Ei-iE

Confronted with severe teacher shortages, Education International (EI) member organisations have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen collective action to defend educators’ wellbeing and fair working conditions, and to advocate for the sustainable public investment needed to secure quality education for every child across the Pacific. They also underscored what education unions have long argued: public education systems cannot be strengthened without organised educators at the center of decision-making.

With support from Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA, the Go Public! Fund Education campaign strategic planning meeting for the Pacific region held from 15 to 19 June in Apia, Samoa, provided an opportunity for participating unions to review achievements, address challenges, and plan collectively for the 2026–2027 campaign phase.

The event brought together union leaders, government representatives and partners including UNESCO Samoa, International Labour Organization Pacific and Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA Australia, with participants from Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.

The meeting reviewed progress on national action plans adopted in 2025, highlighting key achievements and challenges. Participants assessed changes in the education landscape across Pacific countries, with particular attention to teacher shortages, workload, working conditions, mental health, and education financing.

The meeting also examined how the United Nations Recommendations on the Teaching Profession have been used to support advocacy efforts and campaign outcomes. Participants identified successes, challenges, and lessons learned to inform future actions.

In addition, participants focused on developing updated national and regional Go Public! advocacy priorities and action plans for 2026–2027, with strong integration of gender and youth perspectives. It also sought to strengthen regional coordination and promote shared campaigning approaches under the Go Public! framework.

Samoan goverment’s support for teachers

Addressing participants, Samoa’s Prime Minister, Laʻaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Fosi Schmidt, framed the event as both a regional gathering and a national commitment. “Today we celebrate not only hosting an important regional meeting, but also a milestone in Samoa’s education journey,” he said. “Today we are not simply opening a meeting; we are opening doors to friendship, fresh ideas, stronger partnerships and our commitment to children and young people we serve for Samoa.”

The Prime Minister went on detailing a series of governmental measures aimed at strengthening the teaching profession in Samoa. These include the allocation of land for a future Samoa National Teachers’ Association headquarters, continued financial support for the association, efforts to secure development partner support for workforce capacity building, strengthened teacher training pathways through the National University of Samoa, and sponsorship for students entering teacher education. He also highlighted the return of retired teachers to classrooms – “Their contribution extends beyond teaching subjects. They help guide young teachers to preserve professional wisdom that will only come from years of service” –; a teacher aide programme – “where mothers and community members are recruited, trained and placed in schools to support teaching and learning” –; and the development of a new career structure and remuneration framework for teachers, including early childhood education teachers.

He also highlighted that investing in teachers contributes to nation-building. “The quality of an education system can never exceed the quality of its teachers,” Laʻaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Fosi Schmidt reminded. “Investing in teachers is not education expenses, it is a national investment.” He linked that investment not only to economic growth, but also to social cohesion, cultural preservation and the collective future of Samoa.

Building regional solidarity

The strategic planning meeting greatly contributed to building collective power. Participants took stock of progress made on national Go Public! action plans, aligning work with international recommendations on the teaching profession, and advancing regional strategies for more coordinated advocacy.

By the end of the meeting, participants had gained a shared understanding of the progress and impact of the Go Public! campaign across Pacific education unions. They reflected on lessons learned and good practices emerging from campaign implementation during 2025–2026.

Participants also identified priority advocacy issues for the next phase of the campaign. They are now equipped to update their national Go Public! action plans for 2026–2027, in line with regional priorities and global education objectives.

Participants also strengthened their understanding of the UN Recommendations on the Teaching Profession and their value as advocacy tools. They also expressed their readiness to deepen regional collaboration and solidarity in support of the call to Go Public! and Fund Education in the Pacific.

This was reflected in the Prime Minister’s appeal for cooperation across the Pacific. “In the Pacific, we often speak of travelling together in the same canoe,” Laʻaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Fosi Schmidt said. “No nation can navigate the challenges facing education alone. We must paddle together, learn together, share our experiences and work collectively towards the solutions that will benefit all our students in the future.”

Teachers are not a cost – they are an investment

Anand Singh, EI Asia-Pacific Regional Director, also acknowledged during the meeting: “We gather at a time when public education is under pressure, but also at a time when our movement has never been more important.” Pointing to the scale of the crisis across the region, he added: “There can be no quality education without qualified, supported and respected teachers. Teachers are not a cost to be managed. Teachers are an investment in the future of our nations.”

For Singh, the Go Public! campaign is grounded on the promise that every child has the right to a qualified teacher, every teacher has the right to good working conditions, and every government has a responsibility to fund public education adequately.

He also warned that growing teacher mobility across the Pacific must not deepen shortages in countries already under strain, arguing for stronger regional cooperation, ethical recruitment and long-term workforce planning. “No country should solve its teacher shortage by deepening the shortage in another,” he said.

Singh went on positioning the meeting in the organising efforts of the union movement. Since the Pacific launch of the campaign in 2025, he noted, unions have engaged in advocacy activities towards governments, mobilised members and made sure teachers’ voices are heard in policy debates. “That is what trade unions do,” he said. “We organise. We advocate. We negotiate. And when necessary, we mobilise.” He called on governments to recognise teachers and their unions not as an afterthought, but as essential partners in shaping education policy and reform.

A moral and social imperative

The meeting also heard from Rev Dr Latu Latal of the Evangelical Free Church of Samoa in Apia, who reflected on the wider pressures facing societies and the importance of education in responding to them. “I think we live in interesting yet extraordinary times,” he said, describing a rapidly changing world. In that context, he told participants, the work of teachers and educators is “most critical” in helping communities understand change and its impacts.

For Rev Dr Latu Latal, educators must have “a prophetic voice” while helping young people imagine “a possible world, and how they can play an important part in realising that world.” He concluded by acknowledging that “education is key. Quality education is critical.”

Background

The EI Go Public! Fund Education campaign advocates for sustainable public investment in quality education and the teaching profession. In the Pacific, the campaign was launched in August 2025, bringing together education unions from Fiji, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu to develop national GPFE action plans.

These action plans sought to respond to persistent and interconnected challenges across the region, including teacher shortages, increasing workloads, inadequate working conditions, mental health concerns, and insufficient financing of public education systems. Over the past year, unions have actively implemented advocacy strategies while also integrating the UN recommendations into their national campaigns and policy engagement.