Ei-iE

The 6th World Congress of Education International (EI) meeting in Cape Town, South Africa from 22-26 July 2011, 1. Noting that throughout the world, austerity plans have been launched notably under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, brushing aside social benefits which have been hard won over recent decades. Dramatic pay cuts, reduced or even non-existent medical cover, huge job cuts and teacher redundancies, pension system reforms etc 2. Observing that the situation of education and education staff is made gradually more insecure every day by these measures. 3. Noting that working conditions are becoming increasingly difficult with increasingly overcrowded classes. 4. Noting with concern the growing involvement of the private sector in state education and the impact on public sector job losses, working conditions, equality and trade union recognition. 5. Noting also that job security is not guaranteed for millions of teachers, thus reneging on: • The ILO/UNESCO recommendation of 1966: “Stability of employment and security of tenure in the profession are essential in the interests of education as well as in that of the teacher and should be safeguarded even when changes in the organization of or within a school system are made.” • The recommendation of 1997 on the condition of staff in higher education: “Security of employment in the profession, including tenure or its functional equivalent, where applicable, should be safeguarded as it is essential to the interests of higher education as well as those of higher-education teaching personnel” 6. Observing furthermore that national standards on recruitment and qualification levels are occasionally flouted, often for different reasons: sometimes to avoid shortages of teachers and others to access a subservient and cheap workforce. 7. Noting that whereas Education International adopted the slogan of “recovery begins with teachers” at the last World Teachers' Day in 2010 and that the 2004 EI Congress in Porto Alegre demanded in the “Resolution on Promoting Quality Education” that the "The EI Executive Board [to] take immediate actions to prepare member organisations, especially in those most affected by the policies of the International financial institutions and governments which undermine trade union values and quality in education”, many states choose to sacrifice education in favour of finance. 8. Reaffirming that it is of crucial importance to grant the teaching profession a high status not just for the sake of the quality of education, but also for the progress of societies as a whole (EI Congress, Washington). Consequently, the World Congress 9. Mandates the Executive Board, in cooperation with the member organisations, to: • Denounce austerity plans in place for several months, which profoundly effect education, and combat insecurity in the teaching profession. • Defend and reinforce the recruitment of education staff based on permanent employment of tenured staff with the guarantee of an appropriate status and take action on granting tenure to all staff kept in insecure situations. 10. Mandates the Executive Bureau to: • Quickly launch a campaign – for example during the next world teachers’ day on 05 October 2011 – to defend teachers as tenured staff with the guarantee of an appropriate status. • Based on the above demands, advocate forcefully with the relevant intergovernmental bodies such as UNESCO, UNICEF, the ILO, the OECD, the World Bank and the IMF with a view to them disclosing these demands throughout the world, and regularly publish reports on progress made with these demands. The aim of the above is to ensure that the abovementioned recommendations are observed and that quality of education takes precedence over profitability.