Ei-iE

Go public! Fund education

Campaigns

Education unions around the world are joining forces to build inclusive quality public education for all. We are mobilising to fully fund public education systems and resist budget cuts, austerity, and privatisation.

Go Public! Fund Education is an urgent call for governments to invest in public education, a fundamental human right and public good, and to invest more in teachers, the single most important factor in achieving quality education. This means guaranteeing labour rights and ensuring good working conditions, as well as manageable workloads and competitive salaries for teachers and education workers. It also means valuing teachers, respecting teachers, ensuring they are central to decision-making, and trusting their pedagogical expertise.

We are working together across borders to guarantee every student’s right to have a well-supported qualified teacher and a quality learning environment. Let's act together in solidarity to Go Public and fund education.

Campaign news

  1. Standards and working conditions 6 May 2025

    Nepal: Relentless union action and organizing lead to significant salary increases and other victories

    The teachers and Education Support Personnel (ESP) in Nepal are celebrating a hard-fought victory after a targeted organizing campaign, massive protests, and a national strike. Following intense negotiations in the last few days, the government of Nepal subscribed to a Nine-Point Agreement featuring significant salary increases and long-overdue benefits.

    Read more Nepal: Relentless union action and organizing lead to significant salary increases and other victories
  2. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 28 April 2025

    Japan: Urgent workload relief, staffing, and legal reforms needed to address teacher shortages and burnout

    In his address to the national parliament, Japan Teachers’ Union (JTU) President Takashi Kajiwara highlighted the urgent need for comprehensive reforms in the education system to tackle the growing teacher shortage and ensure the well-being of educators.

    Read more Japan: Urgent workload relief, staffing, and legal reforms needed to address teacher shortages and burnout
  3. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 28 April 2025

    Education International Asia-Pacific launches calls for quality climate education for all and demands increased funding for education

    Education International Asia-Pacific (EIAP) is organising a series of impactful activities from 28 April to 3 May 2025 in Kathmandu, Nepal calling for quality climate education for all and urging governments to increase public investment in education and teachers.

    Read more Education International Asia-Pacific launches calls for quality climate education for all and demands increased funding for education
  4. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 28 April 2025

    Teacher compensation in South Sudan: The human cost of underinvestment

    Mading Peter Angong, Sarah Etzel, Whitney Hough, Mary Mendenhall, Kemigisha Richardson, Tiffany Tryon, Malok Mading Wol

    Teachers in South Sudan are the foundation of the education system, providing critical support in one of the most challenging environments globally. Despite their indispensable role, they face widespread financial instability, chronic delays in salary payments, and wages that are far below a livable standard. These issues destabilize the education...

    Read more Teacher compensation in South Sudan: The human cost of underinvestment
  5. Standards and working conditions 25 April 2025

    Starting strong: Education unions mobilise for the right to early childhood education

    Despite its essential role, early childhood education (ECE) is undermined by chronic underfunding. Recognition of the importance of early childhood education, as well as the salaries, job satisfaction, working conditions, and status of ECE workers remain low. Meanwhile, private actors are working to take over the sector, filling the funding...

    Read more Starting strong: Education unions mobilise for the right to early childhood education
more: Campaign news

Advocacy toolkit: From United Nations recommendations to action

  1. Future of work in education

    Activating the Recommendations of the UN High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession

    A Guide for Education Unions
    3 April 2024

    The High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession was convened by the United Nations Secretary-General in response to the global teacher shortage. The Panel brought together academics, ministers, former presidents, teachers and students and their unions.

    Activating the Recommendations of the UN High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession
    1. Download
  2. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4

    Activating the recommendations on teachers in crisis contexts

    United Nations High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession recommendations
    22 May 2024

    The High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession was convened by the United Nations Secretary General in response to the global teacher shortage. Tasked with providing policy advice for governments to ensure that every child’s right to a professionally-trained, qualified, and well-supported teacher is fulfilled, the Panel identified 59 recommendations.

    Activating the recommendations on teachers in crisis contexts
    1. Download
  3. Leading the profession

    Activating the recommendations for higher education

    The United Nations High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession Recommendations
    3 July 2024

    The High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession was convened by the United Nations Secretary General and brought together academics, ministers of education and labour, former presidents, employers’ organisations, teachers and students and their unions.

    Activating the recommendations for higher education
    1. Download
more: Advocacy toolkit: From United Nations recommendations to action

Take action!

  1. Go public! Fund education 13 September 2023

    World Teachers’ Day 2023: The teachers we need for the education we want

    Communications toolkit

    This World Teachers’ Day, join the global mobilisation calling on governments everywhere to invest in teachers and in quality public education.

    Read more World Teachers’ Day 2023: The teachers we need for the education we want
  2. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4

    Transforming Education Financing: a toolkit for activists

    2 June 2023

    Transforming Education Financing: a toolkit for activists is produced by Education International together with the Global Campaign for Education and ActionAid International. The toolkit is aimed at both civil society organisations and teachers’ unions across the globe campaigning for increased public funding to ensure the fundamental right to education.

    Transforming Education Financing: a toolkit for activists
    1. Download
  3. Higher education and research 23 January 2023

    Go public! Fund education: Campaign toolkit

    Go Public! Fund education is Education International´s new campaign to mobilise funding for public education around the world. Funding public education improves pay, working conditions, and empowers teachers and education personnel to stay and thrive in the profession they love and the world needs.

    Read more Go public! Fund education: Campaign toolkit
  4. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4

    Roadmap to financing education

    15 November 2016

    In an era where investment in education is declining and myriad shortcuts are popping up, Education International presents its rights-based Roadmap to sustainable, predictable and principled education financing.

    Roadmap to financing education
    1. Download

Research

  1. Standards and working conditions

    Teacher Compensation in Crisis Contexts: Challenges in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

    Dr. Eman Najjar, Dr. Hilmi Hamdan
    5 May 2025

    This study aims to investigate the primary factors contributing to irregular salary disbursements in Palestine during emergencies, identify potential interventions to address the issue, and evaluate the consequences of financial instability on the quality of education.

    Teacher Compensation in Crisis Contexts: Challenges in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
    1. Research Paper
    2. Summary
  2. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4

    Teacher compensation in crisis contexts: Problems & paradoxes for paying teachers in South Sudan

    Mading Peter Angong, Sarah Etzel, Whitney Hough, Mary Mendenhall, Kemigisha Richardson, Tiffany Tryon, Malok Mading Wol
    28 April 2025

    Teachers are essential to upholding the right to quality education for children in crisis and displacement contexts, yet they often experience delayed, irregular, or insufficient compensation, leading to demotivation, absenteeism, and destabilization of educational systems.

    Teacher compensation in crisis contexts: Problems & paradoxes for paying teachers in South Sudan
    1. Research Paper
    2. Executive Summary
    3. Recommendations on government teachers
    4. Recommendations on incentive teachers
  3. Future of work in education

    The Global Status of Teachers 2024

    Dr. Ben Arnold, Dr. Mark Rahimi
    23 January 2025

    The Global Status of Teachers report provides a global and regional analysis of the status and conditions of the teaching profession by representing the views of teacher unions worldwide.

    The Global Status of Teachers 2024
    1. Research
  4. Equity and inclusion 16 December 2024

    Decolonising minds and hearts: unions leading the transformation of education

    On International Human Rights Day, Education International (EI) launched its latest research on decolonising education, highlighting the key role of unions in dismantling colonial legacies in public education systems worldwide.

    Read more Decolonising minds and hearts: unions leading the transformation of education
  5. Go public! Fund education

    Higher Education Funding across the Globe

    An Overview on Funding of Higher and Further Education and Research, its Political and Socio-Economic Causes, and some Consequences, across the Globe
    15 May 2024

    This paper offers an overview on funding of higher and further education across the globe. Drawing on the best available comparative data, it shows how education is funded in different ways. It discusses, for example, how much different countries spend on higher education, how spending has changed over time, how...

    Higher Education Funding across the Globe
    1. Research Paper
    2. Summary
more: Research

Fund further and higher education and research

  1. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 10 March 2025

    Serbia: Union organizing results in more funding, lower tuition fees, and fairer salaries in higher education

    In a landmark move, Serbia has announced significant reforms to its higher education system, promising a brighter future for both educators and students. These changes, hailed as a victory for teacher unions and student activists, mark a pivotal moment in the country's educational landscape.

    Read more Serbia: Union organizing results in more funding, lower tuition fees, and fairer salaries in higher education
  2. Fighting the commercialisation of education 30 July 2024

    The fight for public education and universities in present-day Argentina

    Yamile Socolovsky

    Public education in Argentina is under threat from a political agenda that has made its way into the national government and aims to – in the words of President Javier Milei himself – “destroy the state from within”. Arguing that the state is a “criminal organisation” that attacks freedom (of...

    Read more The fight for public education and universities in present-day Argentina
  3. Fighting the commercialisation of education 3 July 2024

    Shifting the burden: How an employer levy could transform Higher Education financing in the UK

    Higher education contributes over £70 billion to the United Kingdom's economy. However, despite this significant contribution, the current funding model relies heavily on student debt repayment over up to 40 years, often resulting in government losses.

    Read more Shifting the burden: How an employer levy could transform Higher Education financing in the UK
  4. Go public! Fund education 22 May 2024

    Universities at the turning point: Go Public! Fund Education

    More public funding of Higher Education is crucial for advancing global knowledge and innovation. Countries investing robustly in education often lead in Research & Development, driving forward their economies and societal advancements.

    Read more Universities at the turning point: Go Public! Fund Education
  5. Go public! Fund education

    Higher Education Funding across the Globe

    An Overview on Funding of Higher and Further Education and Research, its Political and Socio-Economic Causes, and some Consequences, across the Globe
    15 May 2024

    This paper offers an overview on funding of higher and further education across the globe. Drawing on the best available comparative data, it shows how education is funded in different ways. It discusses, for example, how much different countries spend on higher education, how spending has changed over time, how...

    Higher Education Funding across the Globe
    1. Research Paper
    2. Summary
more: Fund further and higher education and research

Making the case for public education

  1. Future of work in education 24 January 2025

    The best way to celebrate education? Mobilize to defend it, to strengthen, and to fund it

    David Edwards

    Education is a human right, a public good, and a public responsibility. It relies on the millions of dedicated teachers and support personnel who make it happen in a place called school across the world every day. When this committed education workforce is undermined, the right to education is at...

    Read more The best way to celebrate education? Mobilize to defend it, to strengthen, and to fund it
  2. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 16 November 2024

    Standing up for quality public education on International Students' Day

    Ruth Thornton, Shamna Abdul Kareem, Dilara Keven, Marina Mata, Mairead Howley

    International Students’ Day, celebrated on 17th November, has long been associated with student activism against human rights’ violations . This year we, a group of students and recent graduates, feel compelled to draw attention to the perilous position of the right to education worldwide – with public education underfunded and...

    Read more Standing up for quality public education on International Students' Day
  3. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 23 September 2024

    Teachers at the heart of global sustainability: a call for urgent reform

    Rachel Wilson

    There's so much happening around the globe that it's easy to miss significant announcements. Back in February, an urgent and impactful report was released that has flown under the radar for many. While immediate global crises demand our attention, this story shines a light on a crucial yet overlooked issue....

    Read more Teachers at the heart of global sustainability: a call for urgent reform
  4. Leading the profession 22 April 2024

    ISTP 2024: Empowering teachers to shape equitable futures

    The 14th International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) is taking place in Singapore, from April 22-24, bringing together education ministers and leaders from education unions across 19 countries.

    Read more ISTP 2024: Empowering teachers to shape equitable futures
  5. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 21 April 2024

    Bringing governments and education unions together

    David Edwards

    For the well-being of students, our communities and our countries, governments must increase investment in public education systems, including quality teacher training and professional development, guarantee labor rights and good working conditions, involve teacher unions in policymaking and trust and respect teachers and their professional expertise.

    Read more Bringing governments and education unions together
more: Making the case for public education

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