All teachers and education support personnel have the right to organise and be part of a union that represents and defends their values and interests. However, around the world, education unions are facing serious attacks and operate in increasingly challenging and hostile environments. Revitalising unions, building their power by boosting membership and active participation and maximising impact is the way forward.
The human and trade union rights crisis in Chile is deepening, with education leaders targeted with impunity by state authorities.
Chile: Growing Threats to Human and Trade Union Rights
The Education International Asia-Pacific Regional Committee meeting focused on union responses to threats to human and trade union rights, the impact of climate change, and growing privatisation in education.
Asia-Pacific: Education leaders highlight challenges around rights, climate, and privatisation
Rotating strikes by teachers and education workers are set to continue this week in Canada’s Ontario province. The strike started on 6 February, with negotiations between educators and the province’s government over funding and collective bargaining stalled.
Canada: Educators strike against cuts in education and for collective bargaining
On 3 February, a stampede in the Kakamega Primary School in Kenya's western region left 14 students dead and 40 severely injured. Kenyan education unions have reacted angrily to the factors that led to the tragedy. The unions condemned the lack of implementation of existing safety standards, and addressed the...
Kenya: Deadly stampede in school highlights dangers of overcrowding and poor infrastructure
At a recent meeting, the Committee of the Education International’s Arab Countries Cross Regional Structure reaffirmed their commitment to fight education privatisation and defend democracy in the region. Committee members reported on the challenges faced in their national settings, discussed recent union activities, and strategised for future action and campaigns.
Arab educators tackle diverse challenges to education and teachers in their region
A strike in secondary schools in Ireland has seen hundreds of establishments closed as teachers all over the country demand an end to pay discrimination.
Ireland: Teachers strike for equal pay
Following a year of trade union struggle, the government has issued a decree reinstating the National Joint Negotiation Committee for Teachers (Paritaria Nacional Docente).
Argentina: Trade Unions Welcome Revival of Social Dialogue
The union demands that the education system take immediate action to save our planet
Spain: FECCOO Organises Seminars on Education and Climate Change
Education International strongly supports the Netherlands’ education staff who are set to strike again – they are seeking appropriate and sustainable funding in the public education sector. Most Dutch schools will be closed from 30-31 January.
The Netherlands: Strike action demands government funding of education and teachers
Teachers in Malawi finally received their December 2019 salaries, thanks to strike action organised by the Teachers' Union of Malawi.
Malawi: Teachers’ strike and student support force government to pay salary arrears
What is more timely for us, Israeli teachers, than talking with our German colleagues about the fight against racism and anti-Semitism? It's already been happening for the 29th time! For the past 50 years, a bi-national seminar has been held once every two years attended by Israeli and German educators...
"A teacher like me” – meeting with German teachers, crossing emotional bridges, sharing positive professional experiences on Holocaust education, by Talia Kranz.
I am a primary school teacher in Berlin. In the summer of 2019, I participated in a German-Israeli union seminar for teachers in Tel Aviv that was organized by the German union “Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (GEW)” and the Israeli teachers union “Histadrut ha Morim”. In this seminar, we discussed...
“Susi”- a graphic novel about a Jewish girl in disguise - and how to work with the book in primary schools, by Silvia Stieneker (GEW, Germany).
Education International member organisations from 17 countries in Europe, North America, Latin America and Africa are in Poland this week for the official ceremony marking 75 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The ceremony will be followed by a conference on Holocaust education organised by unions from...
Holocaust remembrance: Education unions come together for Auschwitz memorial ceremony and Holocaust education conference
The International Remembrance Day of the Holocaust is commemorated on January 27th. It is a good opportunity to reflect on a unique aspect of Learning about that period. I'll start with a short story. My family has lived for many generations in Romania. A few years ago, before my grandmother...
“The forgotten voices of the Holocaust”, by Yossi Michal.
Education unions have condemned the "parental PIN" that the Spanish ultra-right wing is promoting in a bid to undermine equality and diversity education in schools.
Spain: Far Right seeks to ban educational content
Education unions call for a clarification of the circumstances that led to the crash of Ukraine International Flight 752 outside Tehran, which claimed 176 victims, including professors and students.
Iran: unions demand transparent investigation into plane crash
Today, Human Rights Day, Education International, its affiliates and the global trade union movement stand with trade unionists and all those who defend human rights in the Philippines.
The global trade union movement puts the Philippine government on notice: hands off human and trade union rights defenders!
Teachers and education in the Philippines are under siege. The Duterte government’s worsening attacks on all forms of dissent, disguised as a ‘whole-of-nation approach’ purportedly to end local communist insurgency, is taking its toll on the sector that is universally mandated to espouse and uphold social justice, human rights and...
“Philippines: On Persecuting Teachers and Weaponizing Education”, by Raymond D. Basilio.