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.
The recent meeting of the Education International (EI) Development Cooperation (DC) Network gathered education unionists and cooperation development partners from all over the world, the first one since March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. They took stock of past and current projects and exchanged good practices and tools to...
Development cooperation partners reaffirm their commitment to support education unions’ capacity-building activities
Education International has developed a "Toolkit to Build Union Strength – For more Effective Education Unions”. This toolkit enables each Education International member organisation to engage in a process of self-assessment, proposing that they experiment with new activities to strengthen their organisations.
Development cooperation (DC) partners of the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) – Education International’s European Region – met for a DC Café online and discussed activities related to social and policy dialogue, gender equity and union renewal.
European unions’ solidarity brings progress on social and policy dialogue, gender equity and union renewal
Education International member organisations in Malawi, the Teachers' Union of Malawi (TUM) and the Private Schools Employees Union of Malawi (PSEUM), were able to bring over 1,000 children back to school and prevent 1,200 others from dropping out.
Malawi: Education union action rescues children from forced labour and keeps them in schools
The All India Primary Teachers’ Federation (AIPTF) has organised a capacity building programme aimed at creating a pool of resource persons who would provide professional development training to the members of its affiliate, the Kerala Pradesh School Teachers Association (KPSTA).
India: International union solidarity crucial to educators’ professional development
Education International member organisation Union of Education Norway is exploring new ways of structuring development cooperation (DC) projects and ensuring that the educators’ voice is heard when decisions are made concerning educational issues and the teaching profession.
Social and policy dialogue, a key to union renewal?
The development cooperation (DC) Café held on 27 January presented activities undertaken and planned by Education International’s Africa Region (EIRAF) with member organisations in the region and international DC partners. Two specific projects were highlighted: the Global Response to the Privatisation and Commercialisation in and of Education campaign and the...
Union development cooperation put to good use to fight privatisation of education and promote youth involvement in Africa
French education unions are currently campaigning for their social dialogue elections. The 1.4 million voters in the Ministry of National Education and Youth, the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research are invited to vote by internet from 1 to 8 December 2022.
France: State education staff called to the ballot box for the social dialogue elections
Since the start of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, education unions have been pragmatic and quick to respond to the rapid changes brought about by the global health crisis. Thus, it is important for education unions to review the work done to engage with members since the onset of the pandemic...
The struggle for freedom is common to women and men throughout the world and throughout time. Like Sisyphus' rock, we never finish trying to get to the top of the mountain. But the context is never the same and, at the same time as each struggle is individual to one...
Cameroon: the urgent need for trade union renewal in a time of severe restrictions on freedoms
The Mexican education workers’ union, the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (SNTE), and the Secretary of State for Welfare are to set up a special programme to improve conditions for the organisation’s retirees and pensioners.
Mexico: Better conditions for SNTE pensioners and more certainty for workers: ACS
A 10-year review of the Latin American Pedagogical Movement (MPL, Hispanic acronym) has been conducted by Education International Latin America (EILA) regional office.
Taking stock of the Latin American Pedagogical Movement to better advance free public inclusive quality education
Convened by Education International and the OECD, the International Summit on the Teaching Profession brings together governments and education unions in OECD countries in order to strengthen and support an informed and honest policy dialogue between and among elected representatives of the teaching profession and national government authorities.
In a recent research paper, Carmen Ludwig and Edward Webster examined the role of global unions to contest the use and abuse of digital technology through transnational activism in two African contexts. Action included work with Education International’s Global Response against the privatisation of education.
Challenging global tech giants: the critical role of Global labour
Education International President and Australian Education Union (AEU) Federal Secretary, Susan Hopgood, explains how her union got started in international cooperation and highlights key moments that made a difference.
AEU Australia: International cooperation effecting change
In this interview, the Swedish education union explains how it puts solidarity at the heart of the union movement - from the workplace to the global level.
Lärarförbundet Sweden: International cooperation is union solidarity in practice
The organisational development of unions is at the core of all UEN cooperation projects. The Norwegian union focuses on three key areas: social dialogue, gender equality and equity, and capacity building.
UEN Norway: Organisational development as the first step towards strong unions
The Dutch education union AOb engages in development cooperation to support and strengthen other unions, which in turn enables a better defense of the rights of members and increased access to quality education.
AOb Netherlands: Building sustainable partnerships