EI is organising a seminar in November for its member organisations in the Pan-European region to address the challenges faced by education unions in implementing effective non-discrimination policies related to the rights of lesbian and gay teachers and students.
Entitled "Education unions: building respect for diversity", the activity will be held from 3-5 November in Bratislava, Slovakia. The seminar will provide participants an opportunity to increase their understanding of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation. It will address the challenges faced by education unions in implementing policies that protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) education staff. Participants will also gain an insight of the benefits of working jointly with civil society LGBT groups. Prior knowledge of LGBT, or other non-discrimination union policies, will be an asset for participation in this seminar. However, the objective is also to provide knowledge to member organisations that have not yet started addressing LGBT rights in the education sector. The seminar will make recommendations on how teacher unions share the responsability of providing a non-discriminatory environment with equal opportunities for all in education and society, and how to generate good practices from the policy papers and mobilise support for LGBT rights. All EI member organisations in the Pan-European region are invited to participate by sending one representative to the seminar. The official languages of the seminar will be English, French and Russian and interpretation will be provided. For more information about the seminar, please click on the link below.