Ei-iE

The 7th Education International (EI) World Congress meeting in Ottawa, Canada, from 21nd to 26th July 2015:

1. Reaffirming EI’s commitment to equity and inclusiveness within teachers’ and educators’ unions and organisations;

2. Recognising the importance of ensuring the sustainability and continued relevance of EI member organisations at the national level as much as internationally;

3. Denouncing the poor and unacceptable treatment of many young and early stage teachers, researchers and support personnel who are denied decent working conditions, access to training and development and who suffer low pay, low status and heightened job insecurity;

4. Further recognising that the future of the teaching profession depends on securing the professional status and esteem of young and early stage teachers, researchers and support personnel;

5. Noting that the increasing populations in different regions, but especially in the global south, demand additional education facilities and personnel to meet their educational needs, and, therefore, provide considerable potential for EI member organisations to increase their membership, especially by recruiting newly appointed teachers and other education personnel; as this will ensure the sustainability of the important work that teachers’ unions and organisations do to secure quality education for all and safeguard students’ right to education, as well as student, educator and education support personnel rights within education, into the future;

6. Observing that many EI affiliates are implementing policies on young and early stage teachers, researchers and support personnel at the national level;

7. Referring to the recommendations of the EI Organising Network (OrgNet) and the 2nd EI World Women’s Conference (Dublin, Republic of Ireland, April 7-9 2014);

8. The 7th World Congress:

a. Calls on EI members to document and share with Education International experiences and best practices in the recruitment and development of early career support programs that aid in the retention of young and early stage teachers, researchers and support personnel, in order to stimulate debate, exchange ideas and action on this issue across and within regions;

b. Urges EI member organisations to ensure that the needs and priorities of young and early stage teachers, researchers and support personnel are reflected not only in organisational policies, but also within collective bargaining processes;

c. Further urges EI member organisations to focus on developing the capacity and awareness of young and early stage teachers, researchers and support personnel with regard to union values;

d. Requests EI members to launch new or strengthen existing mobilisation campaigns and activities targeting potential young and early stage teachers, researchers and support personnel; and to make concerted efforts to ensure that young and early stage teachers, researchers and support personnel are adequately represented within organisational structures, and are empowered to participate in decision-making processes within their unions, including as members of collective bargaining teams;

e. Requests EI members to coordinate with government bodies and tertiary education programmes to advance teaching as a desired professional path and a stable career choice. This should include promoting low- or no-cost higher education and training, offering peer counselling and mentoring by colleagues who have been trained for this role, from the beginning of every teacher’s career, and making continuous professional development an essential element in every teacher’s career;

9. Mandates the EI Executive Board:

a. To collect, publish and disseminate the experiences and best practices of EI member organisations in the recruitment and development of early career support programs that aid in the retention of young and early stage teachers, researchers and support personnel. These programs include, but are not limited to mentoring, classroom observations and support from experienced trainers in the first years of teaching;

b. To promote, facilitate and monitor the participation of young and early stage teachers, researchers and support personnel from member organisations in EI activities;

c. To develop a strategy to encourage member organisations to let young elected members represent them in EI structures at the global and regional levels, paying close attention to gender and other inequalities that often intersect with each other and may lead to the marginalisation of certain young educators;

d. To closely follow up and monitor results with regard to the strategy decided on for the inclusion of young and early stage teachers, researchers and support personnel decided.