For the first time ever, the Heads of State of the world are meeting to discuss progress in education. Convened by the UN Secretary General, the Transforming Education Summit (TES) is taking place on 19 September 2022 in New York. It is a very important opportunity for us as education unions to make our voices heard.
The Summit is a crisis response: it aims to reverse the downward trends that we currently see in education, with deepened and exacerbated inequity, and cuts to education budgets. Not only is the world off track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), the COVID-19 pandemic has wiped out 20 years of education gains. This is why the UN Secretary-General is calling for urgent action.
The Summit is the biggest international education event since the adoption of SDG4 and a significant political opportunity for all EI member organisations. There are multiple ways that education unions can engage in the lead up to the Summit.
This toolkit includes EI’s key policy messages for the Summit and aims to support EI member organisations in their advocacy efforts to ensure the Summit has concrete, tangible outcomes that advance teachers’ status and rights and the fulfilment of the right to education for all.