Ei-iE

Education, research and copyright

Campaigns

As educators, we advocate for a copyright framework that enables us to provide quality and innovative education and research. Education and research fit for the 21st century. Copyright needs to be reshaped in order to enhance research and quality public education which spans the lives of learners and takes place in a variety of formal and informal settings, online as well as offline.

We believe international copyright agreements and domestic law should be balanced between the rights of creators and the rights of users in order to support the development and dissemination of education, knowledge and research.

Access to quality education is a fundamental human right and a prerequisite for a thriving knowledge-based economy and for the advancement of science and innovation. We work to ensure copyright laws include exceptions that cover all relevant providers of education and research and permit the diversity of educational and research uses – both digital and analogue – of copyrighted content.

Our work on education, research and copyright

  1. Equity and inclusion 7 February 2025

    South Africa: Education unions call for copyright reform to protect learning

    Education International (EI) and its member organisations are calling for urgent copyright reforms to remove barriers to quality education for all and ensure that teachers and students have access to the learning materials they need.

    Read more South Africa: Education unions call for copyright reform to protect learning
  2. Leading the profession 6 May 2024

    Are edtech platforms threatening academic freedom and intellectual property rights?

    Janja Komljenovic, Ben Williamson

    Digital platforms are routinely used in universities to support teaching and learning, but they can also challenge academic freedom and intellectual property (IP) rights. In our new report for Education International, ‘Behind the platforms: Safeguarding intellectual property rights and academic freedom in Higher Education’ , we reviewed the landscape of...

    Read more Are edtech platforms threatening academic freedom and intellectual property rights?
  3. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 30 October 2023

    New research informs union work to overcome copyright obstacles for teachers and teaching

    On September 28, the International Day for Universal Access to Information, Education International hosted an online event entitled Pathways to pedagogy: Overcoming copyright obstacles for teacher resource access. The event launched three new pieces of research commissioned by Education International on copyright regimes and their impact on education and educators...

    Read more New research informs union work to overcome copyright obstacles for teachers and teaching
  4. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 29 September 2023

    Copyright in education: bringing the classroom to life

    Dr Dara Dimitrov

    As the daughter of a refugee, education as a necessity was drummed into me. ‘You need to get a good education’ was my father’s lead mantra. My father was denied that right, and although he spoke seven languages, he could barely read one. My father saw education as a way...

    Read more Copyright in education: bringing the classroom to life
  5. Higher education and research 28 September 2023

    Copyright problems impede cross-border teaching

    Patricia Aufderheide, Juliya Ziskina, Kimberly Anastácio

    For teachers who work across national borders, copyright and licensing restrictions can create barriers that prevent them from doing their work. This affects the quality of instruction, and also impedes the growth of global learning strategies that otherwise have the potential to lower the North/South gap in educational access.

    Read more Copyright problems impede cross-border teaching
more: Our work on education, research and copyright

Publications

  1. Future of work in education

    Quality Education: The Key to Prosperity and Well-being

    EI briefing to International Summit of the Teaching Profession 2025
    4 March 2025

    This year we turn our attention to fostering equity and well-being in our education systems, starting from those essential early years, and to empowering students to actively participate in shaping their futures and the world. We will also focus on the well-being of teachers and education support personnel as a...

    Quality Education: The Key to Prosperity and Well-being
    1. Briefing
  2. Equity and inclusion

    Behind the platforms: Safeguarding intellectual property rights and academic freedom in Higher Education

    Janja Komljenovic, Ben Williamson
    6 May 2024

    Higher education (HE) faces a complex landscape of digital technology services, shaping educators’ labour and working conditions in new ways. Two particular issues are ownership of intellectual property (IP) and academic freedom when using digital education services such as edtech platforms. Edtech platforms complicate questions of academic ownership of content...

    Behind the platforms: Safeguarding intellectual property rights and academic freedom in Higher Education
    1. Executive Summary
    2. Report
  3. Equity and inclusion

    Copyright limitations and exceptions for the use of digital materials in teaching and learning environments

    Policy brief
    7 November 2023

    The policy brief examines a broad range of empirical data and reveals the urgent need to intervene on current copyright laws to respond to teachers’ needs regarding access to and use of digital materials in the physical and online environments. It includes key recommendations that aim to enhance current international...

    Copyright limitations and exceptions for the use of digital materials in teaching and learning environments
    1. Download
  4. Equity and inclusion

    Toolkit on Open Educational Materials for Higher Education Unions

    Patricia Díaz Charquero, Virginia Rodés Paragarino
    24 October 2023

    Teachers' unions, students, and academic support staff are key players in promoting social dialogue on access to study materials in higher education and fostering transformative action. This toolkit aims to provide unions with basic knowledge about Open Educational Resources (OER) in higher education, as well as practical ideas and examples...

    Toolkit on Open Educational Materials for Higher Education Unions
    1. Download
  5. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4

    Access and Use of Teaching and Learning Materials from a Copyright Perspective in Kenya

    Catherine Nafuna Nandain, Charles Nandain
    28 September 2023

    This report presents the findings of a study conducted in Kenya, focusing on the access and use of teaching, and learning materials from a copyright perspective. The study aimed to identify the teaching materials used in class, strategies to access them, teacher’s knowledge of copyright laws, copyright-related challenges that teachers...

    Access and Use of Teaching and Learning Materials from a Copyright Perspective in Kenya
    1. Research findings
    2. Executive summary
more: Publications

Our policy on education, research and copyright