Annual report 2023
2023 in review by David Edwards
Dear colleagues,
In 2023 the education union movement worked together across borders to mobilize and organize for public education and educators everywhere, to support colleagues in need, and to strengthen our unions.
We started the year with the launch of our global campaign Go Public! Fund Education. Our urgent call for governments to fully fund public education and invest in teachers rang out across the world and drove our advocacy throughout the year.
We put the Go Public! message on the global center stage, from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women to the International Labour Conference, from the International Summit on the Teaching Profession to the Global Refugee Forum and beyond.
Our advocacy was transformative. The United Nations High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession began its work in 2023, developing a set of progressive and ambitious recommendations to end the global teacher shortage and ensure our profession is respected and valued. Education International was represented on the Panel by our President Susan Hopgood and by our colleagues Manal Hdaife, Chair of the Education International Arab Countries Cross Regional Structure Committee, and Mike Thiruman, General Secretary of the Singapore Teachers Union.
In July we came together for our very first online World Congress. Education International’s 9th World Congress focused on the theme of ‘Growing our unions, elevating our professions, defending democracy’ and allowed us to make important decisions for our union federations. The 10th World Congress will be hosted in person in Buenos Aires, Argentina in July 2024.
Our Teach for the Planet campaign also gained momentum in 2023. We launched new research and briefings on a just transition in education and divesting from fossil fuels, we continued to advocate for quality climate education for all and forge alliances. We organized the very first climate conference in Asia Pacific, and we strategized together through the Climate Network.
All Education International networks thrived this year, meeting online and in person and working together to advance our mission. In addition to the Climate Network, the Research Network, the Communicators’ Network, and the Development Cooperation Network all came together in 2023.
We also had the opportunity to meet in person for two global conferences – the 2nd Education International Education Support Personnel Conference in May, in Portugal and the 12th International Further and Higher Education and Research Conference in October, in Mexico, in addition to regional conferences in Africa and Asia-Pacific.
Throughout the year, we mobilized to support our colleagues in crisis in Turkiye and Syria, Myanmar, Palestine and Israel, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Morocco, Eswatini, Iran, Argentina, Brazil, and the Philippines and many more.
To find out more about our work in 2023, please explore the timeline below and visit the rest of the website for even more examples of the solidarity, resilience and transformative power of our movement.
In solidarity,
David Edwards
General Secretary | Education International
