Ei-iE

Any new education strategy must involve teachers in order to succeed and must be rights-based: this is the message that the EI delegation is ready to deliver at the World Education Forum in Incheon, Korea.

Education unions get up to speed ahead of World Education Forum opening

Education workers from around the world have learnt first-hand about the Post-2015 process and the crucial role that teacher involvement plays in education development in Incheon, South Korea, in advance of the World Education Forum(WEF).

“We have come a long way since Dakar in 2000, when EI and civil society literally had to force our way in,” said Education International (EI) President Susan Hopgood, who is leading the 25-strong delegation of international union leaders attending the WEF on behalf of EI.

Susan Hopgood was joined in an informative panel discussion by Jordan Naidoo, the UNESCO Education For All Director, EI Senior Coordinator Dennis Sinyolo, Deputy General Secretary David Edwards, and Global Campaign for Education chair Monique Fouilhoux, addressing a crowded room of international delegates and Korean union activists.

Maximising the impact of teachers in and beyond the WEF

The panel underlined the achievements made since 2000, but also noted that there is a long way ahead before reaching Education For All. The latest UNESCO Global Monitoring Report states that millions remain out of school or do not receive the quality education they are entitled to by right. The particular situation of conflict stricken countries was underlined. Others reflected on the urgency to deliver equity and inclusive education for all. The participants were invited to reflect on what has been achieved by the Education For All agenda since its adoption in Jomtien in 1990 and what improvements teachers expect from the new agenda. It was also stated that the outcomes of the WEF need included in full in the Sustainable Developments Goals to be adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015.

The attendants stressed the importance of teacher involvement in the process of decision-making, and reminded that too often “Governments treat us as implementing agents of their education policy without taking us into account”, as Francisca Castro, General Secretary of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (Philippines) put it. Some expressed concern about the “shrinking space of civil society organisations in the political space“.

6.150

This number reflects a huge gap, according to EI coordinator J. Berriel Pessi, who presented the audience with EI’s assessment of the Education For All initiative. 6.150 kilometers is the distance between UNESCO headquarters and a school in Uganda where children are packed in unequipped classrooms with a teacher ratio of 1/153, which does not guarantee quality education. The gap between policy and real life in the classrooms is one of the major hurdles to achieve Education For All.

Coupled with unreliable funding, corruption and a lack of interest in liaising with civil society and education unions, governmental plans to improve education in the past 25 years have too often remained plans stacked in the back of a drawer instead of producing real changes.

Specific attention was also devoted to the need to challenge Governments and obtain commitment from all countries, including developing countries, to fund the education objectives adopted by the WEF and stick to at least 6% of GDP to be invested in education. There is concern that leading Governments are trying to get away from real commitments.

Korean education system: two sides of the coin

The last part of the Teachers’ Forum has focused on the Korean education system. As Keith Lewin, professor of International education and Development at the University of Sussex has put it: “The question we have to ask ourselves is not only what we learn but why we learn”, referring to the Korean high-stakes testing system, which that has been praised internationally, but also produces the highest suicide rate of students in OECD countries.

The Forum’s participants have had the opportunity to exchange views with Sungbo Sim, expert from the national college of education of the University of Seoul, Jongha Park, a student who explained his experience of repeating the exams to access the best university, and representatives from both Korean affiliates of EI, KFTA and KTU.

The World Education Forum, which officially begins Tuesday, 19 May, brings together education ministries, unions, civil society organisations and experts from around the world.