Quality Education in Europe – still a long way to go. Soon an ETUCE film documentary to state it
On 22 September 2014 ETUCE’s final conference of the project “Development of teacher unions’ expertise on exiting the crisis through quality education” is taking place in conjunction with the European culmination event of the EI global initiative Unite for Quality Education.
The aim of the project has been to produce a film that looks in depth into the real impact that budget cuts in the education sector have on the school community and on society in general. It also shows how teacher trade unions have reacted to the economic crisis.
To this end, since the beginning of March, the ETUCE, together with external film experts and guided by the Project Advisory Group members (OLME – Greece, TUI – Ireland, FLC-CGIL – Italy, FNE – Portugal and FECCOO – Spain) has conducted five country visits around Europe.
The first visit in Athens showed the severe situation in the country and in the education system. The film team carried on in Madrid, Rome and Porto. During these shootings, the film team interviewed precarious teachers with uncertain salary, students without any form of financial support forced to drop education, or parents putting themselves on the frontline to grant pupils safe and clean school environments. Despite the institutional emphasis on growth and economic recovery, these countries are still facing tremendous obstacles in their education systems, which should be of a great concern for all the industrial sectors. Cut-backs in the education systems are strongly jeopardizing the future of the European society.
The last country-visit in Dublin demonstrated how Ireland has benefited from a strong social dialogue where social partners in education and the government have incessantly negotiated for solutions, throughout all the difficult years of economic and financial crisis.
The cuts and downturns in the education systems have affected everyday people and made the prospects and opportunities for the younger generations more unclear. Many European Member States have not realised the crucial role that education plays to reply to the crisis and develop a brighter future for the younger generations. This ETUCE film-documentary is a wake-up call for the politicians in the EU countries and a new way forward for quality education.
