Ei-iE

Jens Kalaene
Jens Kalaene

Equity and inclusion

We defend and promote the principles of equity and equality in education, in education unions and in society. We are fully committed to combating all forms of racism and of bias or discrimination due age, disability, ethnicity or indigeneity, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation, language, marital status, migratory status, political activism, religion, socio-economic status, trade union affiliation, among others. We are committed to addressing these forms of discrimination through an intersectional lens, which enables a deeper understanding of the complexities of lived experiences.

I think Education International has a leadership role to play… If we’re going to have a more civil society, a more inclusive society, then we have to model that by including men but women as well, people of different ethnic groups or religious backgrounds. All of us have to be involved and be at the table and have that kind of respect.

Professor Mary Hatwood Futrell, First elected EI President, 1993–2004

Promoting and advancing gender equality has always been an Education International priority. We believe that education can play a key role in empowering women and girls and can contribute to breaking through the cycle of gender discrimination. The Education International Gender Equality Action Plan highlights three main priorities:

  1. Promoting women’s leadership and participation within education unions;
  2. Taking action to increase intersectional gender equality in and through education;
  3. Promoting and securing women’s economic empowerment.

The unequal and gendered impact of the COVID-19 pandemic risks erasing years of progress on equity and inclusion throughout the world. Together with our member organisations, we mobilise to challenge and help dismantle all structures of inequality in education and beyond. As part of this work, we have called for equity audits to be conducted at all levels of education in order to ensure the pandemic does not define the lives of an entire generation of students.

Our work in this area

  1. Worlds of Education 12 March 2020

    Beijing +25: "Making the Promise of Beijing a Reality for Learners and for Education Sector Workers."

    madeleine kennedy macfoy

    Examples of the work done by Education International and its member organisations in different parts of the world since the Beijing Platform for Action was adopted in 1995, demonstrate the power of taking collective action to find collective solutions.

    Beijing +25: "Making the Promise of Beijing a Reality for Learners and for Education Sector Workers."
  2. News 10 March 2020

    Global Unions respond to disappointing Political Declaration adopted by Member States at the scaled back 64th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women

    The 64th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women was to take place in New York City over the next two weeks, starting yesterday (March 9th). However, due to the COVID19 outbreak, the Commission convened for a one-day procedural meeting yesterday and the Session was suspended until...

    Global Unions respond to disappointing Political Declaration adopted by Member States at the scaled back 64th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women
  3. News 6 March 2020

    International Women’s Day: Education unions mobilise to energise the global push for gender equality

    2020 marks 25 years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the world’s most progressive blueprint for advancing women’s rights. While considerable progress has been made, gender equality has not been achieved in any country. Education International’s Women in Education initiative aims to energise the fight...

    International Women’s Day: Education unions mobilise to energise the global push for gender equality
  4. Worlds of Education 6 March 2020

    Beijing +25: ‘There is Only Collective Action for a Collective Solution’

    madeleine kennedy macfoy

    2020 is an auspicious year for women’s rights: the world will look back on what was agreed twenty-five years ago at the 4th UN World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action is widely viewed as ‘the world’s most progressive blue-print’ on the rights...

    Beijing +25: ‘There is Only Collective Action for a Collective Solution’
  5. News 6 February 2020

    Arab educators tackle diverse challenges to education and teachers in their region

    At a recent meeting, the Committee of the Education International’s Arab Countries Cross Regional Structure reaffirmed their commitment to fight education privatisation and defend democracy in the region. Committee members reported on the challenges faced in their national settings, discussed recent union activities, and strategised for future action and campaigns.

    Arab educators tackle diverse challenges to education and teachers in their region
  6. News 29 January 2020

    Poland: Educators pledge to never let the horrors of the Holocaust happen again

    Educators from 18 countries on 4 continents came together in Krakow this week to mark 75 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death and concentration camp, to commemorate the victims and to discuss the best ways to teach the Holocaust to new generations.

    Poland: Educators pledge to never let the horrors of the Holocaust happen again
  7. Worlds of Education 28 January 2020

    "A teacher like me” – meeting with German teachers, crossing emotional bridges, sharing positive professional experiences on Holocaust education, by Talia Kranz.

    Talia Kranz

    What is more timely for us, Israeli teachers, than talking with our German colleagues about the fight against racism and anti-Semitism? It's already been happening for the 29th time! For the past 50 years, a bi-national seminar has been held once every two years attended by Israeli and German educators...

    "A teacher like me” – meeting with German teachers, crossing emotional bridges, sharing positive professional experiences on Holocaust education, by Talia Kranz.
  8. Worlds of Education 28 January 2020

    “Susi”- a graphic novel about a Jewish girl in disguise - and how to work with the book in primary schools, by Silvia Stieneker (GEW, Germany).

    Silvia Stieneker

    I am a primary school teacher in Berlin. In the summer of 2019, I participated in a German-Israeli union seminar for teachers in Tel Aviv that was organized by the German union “Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (GEW)” and the Israeli teachers union “Histadrut ha Morim”. In this seminar, we discussed...

    “Susi”- a graphic novel about a Jewish girl in disguise - and how to work with the book in primary schools, by Silvia Stieneker (GEW, Germany).
  9. Worlds of Education 27 January 2020

    “The forgotten voices of the Holocaust”, by Yossi Michal.

    Yossi Michal

    The International Remembrance Day of the Holocaust is commemorated on January 27th. It is a good opportunity to reflect on a unique aspect of Learning about that period. I'll start with a short story. My family has lived for many generations in Romania. A few years ago, before my grandmother...

    “The forgotten voices of the Holocaust”, by Yossi Michal.
  10. Publications

    Gender Equality Action Plan 2020 – 2023

    1 January 2020

    The EI Gender Equality Action Plan is a framework, which will enable Education International and its member organisations to translate education unions’ policies, rhetoric and activities relating to gender equality into action.

    Gender Equality Action Plan 2020 – 2023
    1. Download
  11. Publications

    Strategies to end school-related gender-based violence

    The experience of education unions in Africa
    22 December 2019

    The issue of gender-based violence in and around schools and other educational settings is particularly important to education unions and their members. Since everyone in schools – teachers, students, support personnel - can be perpetrator and victim, SRGBV is a violation of both the right to quality education and the...

    Strategies to end school-related gender-based violence
    1. Download
  12. Publications

    Working to end school related gender based violence

    Writings by representatives of education unions from Eastern, West and Southern Africa
    22 December 2019

    The Education International (EI) initiative Education Unions take Action to End School Related Gender Based Violence, is part of more than 30 years of international advocacy to advance gender equality in education and in unions.

    Working to end school related gender based violence
    1. Download
  13. Publications

    Trabalhando para acabar com a violência de género no âmbito escolar

    Escritos dos representantes de sindicatos da educação da África Oriental, Ocidental e Austral
    21 December 2019

    A iniciativa “Sindicatos da Educação Intervêm para Acabar com a Violência de Género no Âmbito Escolar” da Internacional da Educação1 (EI), faz parte de um processo de mais de 30 anos de advocacia internacional com vista à promoção da igualdade de género na educação e nos sindicatos.

    Trabalhando para acabar com a violência de género no âmbito escolar
    1. Download
  14. Publications

    Estratégias para acabar com a violência de género no âmbito escolar

    A experiência dos sindicatos da educação em África
    21 December 2019

    A Violência de Género no Âmbito Escolar (VGAE), nomeadamente, nas escolas, nos seus arredores e noutros contextos educacionais, consiste num problema de particular importância para os sindicatos do sector da educação e seus membros.

    Estratégias para acabar com a violência de género no âmbito escolar
    1. Download
  15. News 18 December 2019

    Education unions join international efforts to ensure refugees’ rights in and through education

    Education international has seized the opportunity of the first ever Global Refugee Forum to reaffirm the crucial role education can play in the context of forced displacement, and to urge governments, UN agencies and all stakeholders to ensure displaced teachers and students’ rights in and through education.

    Education unions join international efforts to ensure refugees’ rights in and through education
  16. Worlds of Education 16 December 2019

    “Global Refugee Forum: time for immediate and sustainable action”, by David Edwards.

    David Edwards

    The refugee Convention of 1951 was born out of the profound feeling of shame following the Second World War due to the failure to respond to and receive those fleeing the Holocaust. That action of inaction condemned many to become its victims. Lest we forget, that Convention and the 1967...

    “Global Refugee Forum: time for immediate and sustainable action”, by David Edwards.