1966 CEART Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers

Teacher Solidarity for the improvement of education

IV. # Educational objectives and policies

10. Appropriate measures should be taken in each country to the extent necessary to formulate comprehensive educational policies consistent with the Guiding Principles, drawing on all available resources, human and otherwise. In so doing, the competent authorities should take account of the consequences for teachers of the following principles and objectives:
a. it is the fundamental right of every child to be provided with the fullest possible educational opportunities; due attention should be paid to children requiring special educational treatment;
b. all facilities should be made available equally to enable every person to enjoy his right to education without discrimination on grounds of sex, race, colour, religion, political opinion, national or social origin, or economic condition;
c. since education is a service of fundamental importance in the general public interest, it should be recognized as a responsibility of the State, which should provide an adequate network of schools, free education in these schools and material assistance to needy pupils; this should not be construed so as to interfere with the liberty of the parents and, when applicable, legal guardians to choose for their children schools other than those established by the State, or so as to interfere with the liberty of individuals and bodies to establish and direct educational institutions which conform to such minimum educational standards as may be laid down or approved by the State;
d. since education is an essential factor in economic growth, educational planning should form an integral part of total economic and social planning undertaken to improve living conditions;
e. since education is a continuous process the various branches of the teaching service should be so co-ordinated as both to improve the quality of education for all pupils and to enhance the status of teachers;
f. there should be free access to a flexible system of schools, properly interrelated, so that nothing restricts the opportunities for each child to progress to any level in any type of education;
g. as an educational objective, no State should be satisfied with mere quantity, but should seek also to improve quality;
h. in education both long-term and short-term planning and programming are necessary; the efficient integration in the community of today's pupils will depend more on future needs than on present requirements;
i. all educational planning should include at each stage early provision for the training, and the further training, of sufficient numbers of fully competent and qualified teachers of the country concerned who are familiar with the life of their people and able to teach in the mother tongue;
j. co-ordinated systematic and continuing research and action in the field of teacher preparation and in-service training are essential, including, at the international level, co-operative projects and the exchange of research findings;
k. there should be close co-operation between the competent authorities, organizations of teachers, of employers and workers, and of parents as well as cultural organizations and institutions of learning and research, for the purpose of defining educational policy and its precise objectives;
l. as the achievement of the aims and objectives of education largely depends on the financial means made available to it, high priority should be given, in all countries, to setting aside, within the national budgets, an adequate proportion of the national income for the development of education. Learn More