On the afternoon of November 12, 2024, the 4th Meeting of the Governing Board of the UNESCO Teacher Education Centre (hereinafter referred to as the Centre) was successfully held in the Centre's Governing Board Hall. Vice Chairman Chen Qun of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), in his capacity as Chairman of the Centre's Governing Board, attended and chaired the meeting. Eleven board members, including Mr. Borhene CHAKROUN, Representative of the Director-General of UNESCO; Mr. Qin Changwei, Secretary-General of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO; Mr. Getachew ENGIDA, former Deputy Director-General of UNESCO; Mr. Andreas SCHLEICHER, Director of the Directorate for Education and Skills at the OECD; Mr. Li Yongzhi, President of the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences; Professor Yuan Wen, President of Shanghai Normal University; Professor Zhou Zuoyu of Beijing Normal University; Professor Ding Gang of East China Normal University; and Mr. Zhang Minxuan, Director of the Centre, participated in the meeting both online and offline. Mr. Ye Linlin, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission; Mr. Carlos VARGAS-TAMEZ, Head of the UNESCO Teacher Development Task Force; Dr. Wu Jianbing, former Lead Education Specialist at the World Bank; Mr. Zhou Qinjian, Director of the International Exchange Division of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission; and Mr. Xiao Shengxiong, Director of the International Exchange Division of Shanghai Normal University, were invited to attend as observers. Dr. Bian Cui of the Centre, serving as the Governing Board Secretary, assisted in chairing the meeting.
At the meeting, Acting Deputy Director Ye Linlin of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission first delivered a welcome speech on behalf of the Commission, extending a warm welcome and sincere thanks to all board members. He congratulated the Centre on its outstanding performance over the past year and affirmed its efforts in the global field of teacher professional development, which have closely aligned with the four missions and four functions entrusted by UNESCO. Deputy Director Ye also stated that the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission will continue to support the Centre's high-quality, sustainable, and institutionalized development, enabling it to become a more internationally influential Category 2 Centre that can make greater contributions to people-to-people exchanges and mutual understanding between China and other countries worldwide.
Subsequently, Director Zhang Minxuan gave a comprehensive report to the Governing Board on the Centre's work in 2024. The first part focused on the Centre's self-development, covering three aspects: infrastructure, human resources, and talent development. The second part addressed the Centre's performance of its functions, reported under four areas: knowledge production, capacity building, technical services, and information sharing. Director Zhang Minxuan also presented the Centre's work plan for 2025 to the Governing Board.
Board members carefully listened to the report and conducted in-depth discussions and deliberations. They spoke highly of the Centre's work and achievements over the past year under the leadership of Director Zhang Minxuan, and put forward valuable suggestions and professional guidance for next year's work and future development. The Governing Board expressed hope that the Centre will continue its efforts to enhance teacher knowledge production, promote multilingual translation and dissemination of achievements, expand partnerships, pay attention to the progress of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, participate in activities at UNESCO Headquarters, and thus play a leading role in global teacher education.
Director Zhang Minxuan sincerely thanked the board members for their valuable suggestions. He stated that the Centre will further strengthen its self-development to improve efficiency, formulate the next four-year development plan, deepen teacher education research, expand international partner networks, explore innovative cooperation models, and continue to make greater contributions to UNESCO's cause and global teacher development.
Finally, Chairman Chen Qun announced that the Governing Board had approved the report, once again fully affirming the Centre's remarkable work and wishing it greater achievements in the future.
