Education

Access to quality education throughout life is a fundamental human right, regardless of our background and is an essential bedrock to building peace and delivering development.

As the only UN body with a mandate that covers all aspects of education, UNESCO has been entrusted with leading and monitoring worldwide action to deliver the targets in the SDG4: Quality Education for All. UNESCO has galvanised international collaboration on education through its standard setting frameworks and monitoring, and its global action plan on Education for Sustainable Development.

Our work, and that of the UNESCO in the UK network, has a significant positive impact on the government(s) commitment to fulfilling UNESCO’s action on education globally, with a key focus on gender equality, including women’s and girls’ education.

Education Frameworks

UNESCO establishes an international normative framework for education through Conventions, Recommendations, and other agreements. The Conventions and agreements below help develop national education policies and set-up international frameworks for collaboration between researchers.

Convention	Year	UK Ratified (Year)
Convention against Discrimination in Education - Ensures equal access to education and prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, or social origin	1960	1962
Protocol Instituting a Conciliation and Good Offices Commission - Establishes a commission to resolve disputes between states related to the implementation of the Convention against Discrimination in Education	1962	1968
Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees concerning Higher Education in the States belonging to the Europe Region - Promotes mutual recognition of academic qualifications across European countries to facilitate mobility and cooperation	1979	1985
Convention on Technical and Vocational Education - Promotes technical and vocational education to support workforce development and lifelong learning	1989
Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region - Enhances the recognition of higher education qualifications, supporting international student and workforce mobility in Europe	1997	2003
Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education - The first universal treaty facilitating the recognition of higher education qualifications globally, promoting international mobility and cooperation	2019	2021

Recommendation	Year
Recommendation against Discrimination in Education - Calls for equal access to education for all, eliminating discrimination based on race, gender, or social origin	1960
Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers - Establishes standards for teachers’ rights, working conditions, and professional development to enhance education quality	1966
Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms - Promotes education that fosters peace, human rights, and intercultural understanding	1974
Recommendation on the Recognition of Studies and Qualifications in Higher Education - Encourages mutual recognition of academic qualifications to facilitate international mobility and cooperation	1993
Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel - Safeguards academic freedom, fair employment conditions, and professional standards for higher education staff	1997
Recommendation on adult learning and education - Supports lifelong learning, ensuring adults have opportunities to develop skills and knowledge for personal and societal advancement	2015
Recommendation concerning technical and vocational education and training (TVET) - Promotes inclusive, flexible, and high-quality TVET to equip individuals with skills for employment and sustainable development	2015
Recommendation on Open Educational Resources - Promotes the development and use of open educational resources to enhance access to quality education and facilitate knowledge sharing worldwide	2019
Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development - Encourages integrating peace, human rights, and sustainability principles into educational curricula to foster global citizenship and responsible societal participation	2023

Policy Advice

We inform and advise on international and domestic education matters to UNESCO and UK (and devolved) government, ensuring that the UK is seen as a world-leading, and trusted, authority in global education policy.
Department for Education
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Division for Education 2030
Section for Higher Education
Division for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems
Institute for Lifelong Learning
Division for Peace and Sustainable Development

Expert Network

The UK National Commission for UNESCO ensures the UK’s leading specialists, intellectuals and academics are contributing to and shaping UNESCO’s education mandate. We also advise the UK and devolved governments on policy relating to UNESCO’s education activities. Every accredited expert within our network is tasked with a specific committee or programme within UNESCO’s framework.
Our Expert Network is made up UKNC Non-Executive Directors, UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks and Accredited Experts.
Professor Anne Anderson and Joseph Nhan-O’Reilly are the UKNC Non-Executive Directors who have shared responsibility of the Education portfolio.
UNESCO Chair in Global Health and Education at University of Huddersfield, co-led by Dr Nicola Gray
UNESCO Chair in Transforming Knowledge and Research for Just and Sustainable Futures at the University of Bristol, led by Professor Leon Tikly
UNESCO Chair on Building Peaceful Societies through Research on Gender Equality at City, University of London, led by Professor Sylvia Walby OBE
UNESCO Chair in Masculinities and Gender Equality at Queen’s University Belfast at Queen’s University Belfast, led by Professor Maria Lohan
UNESCO Chair on Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts at the University of Glasgow, led by Professor Alison Phipps OBE
UNESCO Chair in Higher Education Management at the University of Bath, led by Professor Rajani Naidoo
UNESCO Chair in International Education and Development at Nottingham University, led by Professor Juliet Thondhlana
UNESCO Chair on Innovative Informal Digital Learning in Disadvantaged and Development Contexts at the University of Wolverhampton, led by Professor John Traxler
UNESCO Chair on Adult Literacy and Learning for Social Transformation at the University of East Anglia, led by Professor Anna Robinson-Pant
UNESCO Chair in Shared Education for Peacebuilding and Social Justice at Queen’s University Belfast, led by Professor Joanne Hughes MBE
UNESCO Chair in Education for Peacebuilding and Human Rights at Ulster University, led by Professor Kelsey Shanks
Dr Cloud Bai-Yun - UK ENIC (European Network of Information Centres)
Ann Beatty - Steve Steve Sinnott Foundation

UNESCO Associated Schools Network (ASPnet)

UNESCO Prizes

L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science UK & Ireland Rising Talent Programme

UNESCO International Days

UNESCO Patronage

Related Resources

Strategy Documents

Global Education Monitoring Report 2024/25 - Leadership in Action

Strategy Documents

UNESCO Strategy for Gender Equality in and through Education 2019-2025

Constitutions & Conventions

Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development

Strategy Documents

Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action for the implementation of SDG4

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