International Labor Organization (ILO) Director-General Guy Ryder says the world economic crisis has seriously affected teachers and students around the globe, causing teacher layoffs, cuts in funding, resulting in larger class sizes with fewer resources and reduced teacher salaries. In his World Teachers' Day message last week, Ryder said:

All this has resulted in a decline in the status of teachers. Sadly, it is a profession under siege. 

Kenneth Bernstein, a National Board Certified Social Studies teacher at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt. Md. sends us this report.  He is a nationally known as a blogger on education and other topics as “teacherken”

Yesterday, Oct. 5, was World Teachers Day.  As you can see at UNESCO’s website, the annual celebration honors “the essential role of teachers in providing quality education at all levels.”   The day is the anniversary of the 1966 signing of The Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers adopted by the Special Intergovernmental Task Force on Teachers.