Ei-iE

With unprecedented public demand for decent jobs, and pressure mounting on banks and the finance industry, the 2011 World Day for Decent Work today features over 400 actions across more than 80 countries.

Teachers’ unions in the Dominican Republic have mobilised the entire population to lobby the government to invest four per cent of its GDP into education.

Together with UNESCO, UNDP, UNICEF, and ILO, Education International has reminded national governments that "in order to achieve Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the gender dimension of teaching must receive particular attention, beginning with girls' access to schools."

The latest edition of UNICEF's 'Beyond School Books' podcast series commemorates World Teachers’ Day, held every year on 5 October.

To mark World Teachers' Day 2011, the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) has released updated projections on the global supply and demand for primary teachers until 2015. School enrolment is on the rise in the developing world, but in many countries the supply of primary teachers is not keeping pace.

Lärarförbundet, one of EI’s affiliates in Sweden, has welcomed the commitment by its government to invest SEK7 billion (US$1 billion) over the next four years to improve teacher training, raise the standard of mathematics teaching and improve completion rates in the humanities and social sciences.

This years’ World Teachers' Day theme - Teachers for Gender Equality - encompasses equality between female and male teachers; demands access for girls to gender-sensitive and quality education, and highlights the contribution of teachers and education in overcoming gender stereotypes.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has won its campaign to secure permanent contracts for more than 18,000 teachers. The move will benefit teachers who are currently employed on temporary contracts and will provide them with more favourable terms and conditions that include a higher salary and pension rights...

Thousands of Egyptian teachers who have been protesting for one week outside the Cabinet building in Cairo have agreed to suspend strike action to give the government time to respond to their demand for the Minister of Education to step down.

Speeches held during EI's sixth World Congress, held on 22-26 July in Cape Town, South Africa, are now available on-line for download.

Teachers’ unions in France, representing both the public and private sector workers, have jointly called a strike on 27 September to denounce the deterioration of the country’s school system and demand ‘zero job cuts in 2012’.

The final communiqué of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Financial Committee has taken heed of warnings from Global Unions to acknowledge that ‘the global economy has entered a dangerous phase’ and support calls for ‘bold action from members and the IMF’.

EI welcomes UNESCO’s first-ever international consultation on homophobic bullying and harassment in educational institutions and encourages member organisations to share any input on existing policies, programmes and tools that help prevent and address homophobic bullying and harassment in different regions in the world.

A quartet of EI’s affiliates in the UK – the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), the National Union of Teachers (NUT), and the Ulster Teachers’ Union (UTU) – have launched an historic partnership for closer co-operation, campaigning, and promotion of trade union values.

Education International has joined other trade unions and human rights groups to demand that the authorities in Bahrain release the leaders of the Bahraini Teachers’ Association (BTA) from prison. The BTA President, Mahdi Abu Dheeb, and Vice President, Jalila al-Salman, were sentenced to ten and three years’ imprisonment on 25...

A new survey by the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) has found that the poor use of technology is hampering learning in bilingual education. The national survey, which considered the impact of technology among students attending French-language schools in minority settings in Canada, involved more than 1,600 Canadian students.

EI remains deeply concerned about the continued violation of international labour standards that are directly impacting on its affiliates, the Fijian Teachers’ Association (FTA) and the Fiji Teachers’ Union (FTU), as well as the repression of the entire labour movement in Fiji.

Reports from international aid organisations project that hundreds of thousands of Somali schoolchildren are expected to drop out from classes this month as a result of the humanitarian crisis in the country. EI’s affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), has called on the international community to provide the humanitarian...