In recognition of teachers and teaching

As the first issue in the new year, this editorial and the following articles foreground teachers and teaching. While they approach the topic from different perspectives, all are united in suggesting that the current times for teachers and teaching are characterised by upheaval and change: the expressions in the article titles and abstracts include “new educational contexts,” “educational change,” “tumultuous times,” “recent disruptions” and “an increasingly dynamic and ever-changing global context.” Given these concerns about global flux related to factors such as COVID, mobility and dislocation, war, economic recession, policy resets, and institutional restructurings to name a few, we take the opportunity to revisit the role of teachers and teaching. This move aligns with our eight challenges that we presented to the field of teacher education research in 2020 (Biesta et al., 2020) and in recognition of the foundational and formidable role of teachers in our societies. The COVID pandemic saw 1.5 billion students in 188 countries and economies locked out of schools in 2020, and ongoing disruptions into late 2021 and 2022, including teacher and student absences (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD, 2022). As education systems across OECD countries have moved from crisis management to recovery, programs have been implemented to quantify so-called learning losses and to provide support for the mental health and well-being of teachers and students. Teachers are considered central to the educational formation of children and indeed, are the individuals who are most often in positions of responsibility for children at group and class levels (OECD, 2022). As teaching environments across all sectors change in terms of policy mandates, student diversity, and technology priorities, to name a few, it is teachers with their individual groups and classes who must respond to these shifts. To recognise the ongoing efforts of teachers, World Teachers’ Day is celebrated. In Australia, Teachers’ Day will be acknowledged on 27 October in 2023, but in some societies the response to teachers is veneration and Teachers’ Day has been part of social practice for centuries. For example, in a recent research workshop with Arabic-speaking Syrian families, the parents shared that in their home country the teacher is respected for imparting knowledge and culture to children. If students meet their teacher outside of school, they must lower their eyes as a sign of respect. At a university, an appreciative Vietnamese doctoral student presented her supervisor with a decorative scroll listing the commonly-ascribed characteristics of a teacher: