Ei-iE

Education International is stronger than ever, but so are the challenges – that’s the perspective EI President Hopgood gave some 2,000 delegates in her keynote address to the 7th World Congress in Ottawa.

With the video of the speech now posted to the internet, here is a viewing guide to key portions of the speech, found at the Education International YouTube channel.

The highlight times appearing in Bold below correspond to the running time of the video.

A critical feature of EI and affiliate work in the past two-plus years has been the Unite for Quality Education campaign that has proved a major influence on UN deliberations regarding new Sustainable Development Goals.

(3:28)“Our success at delivering the message of quality education for all has ensured that, today, Education International is known within the highest decision-making circles in the world. Our ideas are valued by leaders of governments and other international organisations. Being the voice of thirty-two million educators opens a lot of doors.”

Hopgood said the ‘opened doors’ enabled education advocates to deliver a clear message, drawn very deliberately from the deep well of affiliate members and a commitment by leadership to make members voices heard.

(7:56)“During the last two years we carried out national and regional research and consultations as part of our own EFA assessment. We reviewed education policies, budgets and EFA plans. And we utilised our resources as the voice of educators by collecting the opinions of 15,000 of them from more than 100 countries…It was a lot of work, though desperately needed to ensure that we don’t find ourselves in the future faced with the same sense of failure as we do today. We need accurate information to better inform ourselves and the international community. If we are unaware of what is needed in the classroom, what our teachers and education professionals need to make quality learning a reality, we will never achieve our goals.”

Vowing that EI would redouble efforts to achieve quality education for all, with some 60 million children remaining out of school, Hopgood said EI will work to focus members on issues of government accountability

(9:36)“On the question of funding, the only real shortfall is a lack of political will to support our educators on the ground. Because the money needed to fill the so-called ‘finance gap’ actually only amounts to the net worth of the world’s two wealthiest individuals.”

Hopgood also made clear that EI, under a powerful mandate from affiliates and members, is undertaking an unprecedented campaign regarding the growing privatisation and commercialisation of education.

The campaign comes at a time of crisis in the provision of public services and the status of workers across the world.

(16:27)“ We are often told now that economies are on the upswing; if the markets are strong, and the banks as bloated as they’ve ever been, what could possibly be amiss? What began as austerity has become business as usual in too many countries. In far too many instances, the financial crisis has been used to justify an ideological assault on union rights and public services. Around the world we are led to believe that the market is the answer to all of our economic ills. That it is the fault of public services and employees for driving us all into an economic abyss, rather than the actions of banks, stock markets and multinational corporations.”

Hopgood acknowledged that education unions failed to foresee the rapid rise of investor-driven edu-businesses “ who view children not as students but as economic units, and are more than happy to replace our teachers with tablets or lessons in a box.”

But she vowed that EI will mount a vigorous response (a response that was given unanimous support in a Congress resolution just days later).(20:48)“Our campaign for a Global Response to the Commercialisation and Privatisation of Education represents our response to the threat posed to public education. We know quality free public education remains the answer to achieving quality Education For All. The provision of education must be regulated and the profit motive has no place in dictating what is taught, how it’s taught and assessed, nor how our schools, colleges and universities are organised.

“It is time to say no to destructive policies driven by neo-liberal ideology that seek only to widen the gap between the haves and the have nots; time to say no to omnibus trade agreements; and time to mobilise our membership in the interests of the public good to defend and promote quality free education for all.”