Ei-iE

Celebrating the crucial role of Education Support Personnel for quality education for all.

Education Support Personnel (ESP), a range of professionals like teaching assistants, school nurses, cafeterias workers, maintenance crews, and bus drivers, play a crucial role in ensuring quality education and a safe learning environment.

However, many are employed on precarious terms, facing increased exploitation and lacking fundamental rights such as collective bargaining. Advocacy efforts emphasize their rights to a safe workplace, professional development, and participation in decision-making processes at their institutions.

Education Support Personnel is celebrated annually on World Education Support Personnel Day, introduced on May 16th, 2018, to recognize their vital contributions to global education.

Education International's longstanding advocacy for ESP Rights and Status

As recognized by the Education International (EI) Declaration on the Rights and Status of ESP, they should have equivalent status, rights, and conditions as other educational staff with similar qualifications.

The Aveiro Statement – “Go Public: Fund Education Support Personnel” further encourages education unions, among others, to call for increased domestic and international public education financing and specific funding for education support personnel as part of Education International’s Go Public! Fund Education campaign.

The recommendations of the United Nations High-Level Panel on the teaching profession – where EI made sure the voice of educators was heard – state that “education support personnel are key workers in education who should work interdependently with teachers and enjoy commensurate working conditions as teachers.”

EI research on the negative impact of privatization and funding shortfalls on ESP

This year, World ESP Day will provide us with the opportunity to launch key research commissioned by EI: “Carrying the Community: Addressing the Consequences of Privatisation and Funding Shortfalls for Education Support Personnel.”

Among other findings, the study shows that precarious contracts lead to heavy and fragmented workloads and mean that ESP are less able to integrate into the pedagogical dimension of the school. It also explains that, in extreme cases, ESP’s roles are redefined as unnecessary or as ‘voluntary’ roles. Their work being devalued, ESP may choose to leave the public education sector.

Confronted with deteriorating conditions, ESP and their unions are building coalitions to defend the public sector, engaging in lobbying and refining strategies by collaborating with researchers and the international community.

To find out more about this research joins us for our ESP Day webinar on May 16th, click here to register.

Join our campaign and raise your voice for public education everywhere!

Spread the word by sharing the resources below as we mobilize to go public and fund ESP!

1. Share Education International’s messages

Click here to download the quote card of Education International's President Susan Hopgood

Click here to download the quote card of Education International's General Secretary David Edwards

You can also download the video message of Education International's General Secretary David Edwards here.

Click here to watch videos of education unions celebrating World ESP Day.

Show ESP your appreciation

We have a sample World ESP Day video script and graphics. You can use it to record your own video for ESP Day to congratulate your members.

Download this card here and use it to celebrate ESP colleagues!

2. Speak up on social media

Raise your voice in support of Education Support Personnel on social networks. Use the suggested posts and images below and don’t forget to tag Education International so we can amplify your message:

• @eduint on Twitter
• @EducationInternational on Facebook
• @eduint on Instagram

Make sure to use #ESPDay in every post. You can also #ProudToBe and #FundESP.

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3. Read and share our blogs

Blog by the researchers of “Carrying the Community: Addressing the consequences of Privatisation and Funding Shortfalls for Education Support Personnel”

Uniting the voices of educators: Internal review of member organizations’ practices to include ESP in their work

Who our students see: importance of ESP in fostering inclusive environments for students facing discrimination, especially LGBTI+ students

Valuing Education Support Personnel amid investment cuts and privatization: FNE’s perspectives on the Aveiro conference

Defending the essential work of Education Support Personnel for quality public education: FECCOO’s perspectives on ESP and EI’s Declaration

Education Support Personnel: An essential part of a quality public service: CSQ on the impact of privatisation on ESP in Canada

The struggle for the rights and dignity of Education Support Personnel in private schools in Nepal: ISTU’s perspectives on challenges facing ESP in Nepal

Education Support Personnel build and protect universities: NTEU on the importance of ESP in Higher Education

Addressing the international data gap on teaching assistants: Academic perspective on lack of data and need for further research

Education Support Personnel: Shining light on the invisible workforce: Key findings from first EI research on ESP

Please note that we also have a series of blogs we published about the experience of ESP during the pandemic in 2020-21:

Education Support Personnel are the glue that holds their schools together!

Support staff are the infrastructure of the world

Education Support Professionals need protection now!