before the U.K. government finally made education free for all. There are still many countries today where education is still not free to access and it is certainly not compulsory for primary and secondary age pupils. Joseph’s mission really resonates with that of the Foundation, to support access to education for all. We enjoyed our visit and appreciated the tour given by two of the Museum’s volunteers, Angela and Clare. They described some of the challenges faced in the early years of formal education and shared some of the rules that teachers and students had to abide by with us. 

Sparks Bristol

By Ann Beatty • April 4, 2025
Sparks Bristol is a collaborative community project initially envisioned by The Global Goals Centre, (GGC) more of which below. A few years ago, GGC took over an empty Marks and Spencer store and that’s how Sparks was born. Sparks is a department store with a difference, co-created by Global Goals Centre and Artspace Lifespace. On the ground floor is a huge range of shops, installations, events and more. Upstairs is a hub for local artists, it offers affordable studios as well as rehearsal and performance space. The Global Goals Centre is a Bristol-based educational charity inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals. (SDGs). GGC believe the SDG’s or Global Goals as they are sometimes known, can be reached, with imaginative solutions and widespread education and engagement. They work with partners to promote creative solutions and deliver ground breaking projects that work towards these ambitious goals. The Steve Sinnott Foundation supported the Global Goals Centre with seed funding when it first started over 5 years ago. This month we went to visit them to see how they are getting on and we were taken aback by the volume of work they have achieved since they started. It is amazing to see how though working together with other local community groups it has grown into the vibrant centre it is today. All of the creative projects they host are linked to the SDGs. They cover topics that tackle poverty, education, climate change, fashion recycling and upcycling, to name a few.

Spring is Here! Looking Ahead!

By Ann Beatty • March 28, 2025
Spring is definitely here, daffodils, blossom and crocuses are all basking in the bright sunshine. There is still a chill in the air in the shade but it's happening and all the seeds that were sown over the last few months are coming to fruition. At the Foundation, we have been planning the year ahead and our Positive Periods and Prevention of Gender Based Violence programmes got underway this weekend in Haiti and Ghana. These projects will have a long-lasting effect on the lives of the women and girls who take part: tackling the root causes of gender-based violence and enabling girls to attend school every day when they have their period, to feel safe at school and know how to take action when they are faced with violence. These are the first of many projects planned for the year ahead as we continue to work towards Education for All children everywhere.