Speaking on behalf of the Workers’ Group at the ILO Conference Committee on the Application of Standards on June 7, Antonia Wulff, from Education International, warned of global trends leading to the deprofessionalisation of the teaching profession.
“Hiring of untrained and unqualified teachers, a short-view measure of governments to respond to rapid increases in enrolment is becoming an established practice. For example, Chile has recently changed its policy and no formal teaching qualifications are now required to be a teacher.’ she stated.
Wulff highlighted other areas of concern, including the increased use of short-term contract teachers and the growing disparities between teachers’ pay and comparable professions. Teachers’ salaries had been frozen or cut in many European countries, for example, in Latvia, Romania, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Ireland and Portugal.
She noted that such practices were linked to the deterioration of collective bargaining rights and the consequent negative impact on working conditions.
Wulff also highlighted the narrowing of curricula as well as a view on teaching not requiring any preparations as further signs of deprofessionalisation, and criticised the increasing use of standardised testing and “high-stake” teachers’ evaluations. These reforms are often poorly designed and reduce the role and influence of teachers as professionals.
Social dialogue in danger Julia Ondina Ortiz, from the Federation of Teachers’ Organisations in Honduras spoke of the lack of social dialogue and anti-trade union practices in her country, which was having a terrible impact on the quality of education.
Salaries have been frozen for a number of years, and the government owes millions in Lempiras in back pay. New teachers are not recruited on merit but because of political criteria and the teachers’ pension system has been reformed with the introduction of a much less favourable system.
“Many teachers have been dismissed because their trade union permits were cancelled. Edgardo Antonio Castaña, President of the Professional College of Teachers (COPRUMH), who is present here with me, has been threatened with dismissal for attending the ILO Conference,” Ondina Diaz concluded.
The Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendations concerning Teaching Personnel met at its 11th session in October 2012 and the report is submitted to the ILO Governing Body and the ILO Conference.
The ILO/UNESCO Committee clearly recommends that salaries and working conditions of teachers should be negotiated through their organisations, by statutory or voluntary machinery.