Go Public! Invest in Education Support Personnel: Ensure
inclusive education.
Education Support Personnel (ESP) have a critical role to play in supporting and sustaining educational communities and the students within them – especially those who have are excluded and marginalized.
Without ESP, schools would not be welcoming and clean, children would go hungry, their behavioural and health issues would go unaddressed, their academic, socio-emotional and practical needs would not be met, and they might not even make it to school safely.
Declining public education budgets and privatisation severely impact their job security, pay, workload, rights, and wellbeing. In the face of austerity, increasing privatisation and declining public funding, it is crucial to enable ESP to participate in shaping schools and education systems, to safeguard their rights and ensure good working conditions.
This means mobilizing and organizing ESP and a commitment to making sure their voices are meaningfully included in education unions.
Education Support Personnel are recognized annually on World Education Support Personnel Day introduced by Education International (EI) on
May 16th, 2018, to celebrate the vital role of ESP in equitable and inclusive
education systems and ensuring quality education for all.
Education International's longstanding advocacy for ESP Rights and Status
The recommendations of the United Nations on the teaching profession– where EI made sure the voice of all 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.”
World ESP Day webinar
To find out more about EI and the work of our member organizations join our World ESP Day meeting on May 14th. Click here to register.
The online meeting, Go Public! Invest in Education Support Personnel: Ensure inclusive education, will provide ample space for EI member organizations representing ESP to come together, share their experiences around the role of ESP in supporting inclusion in education, as well as union wins and challenges when supporting the inclusion of ESP in schools and union structures. We will also discuss how unionists best support each other and build union power to defend the rights and status of education support personnel.
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!
We have a sample World ESP Day video script and graphics (including EI logo). You can use it to record your own video for ESP Day to congratulate your members.
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:
Education International is seeking applications for the position of Deputy General Secretary (DGS), which will become available in EI Head Office at the beginning of 2026. Deputy General Secretaries are appointed by the Executive Board on the recommendation of the General Secretary.
After nearly 10 years of campaign and lobbying, the National Teachers’ Association (NTA Taiwan) are celebrating a victory in their push to ensure the recognition of teachers and education personnel as an integral part of the labor movement.
France: joint union action against austerity and for better pay and working conditions
Education unions are joining the call for a nationwide day of action to denounce government austerity policies and call for better pay and working conditions.
Educators are among the first targets of tyrants. They also take the lead in the fight for democracy.
On this May Day, Education International stands in solidarity with trade unionists worldwide standing up for democracy, human rights, and social justice.
Canada : Quebec teaching staff demand that negotiations be sped up
Around 450 teachers from Northern Quebec went on strike until January 21st to express their exasperation because negotiations with employers have come to a standstill. They want their demands to be heard and for them to produce concrete results.
