Thursday, October 1, 2026
The General Secretariat of the World Federation of Teachers’ Unions (FISE), affiliated with the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), salutes education workers worldwide on the occasion of World Teachers’ Day, Monday, October 5, 2026. This year, the day coincides with the 80th anniversary of FISE’s founding: 80 years of struggles for public education, social justice, and peace.
World Teachers’ Day, celebrated annually on October 5 since 1994, commemorates the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. For the 2026 edition, marking the 60th anniversary of this Recommendation, UNESCO is dedicating the day to the status of the teaching profession, drawing attention to salaries, workload, working conditions, professional autonomy, and teacher participation in the development of education policies.
FISE, a sectoral organization of the WFTU, generally focuses its World Teachers’ Day celebrations on themes such as action against war; the defense of public education that is democratic, secular, scientific, inclusive, emancipatory, and free-viewed as a social good rather than a commodity; and the strengthening of the class struggle for teachers’ rights.
Founded in Paris in July 1946, in the wake of the Second World War, during an international teachers’ conference jointly organized by the French Education Federation and the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), FISE was the first international trade union organization for the teaching profession in the post-war era. Its history is inextricably linked to that of the WFTU, founded in Paris in October 1945.
For 80 years, FISE has ceaselessly fought for:
- The defense of public education, from preschool to higher education, against all forms of privatization and commodification;
- The rights and hard-won gains of education workers, pupils, and students;
- Freedom, dignity, social justice, and genuine equality among peoples;
- International solidarity with peoples struggling against imperialism, colonialism, and repression.
On this day of celebration and commemoration, FISE strongly reaffirms its demands:
1) Upgrading the status of teachers: decent wages, dignified working conditions, effective social protection, and full recognition of the social role of educators.
2) Defense of public education: firm opposition to any policy of privatization, outsourcing, or commodification of education; guarantee of sufficient and equitable public funding.
3) Trade union freedom and the right to collective bargaining: respect for trade union rights, an end to anti-union persecution, and genuine, binding social dialogue.
4) Education for peace and social justice: promotion of an emancipatory, anti-racist, anti-colonial, anti-imperialist, and internationalist education that serves the working classes.
5) International solidarity: support for peoples struggling for their sovereignty and self-determination, notably the Palestinian, Lebanese, Cuban, Venezuelan, Sudanese, Iranian, Congolese (DRC), Nigerien, Malian, and Burkinabe peoples, and solidarity with all peoples and educators who are victims of repression and war.
FISE calls upon all its affiliated and associated organizations, education unions, and education workers worldwide to:
- Celebrate October 5, 2026, through actions, rallies, conferences, and awareness-raising campaigns;
- Mobilize in defense of public education and teachers’ rights;
- Strengthen international unity and solidarity within FISE and the WFTU.
80 years after its founding, FISE remains true to its founding principles: the defense of public education, the promotion of peace, social justice, and international solidarity among education workers.
On this October 5, 2026, FISE once again salutes all those who work every day for an education that serves human emancipation.
Long live World Teachers’ Day! Long live FISE! Long live the WFTU!
Long live international solidarity among education workers!
For the General Secretariat of the World Federation of Teachers’ Unions (FISE)
Affiliated to the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU)
General Secretary : Drissi Abderrazzak
