Ei-iE

Strengthening the participation of women in decision-making structures was the focus of EI Latin America’s Women Education Workers’ Network when it met in Costa Rica on 27-29 November.

The Berlin branch of the Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft(GEW), one of EI’s national affiliates, organised a hugely successful industrial action on 4-5 December. More than 2,400 teachers and about 150 pupils participated in the strike, demanding improved living and working conditions for education staff.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (KUDHEIHA), two of EI’s national affiliates, have called on the Government to engage in honest social dialogue to ensure quality education in the country.

EI’s US national affiliates, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) participated in a hugely successful National Day of Action for public education on 9 December. This was the largest coordinated action to reclaim the promise of public education in the US, under the banner...

On this date, 10 December, Human Rights Day, EI pays tribute to educators around the world who fight for the right to live and work in dignity. These educators and their trade unions also fight for freedom of expression, assembly and association; the right to bargain collectively; and for all...

EI has joined the international trade union movement in criticizing a new agreement on global trade rules that is unbalanced and threatens to put new pressures on public services like health care and education.

The OECD's PIAAC survey is the first world-wide survey on adults' skills. It tested literacy, numeracy and problem solving ICT skills of adults aged 16-65. PIAAC covers only 17 countries from Europe.

The Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius that took place on 28-29 November 2013 ended as a failure.

The OECD published the PISA 2012 results on 3 December 2013.

The EU and the US started negotiating the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership in July 2013.

On 3 December 2013, the Council adopted the regulation establishing ERASMUS+, the European Union's Programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport for the period 2014-2020.

A number of recent reports published by Eurydice demonstrate that the reality of teachers do not match the rosy picture that is painted by stereotypes.

The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) criticised strongly the European Commission for its Annual Growth Survey, which repeatedly gives over-optimistic economic forecasts. According the MEPs, the European Commission is not taking sufficient account of these errors and not adapting its economic reform recommendations to tackle the ensuing social problems.

On 28-29 November 2013, the final conference of the ETUCE project Teacher Unions Preventing Early School Leaving through the Use of ICT in Education took place in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, affectionately known as Madiba, anti-apartheid activist and first democratically elected president of South Africa, died last night at the age of 95.

Speaking about what educators can take away from the recently published PISA results, the OECD’s Head of Early Childhood Education and Schools, Michael Davidson, has highlighted that where the teaching profession is held in high esteem, the positive impact on effective learning is inevitable.

EI has sent a letter to Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, urging his government to meet the demands of Palestinian teachers and education workers by fully implementing the 10 per cent salary increase agreed between the government and the General Union of Palestinian Teachers (GUPT) in September.

Thousands of Spanish people took to the streets of Madrid on Saturday, 30 November, to protest at education cuts. Organised by the Platform for Public Education, the protestors also demanded the suspension of the recently approved reform, the Organic Law for the Improvement of Education Quality (LOMCE), better known as...