Ei-iE

After another school shooting in Taft, California, EI’s national affiliates, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), have expressed their deep shock and reiterated the urgent need to prevent future tragedies.

The Asociación Nacional de Educadores (ANDE), an EI affiliate, has received authorisation to change its legal status from “association” to “trade union” by a bill approved by the Costa Rica Parliament. This initiative will coincide with the organisation’s 70th anniversary.

The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) and the National Union of Teachers (NUT), two EI affiliates in the UK, have reacted to ‘Unleashing Greatness: Getting the best from an academised system’, a report released on 10 December by the Academies Commission.

Quality education was the theme of a round table organised by EI in Nouakchott, Mauritania, from 3-5 January. Under the theme, ‘For More Quality Education in Mauritania’, EI’s four affiliates - SNEM, SNEP, SNES and SNEF – considered and discussed a joint strategy for improving Mauritanian education.

Educators in Namibia are preparing to go on strike to demand a further increase in their salaries, as well as improved conditions of service.

On 12 December, the Finnish Embassy in the US welcomed representatives of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), one of EI’s national affiliates, and international guests. Finnish Ambassador Ritva Koukku-Ronde praised the AFT’s Share My Lesson teacher resource initiative as a reflection of Finland's own renowned commitment to teacher training...

Teachers in Zimbabwe say they will return to school when the school year begins on 8 January, despite their ongoing resentment about low salaries and poor working conditions. They did not rule out further strike action, however.

Common action in educational and cultural matters will achieve greater unity among Council of Europe member states, according to a Recommendation adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE) on 12 December 2012.

Lärarförbundet, one of EI’s national affiliates, has announced that it contributed SEK 50,000 to the EI Solidarity Fund. Teacher unionists decided to allocate money to this fund, rather than printing and posting Christmas cards to national and international colleagues.

Earlier this week, a U.S. federal court in Los Angeles ordered a recruitment agency to pay US$4.5 million in damages to 350 Filipino teachers. The teachers, recruited as part of a guest worker programme, had been forced into exploitive contracts after arriving in the United States.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), one of EI’s national affiliates, is planning to have 47 county representative positions taken up by female teachers. KNUT President Wilson Sossion has announced that his union will also support women teachers going for other political seats.

The Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF), one of EI’s national affiliates, has heavily criticised the Harper Conservative government for pushing Bill C-377 through the House of Commons without a fair debate and without hearing the voices of those affected by the legislation. They describe the bill as mean-spirited, biased and wasteful...

Jalila Khamis Koko is a teacher from the Sudan, who has been charged on five criminal counts and faces the death penalty; she has been detained for more than nine months, with no charges brought against her until now.

The Republican-controlled legislature in Michigan passed two misleadingly- named ‘right-to-work’ bills last week. These would allow workers to avoid paying dues to a union representing their sector.

EI strongly encourages affiliates to take part in the online consultation for the 2013 Education for All Global Monitoring Report (EFA GMR) focusing on “Teaching and Learning for Development” launched on 26 November.

A new task force spearheading the development of early childhood education (ECE) in the EI Asia Pacific region has called on national governments to invest in ECE. The task force, which met in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 15-16 December, stressed the need for governments to invest in ECE teachers and...

EI affiliates in the US, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA), have expressed their deep condolences to families, educators and the whole community of Newtown, Connecticut, after a shooting rampage at a school left 26 people dead, including 20 students, on Friday.

“There are no records of a massacre of this size hitting a school population outside a warzone since the massacre at Virginia Tech in 2007,” says the General Secretary of Education International, Fred van Leeuwen, commenting on the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, USA, yesterday, whereby twenty children and six...