Ei-iE

Around 300 education union members assembled yesterday at the 2012 Conference of the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) in Budapest, to successfully confront the austerity frenzy driving Europe’s political agenda.

The Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (GEW), one of EI’s national affiliates, was involved in a strike action in the state of Saxony. More than 10,000 teachers participated in the action, demanding more teacher jobs, better wages, and legislation regulating pre-pension.

Budapest will host the 2012 Conference of the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) from 26-28 November. ETUCE is the European branch of Education International in Europe and represents over 12 million teachers and education workers in 45 countries.

On 13 December 2012, Turkey will see a new episode in the judicial harassment against trade unionists, as three women unionists, including Güldane Erdo?an from the teacher union Egitim Sen, will appear in front of the Court in Ankara. Those women were amongst of the 15 female union leaders who...

UNESCO and EI have signed a renewed memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Paris, France, on 22 November 2012. The document lays out the cooperation for the 2012-2020 period between the two organisations dedicated to achieving free quality public education.

EI marks November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, as a day to promote women’s rights at work and to call for the prevention of violence against all women and girls.

EI joined forces with other global unions to call for a rights-based approach to the governance and management of migration. This call was made at the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), held in Port Louis, Mauritius, from 19 to 22 November 2012.

Share My Lesson (SML) is a new digital platform developed by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and its British partner, TES Connect. In the free SML online community, educators can come together to access and share high-quality teaching resources.

Two of EI’s national affiliates, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), have commented on plans to change the GCSE English grading process for 2013.

EI launched in November an Urgent Action Appeal for Bahrain. It demands that Jalila al-Salman and Mahdi Abu Dheeb, Vice President and President of the Bahrain Teacher Association (BTA), be released from jail.

Argentina, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Fiji and Peru were singled out by the Committee on Freedom of Association of the UN International Labour Organisation (ILO). Committee members reviewed cases involving rights to organise, negotiation through collective bargaining and engagement in social dialogue, on 1-16 November in Geneva.

Last week in Banjul, Gambia, Education International and the GTU laid the foundation of EI’s new initiative “Occupy Education”. The first stage of this pilot phase consisted of a needs assessment workshop the purpose of which was to identify current gaps and strategic areas for GTU’s future collaboration with EI,...

Education International has expressed deep concern over the safety of school children and teachers in Gaza and Israel, as violence is escalating in the area. It has urged Hamas and Israel to call a permanent cease-fire, and to respect the principle of the right to education in safety.

The Federation of Teachers’ Organisations of Honduras (FOMH), of which there are five EI member organisations, has reported large-scale dismissals, salary cuts and temporary suspensions of teachers which have been justified by false allegations.

A shortage of teachers in over 250 schools has been the focus of Government and education union action in Zanzibar. The fundamental issue for both is to determine how Zanzibar can train, recruit and retain teachers in their teaching jobs.

The EI annual Development Cooperation (DC) meeting gathered 37 participants from 13 countries on 12-13 November in Brussels, Belgium. One of the six sessions allowed participants to take stock of the impact of the economic crisis on DC funding and activities, and discuss solutions.

A workshop to launch the ‘Every Child Needs a Teacher’ programme was held on 30 October in Ségou, Mali. The workshop was part of the “Quality Educators for All” project, supported by EI.

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), one of EI’s U.S. affiliates, will actively participate in the third annual Global Education Conference (GEC), to take place entirely online during International Education Week, from 12-16 November.