Relational, not transactional: The human connections at the heart of education and the Sustainable Development Goals

As a teacher and union leader in South Africa, I have worked with thousands of students and teachers. Now, through Education International, I hear stories from teachers all around the world. There are a few fundamental facts about education that hold true in every classroom, in every community, and in every country. Education is relational, not transactional. Education is an enabling right that supports the fulfilment of all human rights.

There are so many examples that illustrate this.

Take for instance Aloyo Stella Oryang from South Sudan working in the Palabek Refugee Settlement in Uganda. Although she teaches two hundred students, although her salary is only one hundred and twenty USD per month, although she could leave for better paying jobs, she is committed to stay. She explains why, ‘Teaching is the most important thing I’ve done in my life, to be there for the children, to teach them, to reassure them that one day everything will be fine.’ Stella somehow makes time to also support her female students to build their confidence and, in her words, ‘To let them know their future holds so much more than what they went through’. Stella is not alone.

In a small public school on the island of Boracay in the Philippines, teachers spend their own time and resources building a garden with endangered plants to teach their students about climate change and conservation.

In Palestine, as a genocide unfolds before our eyes, hundreds of women teachers attend the training provided by their union in order to enhance their socio-emotional skills so that they can better support their students through this life-changing trauma. While the present is horrific, they are not giving up on the future.

Teachers in Ukraine also hold on to hope for a peaceful future. Online, in metro stations or in bomb shelters, they continue to work to keep students learning and positive.

In the United States, amid the wave of abusive detentions and deportations, teachers and their unions are organising, mobilising, and advocating for immigrant families. It’s no surprise that an education workforce that is ready to protect students from school shootings is now rising to defend them from ICE raids.

My recent visit to Chile for the World Summit on Teachers proved this yet again. I was so inspired to hear how my Chilean colleagues made it their mission to ensure students never forget what their country endured under dictatorship. For the memory of those who suffered for truth, justice, and democracy, teachers in Chile, and across Latin America, educate each new generation.

Education is vital to all our collective goals, and it must become a priority.

Fifty million more teachers are desperately needed if we are to achieve SDG 4 by 2030. We know what to do. The United Nations recommendations on the teaching profession provide the blueprint for attracting and retaining the teachers we need. The recommendations call for competitive salaries, manageable workloads and class sizes, professional autonomy, quality professional development, safe working conditions, and strong social dialogue. The Santiago Consensus adopted at the World Summit on Teachers takes us one step closer to SDG4 and provides a framework for policy alignment and sustained investment in teachers.

The Santiago Consensus is the first international agreement to recognise the teacher-student relationship as a common heritage of humanity. In a time of rapid technological growth and misplaced promises, it reaffirms that education is a deeply human and relational act. Upholding this relationship as a global human right protects the essence of education, not just as a means to acquire knowledge, but as a path to dignity, transformation, and the transmission of collective wisdom across generations.