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Leading the profession 15 June 2009 Conflicting views on recovery – G8 Finance Ministers versus reality
G8 Finance Ministers met in Italy on Saturday 13 June. Their statement was mildly optimistic about recovery, but was at odds with the reality, as reported by trade union leaders the day before in Geneva.
Conflicting views on recovery – G8 Finance Ministers versus reality -
Leading the profession 12 June 2009 Union values central to economic recovery
Global economic recovery will require the re-affirmation of our fundamental values -- the right of workers to organize, to be represented by independent trade unions, to build a decent future for themselves and their families. This message was central to the address given by EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen...
Union values central to economic recovery -
Leading the profession 10 June 2009 A jobless recovery?
Talk of a “jobless recovery” doesn’t make sense. When labour leaders met with World Economic Forum staff last week, there was some straight talking about this notion and the reality confronting millions around the world. For more details see:http://fundingeducation.blogspot.com .
A jobless recovery? -
Leading the profession 28 May 2009 Is economic recovery on the way?
People around the world are looking for signs that the worst of the financial crisis is over, and that recovery may be on the way. US leaders said recently they could see “a glimmer of hope.” The financial media are asking whether the dramatic decline in markets has “bottomed-out.” In...
Is economic recovery on the way? -
Leading the profession 13 May 2009 Unions organise for economic justice
“Invest in people!” This is the message that EI will put to governments and key international agencies in coming months as the world searches for a path to recovery from the global economic crisis.
Unions organise for economic justice -
Leading the profession 12 May 2009 Investing in education is part of solving economic crisis
Over the past six months, people around the world have watched in growing alarm as it became evident we now are facing the worst crisis in the real economy since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Unfortunately, working people, who had no hand in creating the crisis, are bearing the...
Investing in education is part of solving economic crisis -
23 March 2009 Wikis: Fast, effective and productive
Have you noticed? More often than not, when you look up a word in an Internet search engine, the first result that shows up is an article in Wikipedia, the on-line encyclopedia. What is the technology behind the website that makes this free, collaborative on-line project so successful?
Wikis: Fast, effective and productive -
Union renewal and development 23 March 2009 Union skills and radical action needed on climate change
Planet Earth faces the real danger of abrupt climate change in the next 10 to 30 years, the consequences of which would be so catastrophic that the international community needs to take concerted and radical action now.
Union skills and radical action needed on climate change -
Union growth 23 March 2009 Island-mainland: Long distance solidarity among teachers
The gate to the school yard is covered with ugly graffiti, but the murals in the courtyard depict lovely flowers, colourful tropical scenes, and a map of the island of Martinique, an overseas department of France in the eastern Caribbean. We are at the secondary school of Le Vauclin, where...
Island-mainland: Long distance solidarity among teachers -
Trade union rights are human rights 20 March 2009 Teaching under bombardment
Sri Lanka has for decades been torn apart by the conflict between the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tigers. Members of a Tamil education union give personal accounts of life and work in the most dangerous areas of the country. To protect the identity of the teachers who had...
Teaching under bombardment -
Leading the profession 20 March 2009 PISA: Is testing dangerous?
The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an internationally standardized test undertaken by random samples of 15-year-old students in 57 countries around the world. It is the best known international comparative study undertaken regularly in education today, and its results have a significant impact on education policy in...
PISA: Is testing dangerous? -
Leading the profession 20 March 2009 Neuroscience and education: implications for classroom practice
Did you know that the concept of individuals being left-brained or right-brained is an example of neuroscientific research data being interpreted incorrectly (Willis, 2008)? Or that the practice of identifying learners as auditory, visual or kinesthetic has never been supported by brain research (Ansari, 2008)? These commonly held beliefs have...
Neuroscience and education: implications for classroom practice -
Trade union rights are human rights 20 March 2009 Beyond Burma: Lessons in hope for refugee children
Mae Sot, THAILAND — He has the quiet, professional demeanour of a man who prefers the educational sanctuary of the classroom to the dangers of revolutionary politics. Yet Burmese teacher Htay Hlaing spent nine-years incarcerated in a notorious torture prison in his military-ruled homeland for the so-called “crime” of helping...
Beyond Burma: Lessons in hope for refugee children -
Union renewal and development 19 January 2009 Hurricanes devastate homes and schools
Haiti’s struggling education system suffered another severe blow as tropical storms and hurricanes hit the island four times in August and September, bringing floods that killed more than 800 people and inflicting almost $1 billion in damage.
Hurricanes devastate homes and schools -
19 January 2009 Bridging the digital divide
In 2005 the One Laptop Per Child Initiative announced plans to deliver millions of specially-designed laptops to children in developing countries. According to OLPC, an American non-profit association, the laptops would cost only $100 US each, and they would provide even the poorest of students with access to knowledge.
Bridging the digital divide -
Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 19 January 2009 Roma education: slow steps to inclusion
We [teachers] can begin. I hope we are clever enough to understand that somebody has to take the first step for nothing. And the second step for nothing. And maybe after 10 steps I can expect something from gypsy kids, and gypsy families. Because I like to hope that we...
Roma education: slow steps to inclusion -
Fighting the commercialisation of education 19 January 2009 France: Public education under threat
The recent book, "Main basse sur l’éducation publique", by teacher Eddy Khali and journalist Muriel Fitoussi, sends a disturbing message about the many threats endangering quality, free public education in France.
France: Public education under threat -
Trade union rights are human rights 19 January 2009 Finns work for safe schools
“When I first heard the terrible news from Kauhajoki I was shocked: Not again!” said Erkki Kangasniemi, President of the Trade Union of Education in Finland (OAJ).
Finns work for safe schools