All teachers and education support personnel have the right to organise and be part of a union that represents and defends their values and interests. However, around the world, education unions are facing serious attacks and operate in increasingly challenging and hostile environments. Revitalising unions, building their power by boosting membership and active participation and maximising impact is the way forward.
Education International congratulates Felisa Tibbitts for her nomination as UNESCO Chair in Human Rights in Higher Education.
Felisa Tibbitts appointed UNESCO Chair in Human Rights in Higher Education
The Japan Teachers’ Union contributes to achieving gender-related rights through its programmes and policies focused on the rights of female educators. A recent JTU research, for example, has shown how terms of employment are interlinked with reproductive health and childcare challenges.
“Evidence-based labour activities for gender equality and the rights to gender and reproductive health”, by Yoshiko Norimatsu.
Jane Pillinger and Nora Wintour have worked together for over 20 years since the PSI and EI first launched the ‘Pay Equity Now!’ campaign. Here they discuss their recent book.
“Collective bargaining and gender equality: a testament to women trade unionists”, by Jane Pillinger and Nora Wintour
For the first time ever, the two largest teacher unions in Zimbabwe have come together to defend the teaching profession and call for a teachers’ strike to obtain a salary increase from the government.
Zimbabwe: key education unions embark in joint action to defend teachers’ conditions
Critical questions on the Bank’s new classroom observation tool, Teach.
“Is the World Bank taking the right approach to ensure #successfulteachers?”, by David Edwards
German education unionists have joined Israeli and Polish colleagues for an educational trip on the occasion of the memorial may for the victims of the Holocaust.
Germany: Standing together to remember the victims of the Holocaust
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai has said that "One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world." She is right. Education changes lives, communities and the world. It is both a key to changes in society and individual freedom projects. I therefore stand shoulder...
#EI25: “Standing together: the power of teachers in the fight for democracy”, by Steffen Handal
Education International has launched an urgent action appeal encouraging the global community of educators and activists to express outrage at the death threats received by the General Secretary of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers Raymond Basilio, and at the unlawful profiling of ACT members by the authorities.
Philippines: Teacher unionists threatened
Life-long learning means different things to different people. However, some common principles for lifelong learning are essential for a global consensus on a human-centred agenda for the future of work.
Work with a human face, by David Edwards
As talks with the government failed to reach an agreement, Zimbabwean teachers are striking to press their government to pay their salaries with U.S. dollars.
Zimbabwe: teachers strike over pay as currency crisis deepens
After the failed coup attempt on 15th of July, 2016, in Turkey, a state of emergency was declared on the 20th of July. The state of emergency was used to attack all opposition groups. This power grab was used to obtain further power as the Government issued decrees which enabled...
#UDHR70 - “Teachers must feel safe for educating free generations”, by Özgür Bozdogan
On the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it seems inevitable that we ask ourselves whether in the ensuing time we have succeeded in advancing its goals, or whether those principles have ended up being nothing more than a well-intentioned, but ultimately futile statement of a humanistic...
#UDHR70 – “A banner of struggle for humanity”, by Yamile Socolovsky
My name is Sajjad, I was born in October 1982 in Ahvaz in Southwest Iran.
#UDHR70 – “From activism to exile: growing up as the son of a leading Iranian trade union activist”, by Sajjad Khaksari
On International Migrants Day, Education International reaffirms its commitment to defend and promote the rights of migrant workers and refugees as well as migrant and refugee teachers and education personnel.
Education International calls on governments to improve protection for migrants
Still active after more than two decades of struggle for the socio-professional rights of Burundi’s teachers, the Syndicat des Travailleurs de l’Enseignement du Burundi (STEB) is slowly recovering from the social crisis that shook the country. With the support of leaders who are committed to reverse the current situation, teachers...
#UDHR70 - "In Burundi the union is standing firm in its struggle for teachers’ rights", by Rémy Nsengiyumva.
2018 is the 25th anniversary of the creation of Education International. As this anniversary year draws to a close, we are publishing an interview of Fred van Leeuwen who served the organization as General Secretary of EI for its first quarter century. This discussion offers a reflection on the substantial...
#EI25: “Trade unionism, the teaching profession, and democracy”, interview of EI General Secretary Emeritus Fred van Leeuwen
Human rights are an on-going issue for the education sector in the Central African Republic. These issues concern both the status of the teaching staff and the quality of the infrastructure and teaching methods.
#UDHR70 - "Education in a country in conflict", by Etienne-Paulin Songoli
On December 10, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in his speech to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Human Rights Day: "Among countries that went through colonial rule, dictatorship, and war, there are few countries that have the level of South Korean human rights." He added, “there is still a...
#UDHR70 - “Trade Union Rights are Human Rights: South Korean Teachers Deprived of Union Representation”, by Hyunsu Hwang