Ei-iE

Education support personnel

Campaigns

Education support personnel cover a wide range of professional, administrative, technical, and general staff working within the education sector such as teaching assistants, school nurses and psychologists, bursars, and bus drivers, among others.

Education support personnel are vital to the delivery of quality education and to ensuring a safe and positive learning environment. They must be recognised for their work in the education community and enjoy the same status, rights, and conditions as other education personnel with similar academic and technical qualifications and experience, as outlined in the Education International Declaration on the Rights and Status of Education Support Personnel.

An ever-growing number of education support personnel are employed on a casual, part-time or limited-term basis. We are particularly concerned about the increased exploitation of education support personnel, the absence of decent work conditions, and the violation of fundamental human and labour rights, such as the right to organise and bargain collectively.

We advocate for education support personnel to be guaranteed the right to a safe and healthy work environment, professional support and guidance as well as possibilities for career development. As education professionals, they must be able to contribute to and participate in decision-making in their educational institutions, particularly on issues directly affecting their jobs.

On the 16th of May 2018 we introduced and celebrated the first World Education Support Personnel Day. Every year, we mark this day to highlight and raise awareness of the critical role of education support personnel in the provision of quality education across the world.

Our work for education support personnel

  1. Standards and working conditions

    Declaration on the rights and status of Education Support Personnel

    A declaration adopted at Education International’s first ever Conference on Education Support Personnel, from 15th to 16th May 2018 in Brussels
    16 May 2018

    Education International proclaims this declaration on the rights and status of education support personnel, calling for its application worldwide. In doing so, we reaffirm and defend education as a human right and public good, guaranteed by the state. This declaration builds on EI policy and should be read in the...

    Declaration on the rights and status of Education Support Personnel
  2. Leading the profession 31 July 2024

    Global movement to defend education support personnel rights builds power across borders

    Building power as a global movement to defend Education Support Personnel (ESP) rights and status was top of the agenda at the breakout session titled “Defending ESP rights: Organising against funding shortfalls and privatisation” and held on July 30th 2024, during the 10th World Congress of Education International (EI). In...

    Read more Global movement to defend education support personnel rights builds power across borders
  3. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 23 May 2024

    Education Support Personnel in the crossfire: New research highlights the consequences of privatization and funding shortfalls

    In a comprehensive new report titled "Carrying the Community: Addressing the Consequences of Privatization and Funding Shortfalls for Education Support Personnel," Education International (EI) has brought to light the critical challenges faced by Education Support Personnel (ESP) due to increasing privatization and funding cuts in public education.

    Read more Education Support Personnel in the crossfire: New research highlights the consequences of privatization and funding shortfalls
  4. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 16 May 2024

    Carrying the community: how privatization and funding shortfalls are affecting Education Support Personnel

    Anja Giudici, Lucas Cone

    In November 2023, the North Tyneside Council in England announced that it would withdraw from providing catering to local schools. In August that year, lawmakers in Austin, Texas, passed a law allowing unlicensed chaplains to work as school counsellors, while in March in Gauteng, staff working in South Africa’s National...

    Read more Carrying the community: how privatization and funding shortfalls are affecting Education Support Personnel
  5. Education support personnel

    Carrying the Community

    Addressing the Consequences of Privatization and Funding Shortfalls for Education Support Personnel
    15 May 2024

    This report documents how privatization and public funding shortfalls are threatening the conditions that allow ESP to contribute to the realization of universal, inclusive, quality education. Building on an extensive literature review, as well as interviews and participatory research with ESP and union representatives located in different regions, the report...

    Carrying the Community
    1. Research paper
    2. Summary
more: Our work for education support personnel

Our policy on education support personnel

  1. Education support personnel 2 August 2024

    Education support personnel

    Education support personnel
    Resolution from the 10th World Congress
  2. Standards and working conditions 23 September 2019

    Education Support Personnel

    Education Support Personnel
    Resolution from the 8th World Congress