The world’s teacher unions met in Argentina for the five-day Edcuation International 10th World Congress in early August. EI is the global federation of teacher unions.
More than 1000 delegates from 380 organisations in 150 countries came together, representing more than 30 million members around the world. It was the first Congress since 2019.
United Nations report
Key business of the Congress centred on a 2024 UN Report, United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession.
The findings of the High-Level Panel reflect our daily experience in Australia: “The High-Level Panel notes with alarm the persistent and increasing teacher shortages around the world.
These shortages are exacerbated by the continued attrition of teachers, the use of contract and unqualified personnel to fill teacher gaps, the lack of professional development and support, inadequate working conditions and salaries, and the enormous hardship of teachers working in crisis contexts.”
The High-Level Panel made 59 recommendations to address the problem.
The solutions are familiar: investing in teachers; promoting equity, diversity and inclusion among the teaching workforce, with incentives and support for teachers working in hard-to-staff areas and in crisis-affected regions; elevating the status and dignity of the profession; ensuring teachers are well-qualified with good induction and mentoring programs for new teachers; and developing strong and collaborative school leadership.
Early childhood education was noted as requiring salaries commensurate with other levels of education, and the importance of gender pay equity was also cited.
The High-Level Panel called on the UN to develop an up-to-date international convention on the teaching profession and establish a global fund to support teachers in crisis regions.
It was clear during the Congress that even though we have much work to do to achieve these aims in Australia, the situation for teachers in some countries is much worse.
Delegates spoke of teachers’ union officials being arrested or forced to flee in some countries. A Turkish teacher unionist was arrested on his way to attend the Congress. EI has lobbied to support unionists in Haiti and Iran who have been imprisoned.
In other countries, the wages of teachers and education support staff are being cut. This is occurring in Argentina, where inflation is 200 per cent per annum, and education expenditure has been slashed drastically. In Argentina, many school building projects have been cancelled mid-construction and universities have lost all government funding.
Commercialisation of education
Speakers at the Congress addressed thetrend towards commercial, for-profit delivery of education. This model removes the obligation from government to provide universal education and often allows private providers to charge fees and cut the quality of the education they provide.
This has been proposed in Argentina, accompanied by the austerity program in public spending described above.
Unionists from Korea described risks arising from the commercialisation of education and public/private partnerships, including the potential for misuse of student data and the emerging trend to use AI to replace teachers by corporations providing school education.
Other issues
Issues such as pay equity for early childhood teachers, improving wellbeing of teachers, addressing violence and discrimination in education, gender equity in unions and the situation of teachers and students in Gaza were all discussed in workshops or plenary sessions.
Role of Education International
EI provides support for teacher unions that face financial, logistical and political barriers in achieving fair outcomes for their members. Bringing unionists together for the Congress highlights these issues and provides endorsement of the work EI is doing in lobbying the UN and governments to address the crisis in the teaching profession around the world. Addressing these issues is as vital in other countries as it is in Australia.
