The report of the EI/European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) mission to Turkey, undertaken from 15-18 February, will be presented to the ETUCE Committee on 10-11 April for discussion. The ETUCE issued letters to European authorities urging them to demand the immediate release of arrested Turkish teachers and academics and pay attention to the current national developments which pose a serious threat to democracy and human rights. It called on its members to take action in support Turkish teachers and academics. The mission was composed of the ETUCE President Christine Blower and the EI Senior Coordinator Nicolas Richards.
Through the publication by the ETUCE of the views of the education sector’s professionals on “A New Skills Agenda for Europe” on 17 February, teacher unions asked for the new Commission’s initiative to propose solutions on how to lift barriers to quality teaching, and how to improve the work of teachers and trainers in Europe for better skills development.
Also, the core issue of the ETUCE and the European Federation of Education Employers’ annual plenary meeting 2015 within the European Sectoral Social Dialogue in Education (ESSDE), on 19 February in Brussels, Belgium, was clearly the new ESSDE’s work programme 2016/17, submitted to and adopted by delegates of the plenary group. Education International was represented by the ETUCE Vice-President Andreas Keller and the ETUCE Coordinator Alexandra Rüdig.
The ETUCE Bureau meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on 22 February, prepared the upcoming spring meeting of the ETUCE Committee and the ETUCE Conference in December 2016. Major topics of discussion concerned the EI/ETUCE mission to Turkey, the EI Strategy and Action Plan on Migration and Refugees, and an update on the developments in the ESSDE.
At the first ETUCE training seminar of the “Investment in education: Strengthening the involvement of teacher trade unions in the European Semester on education and training” project, was held in Malta, from 29 February-1 March, Education International was represented by the ETUCE Vice-President Odile Cordelier, as well as the ETUCE Coordinators Paola Cammilli and Agnes Roman.
Focusing on reinforcing equal opportunities in the education sector in a fast changing world, the members of the ETUCE Standing Committee for Equality met in Brussels, Belgium, from 2-3 March, to draft and discuss a proposal of a draft resolution on “Reinforcing Equalities within Education and Teacher Unions In A Fast Changing World”.
Participants at the training seminar on gender equality and social dialogue, held in Sliema, Malta, from 9-11 March, learnt how to promote gender equality through social dialogue in the teaching profession. Representatives of ETUCE member organisations critically reflected on women’s working conditions, gender, and status in the teaching profession, as well as women and decision-making in teacher unions. Education International was represented by the ETUCE Coordinator Susan Flocken.
The first webinar of the Enhancing Quality through Innovative Policy and Practice(EQUIP) project focusing on how external quality assurance will change as a result of the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area took place on 17 February. The first EQUIP workshop was organised on 14-15 March, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Education International was represented by the ETUCE Treasurer Mike Jennings.
During the Learning Analytics Community Exchange, held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 15-16 March, experts from the fields of research, education, policy-makers and public and private sector representatives identified key learning analytics tools, policies and practices and discussed the future application of these in education policies at European and national levels. Education International was represented by the ETUCE Coordinator Susan Flocken.
The UNESCO interviews of the ETUCE Coordinator Susan Flocken and the Belgian MEP Maria Arena on the promotion of gender equality in education, recorded in Brussels, Belgium, on 18 March are available here
The ETUCE further contributed to the European Commission’s public consultation on the mid-term review of the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020. It called on the European Commission to pay more attention to the importance of social dialogue and to push school authorities to set up learning environments enhancing the learning process of special needs students.
Besides, many European EI affiliates organised their annual conferences end of March.
At the national conference of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) from 25-28 March in Birmingham, UK, newly elected President Kathy Wallis highlighted that teachers must be empowered to focus on meeting the needs of the pupils they teach, rather than on paperwork and bureaucracy. The NASUWT International Solidarity Award was presented to the Turkish EI affiliate, E?itim Sen, acknowledging its fights for trade union and human rights. Education International was represented by its Deputy General Secretary Haldis Holst.
French EI member organisations, the Union nationale des syndicats autonomes-Education (UNSA-Education) and the Syndicat national des enseignements de second degré-FSU (SNES-FSU) held their national conferences in Grenoble from 28 March-1 April. Laurent Escure, General Secretary of the Union nationale des syndicats autonomes-Education (UNSA-Education), stressed that for too long governments have ignored the fact that 20 per cent of young people do not complete their school career, while only five to 10 per cent benefit from the system. The UNSA-Education will support education reforms making the school system more inclusive and efficient. The Syndicat national des enseignements de second degré-FSU delegates discussed the organisation's policy and action plans around four themes: secondary education reforms, boosting the teaching profession, social and democratic changes, and trade union challenges. Education International was represented by its General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen.