Ei-iE

Despite its essential role, early childhood education (ECE) is undermined by chronic underfunding. Recognition of the importance of early childhood education, as well as the salaries, job satisfaction, working conditions, and status of ECE workers remain low. Meanwhile, private actors are working to take over the sector, filling the funding...

With the purpose of enhancing the professional skills of early childhood educators in Palestine, the General Union of Workers in Kindergarten and Private Schools (GUWKPS) organized a series of four union-sponsored, half-day workshops focused on “trauma-informed education.” This training for Palestinian kindergarten teachers, focused on providing them with tools to...

World Children’s Day is celebrated annually on 20 November. The date is auspicious for children’s rights as it coincides with the date on which the United Nations adopted both the Declaration on the Rights of the Child in 1959 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.

If you are looking for detailed statistics, research, and quotes from around the world to illustrate the impact of increased privatisation and private equity penetration on the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector, and solutions for unions and allies, you will find some answers in recently launched “The Privatisation...

At the first meeting of the Education International (EI) Early Childhood Education (ECE) Network, participants delved into the significant challenges facing early childhood education in Africa, with a particular focus on Ghana. The discussions highlighted issues of access and equality, the lack of robust ECE systems, curriculum and pedagogy challenges,...

‘Education’, suggested Austrian psychoanalyst Siegfried Bernfeld in 1925, ‘is the sum total of societal reaction to the fact of ontogenetic development’ (Bernfeld, 1973, 1925). His wide-ranging definition has profound implications as we endeavour to reimagine education for all in the 21st century: education begins at birth (‘ontogenetic development’), education is...

On November 30, Education International hosted an online event to assess the progress made in implementing the International Labour Organization Policy Guidelines on decent work for early childhood education personnel 10 years after their adoption and reflect on new developments in the sector. The discussion was informed by the special...

Research by Education International reveals that early childhood education (ECE) personnel have been among the education workers whose employment conditions were most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary findings of an ongoing research also identify this chronically underfunded sector as one of the most threatened by the global teacher shortage.

Based on my experience as a teacher in the sector, I can testify to the transformative power of quality early childhood education (ECE) for children. ECE goes beyond learning letters of the alphabet or numbers. Playing games and enjoying nature outdoors are equally important for children, nurturing creativity and building...

On November 30, Education International will host an online event to assess the progress made in implementing the ILO Policy Guidelines on decent work for early childhood education personnel and reflect on new developments in the sector. The discussion will be informed by the special edition of the I-BEST survey...

The global pandemic that swept across the world just a few years ago was a grim reminder of the fragility of human lives. Widespread illness and death, economic disruption, mobility restrictions, and lockdowns precipitated by the unabated spread of Covid-19 was shocking, almost unbelievable for many of us.

An active delegation of Education International (EI) and member organisations' representatives participated in the UNESCO World Conference on Early Childhood and Care Education (ECCE), where it underlined the need to “reaffirm the right of every young child to quality care and education from birth” and urged governments to renew their...

In this blog post, I share my personal trajectory as a teacher experiencing Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the Brazil countryside and urge stakeholders to reflect on the problems involving such partnerships to education. In addition, I reflect on how such PPPs are a result of the lack of financing in...

ECE Educators Graduate in Tanzania

The Taiwanese government is widening the social gap and encouraging the privatisation of the early childhood education (ECE) sector. That’s according to the National Teachers’ Association (NTA) in its yearly summary.