Ei-iE

Project Committee Meeting reaffirms the importance of Early Childhood Education

Obituary: Marcus Balslev

The 10,000 home daycare workers affiliated to the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) began an indefinite general strike on 21 September. They have been holding rotating strikes in the regions of Quebec since 1 September and this increases the pressure.

This is not the first time that Hong Kong faces a coronavirus attack. The bitter experience of SARS in 2003 which cost 299 lives (including eight medical staff) was horrible and unforgettable. That was the reason why HK citizens responded so quickly to the outbreak of a similar coronavirus and...

The General Union of Workers in Kindergarten and Private Schools is enhancing its capacity to organise and represent early childhood education sector workers thanks to development cooperation with other education unions.

“It is often argued that the purpose of early childhood education is to prepare children for school, so that schools, in turn, can prepare children for adulthood and for the work force. This approach reduces childhood to a waiting room.” -- Steffen Handal, President, Education Union of Norway (UEN).

An international conference entitled, “The Nordic Way –Early Childhood Education & Care”, was organised on 26-27 March, 2019 in Oslo. It was convened by Union of Education Norway (UEN), in partnership with the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research and the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Sometimes it appears that hope is draining from the world and that, for both young and old, pessimism is becoming the default position. The trouble with pessimism is that it is negative. It annuls the ability to act; to create something better which benefits future generations. I believe that education...

At last Early Childhood Education (ECE) is on the agenda of an International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP). At this year’s Summit, ISTP 2019, the importance of ECE for lifelong learning and well-being is now, for the first time, one of the Summit’s three plenary themes.

Humanity is faced with many threats including climate change and threats to the environment. A vision is needed for these problems to be solved. Changing lifestyles and consumption habits can contribute to solving these problems but at the heart of helping humanity to survive is education, training and research.

At their Federal conference, Australian Education Union’ leaders and activists welcomed the commitment made by the Labour party to greatly increase funding for public education, and reaffirmed their determination to ensure that the upcoming federal election focus on education issues.

Little support and recognition of the profession of early childhood educators is leading to a dangerous lack of staff, according to a German union.

Education International’s member organisations have firmly reminded governments that early childhood education is a fundamental human right and a public good, which must be made available to all young children.

The relationship between education and equity is the focus of this year’s ‘Education at a Glance’ (EAG) report.

The Finnish education union Opetusalan Ammattijärjestö proposes that the scope of pre-primary education be expanded by a year to include five-year-old children.