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Unions have marked International Literacy Day with a series of global events. EI participated in the Centre for Universal Education and International Reading Association’s launch of a study into early reading which calls for urgent support of assessments and instruction.

Despite unequivocal evidence of the economic crisis resulting from unrestrained financial markets a new report from the OECD argues for spending efficiencies and pursuit of failed market mechanisms in education.

The latest issue of EI's Asia-Pacific Newsletter is now available for download on the EI website.

On 5 October, World Teachers’ Day, tens of thousands of students, parents and activists around the world will pay homage to all teachers who have been directly, or indirectly, affected by a major crisis.

Public sector unions in South Africa have been in negotiation with the government to secure a living wage and increased housing allowances for workers.

The parliament in Australia’s most populous state has voted to allow same-sex couples the same rights to adopt as heterosexuals.

A European Union-funded programme to support Somali administrations in developing a well-structured education and training system has been launched in north east and north west Somalia.

With EI's help, three Pakistani teachers' organisations will support thousands of educators who lost their homes and personal belongings. They will provide up to 30,000 victims with aid supplies including clean water, clothing and tents.

Prior to the UN Millennium Development Goal Summit, held in New York from 20-22 Sep, Global March is launching a campaign for the inclusion of child labour elimination as a priority to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Many teaching positions within German schools remain vacant just weeks before the start of a new school year. Research from Germany’s largest education unions, the GEW and VBE, estimates that almost 45,000 posts are unfilled, with acute shortages in subjects such as mathematics and the sciences.

The US House of Representatives has voted to approve new legislation that will inject more than $10 billion in aid to states and school districts to save education jobs that were threatened by budget cuts.

Education International has joined civil society organisations to lead a regional workshop on education financing for trainers in Malawi. The training is part of a programme to build capacity among Education for All (EFA) coalitions.

More than 1,700 staff in UK schools were accused of misbehaviour by parents or pupils last year.

On International Day for the World’s Indigenous Peoples, EI celebrates cultural diversity in all its forms and notes the contributions of indigenous people and indigenous education workers around the world.

EI and its affiliate the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union (KTU, Jeon Gyo Jo) have called for the withdrawal of a plan to dismiss 183 teachers who made private donations to a political party.

Education International has expressed dismay as news emerged that another teacher trade unionist has been killed in Colombia. This latest murder brings to 17 the total number of teachers that have been killed in 2010 alone.

A man went on a deadly rampage as he killed at least three children and one teacher in an unprovoked knife attack at a Chinese nursery school in the city of Zibo, in the eastern province of Shandong.

The UK government's budget may be unlawful according to a legal case launched in the high court. It is claimed Treasury officials broke the law by not carrying out an equality assessment of whether plans for spending cuts would hit women most.