Teacher salaries in four in five countries are less than those for professions with similar qualifications, while a third of teaching unions worldwide say the social status of teachers has declined in the last five years.

That’s according to research carried out among teaching unions in more than 30 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe and South America.

Here’s seven other findings from the report, published today by Education International - a global federation of teacher unions - for World Teachers’ Day:

1. There is a rise in profit-making, low-fee private schools, mostly in Africa and Latin America, which pay low teacher salaries and “compromise quality as operating expenditures are brought down as much as possible to maximise profits”.
2. Violence in the classroom - between students and by students on teachers - is making teaching unsafe, according to 50 per cent of the unions.
3. The mass media promotes “either a negative or a very negative attitude” towards teachers, according to 39 per cent of the unions.
4. Only one in three teachers report having access to continuing professional and leadership development (CPLD), and three-quarters see the CPLD they do receive as poor quality and of little value.
5. There is a lack of female toilets in schools in some developing countries. Women teachers in sub-Saharan Africa usually leave at lunchtime in search of toilets in people’s houses. Depending on the proximity of these houses, some teachers might not return for the day, thus contributing to teacher absenteeism.
6. Forty one per cent female teachers in Japan considered that their working environment affected their experiences with pregnancy and childbirth, while 20 per cent of those expecting a child in Japan reported “maternity disorders” defined as morning sickness, threatened miscarriage, threatened premature delivery, swelling, and high blood pressure.
7. More than 50 per cent of secondary and primary teachers reported a decline in working conditions in the last five years.

General secretary of Education International, David Edwards, used the report to call on governments to “honour their commitments to quality education and ensure students have the trained, qualified and empowered teachers they deserve.”

He said: “The portrait is stark, the challenge is urgent. We are facing a global shortage of quality teachers, while at the same time today’s teachers are burdened by increasing workloads, high levels of stress and precarious working conditions.

The report was written by Professor Nelly P Stromquist and is entitled The Global Status of Teachers and the Teaching Profession