Ei-iE

Jens Kalaene
Jens Kalaene

Equity and inclusion

We defend and promote the principles of equity and equality in education, in education unions and in society. We are fully committed to combating all forms of racism and of bias or discrimination due age, disability, ethnicity or indigeneity, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation, language, marital status, migratory status, political activism, religion, socio-economic status, trade union affiliation, among others. We are committed to addressing these forms of discrimination through an intersectional lens, which enables a deeper understanding of the complexities of lived experiences.

I think Education International has a leadership role to play… If we’re going to have a more civil society, a more inclusive society, then we have to model that by including men but women as well, people of different ethnic groups or religious backgrounds. All of us have to be involved and be at the table and have that kind of respect.

Professor Mary Hatwood Futrell, First elected EI President, 1993–2004

Promoting and advancing gender equality has always been an Education International priority. We believe that education can play a key role in empowering women and girls and can contribute to breaking through the cycle of gender discrimination. The Education International Gender Equality Action Plan highlights three main priorities:

  1. Promoting women’s leadership and participation within education unions;
  2. Taking action to increase intersectional gender equality in and through education;
  3. Promoting and securing women’s economic empowerment.

The unequal and gendered impact of the COVID-19 pandemic risks erasing years of progress on equity and inclusion throughout the world. Together with our member organisations, we mobilise to challenge and help dismantle all structures of inequality in education and beyond. As part of this work, we have called for equity audits to be conducted at all levels of education in order to ensure the pandemic does not define the lives of an entire generation of students.

Our work in this area

  1. News 4 October 2022

    World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference in Education: Unions come together to advance the rights of Indigenous Peoples

    The World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference in Education (WIPCE) was held this year on the traditional lands of the Kaurna Nation, the original people of the Adelaide plains, at Tarndanya, Adelaide, Australia. WIPCE is the largest and most diverse Indigenous education forum in the world. The EI delegation to the Conference...

    World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference in Education: Unions come together to advance the rights of Indigenous Peoples
  2. Worlds of Education 18 September 2022

    Teachers are ready to transform education — it’s time for governments to step up

    David Edwards

    Despite the global crises facing the world, the power and optimism inherent in education will always provide hope for our future. To move forward from this pandemic, and the deepening inequities it exposed, we need to transform education by fully funding public education systems and investing in, supporting, and respecting...

    Teachers are ready to transform education — it’s time for governments to step up
  3. Worlds of Education 30 August 2022

    Recovering indigenous names

    Kantuta Conde

    My name is Kantuta, and I am proud to have an Aymara name that identifies me and represents my community. When it rained, my grandmother told me that children who die without a name go to Tata Granizo. Next to him, children make round ice that falls from the sky...

    Recovering indigenous names
  4. Worlds of Education 23 August 2022

    Adapting to Covid-19: Removing the land from indigenous land-based education

    Sydney Krill

    "That’s what the elders are telling us. Go out on the land. This is a perfect time for people to show youngsters how to build a fire in the morning, how to put up a tent. It’s almost spring. If people can get their families out on the land, that’s...

    Adapting to Covid-19: Removing the land from indigenous land-based education
  5. Worlds of Education 16 August 2022

    Ending Ability Grouping to empower Māori learners in Aotearoa New Zealand

    Liam Rutherford

    Variously practiced as ‘ability grouping’, ‘streaming’, ‘attainment grouping’, ‘setting’, ‘banding’ or ‘tracking’, pedagogical practices that group students based on perceived ability or prior achievement are longstanding and widespread world over. Research, however, has long shown that this has negative impacts for students, especially those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, ethnic minorities,...

    Ending Ability Grouping to empower Māori learners in Aotearoa New Zealand
  6. News 12 August 2022

    Indigenous education workers call for a commitment from the region’s governments to education for their peoples

    The call was made in the framework of the IX Regional Conference on Public Education and Indigenous Peoples convened by Education International Latin America. The event was attended by over 150 education workers who travelled to Asuncion, Paraguay from Brazil, Peru, Costa Rica, Panama, Argentina, and Paraguay .

    Indigenous education workers call for a commitment from the region’s governments to education for their peoples
  7. News 10 August 2022

    Indigenous educators from across Latin America come together to strengthen public education

    Convened by Education International Latin America (EILA) on August 9-11, the IX Regional Meeting on Public Education and Indigenous Peoples brought together more than 150 educators from all over the region, representing indigenous peoples from Peru, Panama, Argentina, Costa Rica, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay who travelled many miles by air...

    Indigenous educators from across Latin America come together to strengthen public education
  8. Worlds of Education 9 August 2022

    Including Indigenous identities and ways of knowing in education and science

    Charitie Ropati

    Engineers and scientists are vital to meeting Sustainable Development Goals but the ecological knowledge that Indigenous people hold when we care for the land are things that are central to the existence of life.

    Including Indigenous identities and ways of knowing in education and science
  9. Statements 5 August 2022

    International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

    On the 9th of August, Education International (EI) joins the celebration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples and reaffirms the human rights of Indigenous Peoples. This year’s theme is The Role of Indigenous Women in the Preservation and Transmission of Traditional Knowledge.

    International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
  10. News 1 August 2022

    Paraguay: UNE-SN starts building its gender equality policy

    Education International Latin America’s Network of Women Education Workers lent its support to the initiative.

    Within the framework of the activity, UNE-SN joined the campaign for the ratification of ILO C190 led by EILA and the Network of Women Education Workers. Among the key issues addressed at the workshop, the participants highlighted the unequal opportunities between men and women, the gender gaps in care responsibilities...

    Paraguay: UNE-SN starts building its gender equality policy
  11. Take action! 19 July 2022

    Teachers around the world mobilise to transform education. Join us!

    1.6 billion students were out of school at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions are still struggling with trauma and learning loss. Teachers and education workers have done the impossible to support their students and school communities in this time of crisis. But the crushing workloads, poor pay, and...

    Teachers around the world mobilise to transform education. Join us!
  12. News 6 July 2022

    EI’s 4th World Women’s Conference rallies the power of women for change

    A record number of women education unionists came together online for the 4th Education International World Women’s Conference held from the 13 to 16th of June. Bringing together a profession largely dominated by women in many parts of the world, the Conference focused on mobilising and using women’s power for...

    EI’s 4th World Women’s Conference rallies the power of women for change
  13. Worlds of Education 28 June 2022

    Transforming our understanding of refugee teachers and teaching in contexts of forced displacement

    Chris Henderson

    In refugee-hosting contexts, teachers contribute more to children’s learning and well-being than any other school-level factor . Refugee teachers also have strong local knowledge and the desire to contribute to better crisis response and recovery outcomes . However, despite their crucial role and the challenging context in which they ensure...

    Transforming our understanding of refugee teachers and teaching in contexts of forced displacement
  14. News 17 June 2022

    Afghanistan: International solidarity to face human and education rights violations

    International solidarity was reaffirmed at a webinar on Protecting the Right to Education of Girls in Afghanistan organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and Unite the Union. Participants took stock of the educational and trade union situation in the country.

    Afghanistan: International solidarity to face human and education rights violations