Second EI World Congress:
Regions
Women
Education
International
Human and Trade Union Rights
Publications
World Teachers' Day 1997  teachers on the front line
New affiliations

Education: Building the 21st Century

Education: Building the 21st Century will be the main theme of the Second Education International World Congress to take place 24-28 July 1998 in Washington D.C. (United States of America). This decision was taken by the EI Officers at their last meeting held 2-3 June 1997 in Brussels.

Sub-themes were also chosen to be discussed in four round tables, a new formula to allow more input by congress participants:

     Learning throughout Life
     Education and the Economy
     Educators: Rights and Responsibilities
     Building Coalitions for Reform

Guest speakers will be invited to address these topics in the plenary.

Discussion papers on the various themes (and proposed resolutions) will be sent to member organizations. Recommendations from the First World Congress will be reviewed in light of new developments and conclusions from Regional Conferences as well as Sectoral Committees will be taken into account.

Recognition will be given by Education International to Paulo Freire, the world-renowned Brazilian educator and author of some twenty books including Pedagogy of the Oppressed, who died last May at the age of 75.

The Officers' meeting agenda also included relations with other international teachers' bodies, new membership dues structure, Development Cooperation policies, future EI conferences and  activities. The Officers will meet again in Brussels before the mid-October Executive Board.
 

ASIA

Some 400 delegates attend the 2nd Asia-Pacific Regional Conference in Malaysia

Education - Challenges for Teachers and Teachers' Organizations in the 21st Century was the theme of the Second Education International Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific, from July 23 to 26, 1997, in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). The three-day event was composed of addresses, panels, reports, elections, resolutions on education, new information technologies, structural adjustment, pollution, and on various countries. In her opening speech, President Mary Hatwood Futrell talked about the changes taking place on the eve of the 21st Century reaffirming that "teachers are the keys to the doors of opportunity" and pleading for higher investments in education. General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen described the challenges of Education for All, of education reform, of civil rights, and of unity and solidarity "arising from a genuine conviction of the members that in unity there is strength - strength to confront the challenges ahead". Deputy General Secretary Elie Jouen analyzed the implications and the impact of the Delors report while Sheena Hanley spoke on the importance of the ILO conventions.

Other events. The EIAP Conference set the opportunity for other EI regional gatherings:

Health Education. A 2½ day seminar on Health Education brought together 33 participants from 12 countries with a programme similar to sessions planned in other regions (Latin America in 1996, Africa in 1998). The presence of regional representatives from international organizations such as WHO, UNESCO, UNICEF and the United Nations should ensure a better implementation in this region of EI's proposals on School Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention (as follow-up to the 1995 Harare Global Conference).

Forum on Indigenous Education. Indigenous nations from Malaysia, Japan, Nepal, Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua-New Guinea, Aotearoa/New Zealand and Australia were represented at the first EI Forum on indigenous education in Asia Pacific, 23 July 1997. In addition to the 16 participants, the conference was attended by EI President Mary Hatwood Futrell, Nagateru Tokuyama (Asia-Pacific Regional Committee), Aloysius Mathews (Chief regional coordinator) and a number of guests including keynote speaker Chandra Roy. The ILO representative who is working on the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Project talked about key issues related to Convention 169; she stressed the importance of education in the development of Indigenous peoples and the role of Indigenous educators. Country reports revealed that affiliates are generally supportive of developing programmes to improve what is happening to Indigenous peoples in their educations systems, their unions and their countries. It was noted that affiliated organizations that have involved Indigenous members have greatly benefited from their participation.

The participants prepared a resolution - later adopted by the Asia-Pacific Conference-  reaffirming the commitments made at the First EI World Congress in Harare (see Highlights..., November 1995) and proposing local actions to be coordinated regionally. Indigenous Peoples represent 250 million persons living in 70 countries.

u Women's Seminar. 55 participants from 18 Asia-Pacific countries met for a three-day seminar, 21-23 July 1997 in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). The topics covered during the meeting were challenging; they included a review of the progress made; a discussion of strategies for further activities to achieve gender equality for women and girls; advice on ensuring that governments implement the Beijing Platform of Action; strategies on child labour, on having women's rights recognized as human rights, and on raising awareness. The programme consisted of presentations of keynote speeches, panels and small group discussions dealing with topics such as Gender Equity, Education of Girls, and the EI Asia/Pacific Women's network activities. Following the discussions, five resolutions were presented to and adopted by the Regional Conference.

EI was represented by President Mary Hatwood Futrell, Vice President Sharan Burrow (Regional Committee), Executive Board member Diana Jayasundera, Deputy General Secretary Sheena Hanley, EI Coordinator for trade union and human rights Rosslyn Noonan, and Shashi Bala Singh, Coordinator.

EUROPE

EI European members met in Luxembourg last June

The EI European Regional Conference met in Luxembourg on 9 June 1997 with delegates from 73 member unions. This was the first Conference held under the new arrangements agreed in 1996. It was followed immediately by the General Assembly of ETUCE and all EI/Europe affiliates are now either full members or Associated Organizations of that body, which represents member unions of EI and WCT in relation to the European Union, the European Free Trade Association and the European Trade Union Confederation. In future, these meetings will take place every two years.

EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen reported on the progress made in the new working arrangements with ETUCE and WCT and expressed the hope that this progress would continue. There was detailed discussion of the Programme of Action, with emphasis being laid on activities on teachers' pay and early childhood education with ETUCE, the development of work on human and trade union rights and activities against racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

Resolutions were passed concerning continued repression in Kosova, human and trade union rights in Turkey and the non-payment of teachers' salaries in Russia. Lars-Erik Klason  (Lärarförbundet, Sweden) was reelected as President of the Regional Committee. In future the Committee will consist of the Officers, five members from countries outside the EU and EFTA and the members of the ETUCE Executive Board from EI member unions. This will give added emphasis to the close working relationship with ETUCE, nearly 95% of whose membership comes from Education International.

EI Conference on Democratic Societies for Central and Eastern Europe affiliates

Democratic Societies: Living and Learning Together is the general theme of an EI Conference for Central and Eastern European members to be held in Bled (Slovenia) 9-12 November 1997. Subtitled The Role and Responsibilities of Teachers and their Unions, the three-day event will focus on themes such as the nature and causes of intolerance, confronting prejudice, celebrating diversity in the classroom, planning for change between now and the year 2000. Keynote speakers, experts and other guests are expected to contribute to the programme; workshops, various activities, films and other events will be on the agenda. A special session for teachers and unions from ex-Yugoslavia has been prepared on 12pm/13 November. Deadline for registration (on the appropriate form): 15 September 1997 at the very latest.

Status of Women Committee looks at the feminisation of the teaching staff

The EI Status of Women Committee met on 27 and 28 June 1997 in Brussels. The participants focused on the work of the United Nations' Commission on the Status of Women in 1998, new training materials, follow-up to Beijing and a special session was held on the feminisation of the teaching profession. The next meeting will take place in the first trimester of 1998.

UNESCO Recommendation on EI Higher and Further Education Committee's Agenda

Meeting in Hamburg (Germany) July 10-12, 1997, EI's Higher and Further Education Sectoral Committee looked back at our International Conference held last March in Paris with UNESCO's cooperation (see Monitor Vol 4 No 4) and began preparations for the UNESCO's World Conference to take place in Paris in September/October 1998.

On the Draft Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel which will be presented "for consideration and adoption by the General Conference" in November 1997, the Committee proposed that concerned member organizations contact the appropriate authorities in their countries as well as UNESCO's National Commissions to inform them of EI's views and try to convince them to make interventions supporting the adoption of the recommendation by the UNESCO's General Conference.

Following an information period on the forthcoming EI Congress  (see cover page), the Committee members prepared proposals to be examined by the round tables. The participants also hoped that a meeting of affiliates representing higher education and research personnel could be arranged next July in Washington DC. The Committee also prepared proposals for resolutions and actions to be forwarded to the Executive Board in view of the second EI World Congress.

In its second annual meeting, April 23-24, 1997 in Brussels (Belgium), the EI standing sectoral committee on secondary education developed the three themes proposed by the Executive Board for the 1995-1998 period: financing of education, education reform, impact of the social environment on quality schooling. As decided in November 1996 (see Monitor Vol 4 No 2), the basis of their work consisted of written contributions prepared by members of the group. The consultative committee later debated on how to continue the discussions and produce a final outcome; more in-depth investigations and papers will be prepared, and comprehensive reports on all three themes will be completed in good time for the next meeting scheduled in February 1998. In our next issue:Vocational Education and Training.
 

4th WHO International Conference on Health Promotion

Entitled New players for a new era, this 4th World Health Organisation (WHO) Conference on Health Promotion took place in Jakarta, Indonesia, from July 21 to 25, 1997. Some 400 participants from the public sector, academia, private sector and non-governmental organizations attended the conference. The meeting focused on investment in health and the new partnerships needed to help mobilize social, political and financial support for health development and international cooperation. The conference addressed three main questions:

*  What approaches have proven successful for implementing and strengthening health promotion programmes and/or improving health at different level of society?
*  What are the future priorities for international, national and local level action to achieve the greatest health gains?
* How can new partnerships and alliances be built to reduce the gap in health between rich and poor and promote Health for All in the 21st century?

INTERNATIONAL

EI active at ILO's 85th International Labour Conference

Education International was represented at the June 3 - 19, 1997, International Labour Conference in Geneva (Switzerland). Besides attending the plenary sessions, its representatives participated in a number of activities such as the Committee on the Application of Standards, the Committee on the Revision of Convention No 96, the Committee on Contract Labor, panels on child labor, and various  meetings and work sessions with officials from trade unions, the ILO, Governments, etc.

EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen addressed the Plenary Session on June 17 and insisted that the values set forth in the (1948) Universal Declaration of Human rights be respected by ILO Member States: "This organisation was created to establish, monitor and defend international standards. We support the Director-General in his efforts to strengthen the supervisory functions of the ILO and  to find ways to ensure compliance with the international labor standards. We are shocked at the unwillingness of some governments to allow further exploration of these proposals. Even more disturbing is that some governments ignore the findings of the Freedom of Association Committee, that they treat this organisation's unique tripartite Governing Body with disdain and seem to wish to weaken the mechanisms that we have developed over the years".

The EI leader recalled that "our members, educators and other education employees, [...] have been in the vanguard of revolutions, industrial as well as political revolutions. Educators played leading roles in the movements for independence of Latin America and the Caribbean, of Africa, of Asia and the Pacific. They have been instrumental in struggles to overthrow dictatorships and regimes based on racial discrimination. And today, we are more than ever in the forefront of revolutions - the information revolution and the knowledge revolution. We are crystal clear in our advocacy for the idea that these revolutions must be based on respect for basic human values, must not be an excuse for the strong and powerful to trample basic human rights".

The EI delegation included Deputy General Secretary Sheena Hanley, EI trade union and human rights coordinator Rosslyn Noonan and representatives from EI affiliates. More on Internet: http://www.ilo.org
 

New Labor Forum at the World Bank

At the ICFTU/ITS meeting with the World Bank in February 1997 (see Monitor Vol 4 No 4), there was discussion on the need for a more formal and systematic process for consultations. The World Bank has designated Peter Fallon of the social protection division (Human Development Department) to follow up. A steering committee will be formed to pursue this matter, composed initially of the ICFTU and the ITSs which contribute to the Washington office: EI, PSI, FIET, ITGLWF and ITF. Proposals discussed included: a) convening of an annual labor forum, b) establishment of working groups on specific issues, c) support of the World Bank's Economic Development Institute (EDI) for training of national trade union leaders, d) Participation by trade union representatives in WB staff training sessions, etc.
 

ICFTU/ITS Working Party on Multinational Companies

Education International attended a meeting in Washington DC where the following items (among others) were examined: i) ICFTU/ITS action on child labor aimed at specific companies, ii) progress on codes of conduct including an important clause on child labor in a number of major US based companies from the clothing and footwear industry, iii) a proposal from PSI for joint action on workers' pension funds which today account for 25% of all stocks traded on Wall St. and 30% of all bond purchases worldwide.

The State in a changing world, the World Bank's World Development Report 1997

For the authors of the recently published World Bank's flagship publication, the World Development Report 1997 is a new statement by this institution which asserts that the state has an important role, i.e. which argues against those who would reduce that role to a bare minimum. At a meeting in Washington DC on 6 May 1997 between the drafting team and representatives from ICFTU, PSI, FIET and EI, the trade unionists questioned the approach and philosophy of the report seen as an ideological justification for neo-liberal positions on privatisation, deregulation and the like associated with the WB and the IMF.
The organizations which had been invited to comment the document nevertheless recognized some improvements from earlier drafts.

A World Bank policy paper should follow and a new group will be created on public sector issues. The 265-page report includes a set of social and economic statistics and indicators for over 200 developed and developing countries. Now available in book form (US$25.95) and CD-ROM from usual distributors in English, French, Spanish; versions in Arabic, Chinese, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Russian available in September 1997. More information and summaries on Internet: http://www.worldbank.org/

HUMAN and TRADE UNION RIGHTS

EI represented at the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations

Education International was represented by Bill Tehuia Hamilton, Assistant Secretary Maori Education, from the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI), and Rosslyn Noonan, EI Coordinator for Trade Union and Human Rights at the 15th session of the UN Working Group held in Geneva (Switzerland) from 28 July to 1 August 1997.

Indigenous peoples from all parts of the world participated in the meeting, contributing on the main themes of land, environment, sustainable development and health. EI presented two workshops on indigenous education.

The common issues that emerged included the desire for indigenous curricula, the desire to promote and protect mother tongue and indigenous culture, the lack of resources, the failure of governments to adequately support indigenous goals and aspirations in education, and the failure of mainstream education to incorporate indigenous perspectives and the histories of indigenous peoples in the curricula. Encompassing all of these was the desire for indigenous peoples to have control over indigenous education. In two speeches Bill Tehuia Hamilton emphasized that there can be no sustainable development for indigenous peoples without quality indigenous education. He urged the Working Group to make indigenous education a key theme of the agenda for the 1998 and 1999 sessions. If this proposal is adopted EI affiliates will be informed so that consideration can be given to extended participation in those years.
 

"Worst-ever year" for repression of trade unionists according to ICFTU Survey

Trade unions are being repressed across the world in more countries than ever before reports the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions in its 1997 Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights launched during the ILO's International Labour Conference last June (see p. 5). The document highlights incidences of trade union rights violations in 108 countries, more than ever before. The report estimates that at least 264 trade unionists were murdered in 1996, 1,761 were injured and 4,264 arrested in the course of their union activities. Latin America holds the worst record. The 135-page document has been sent to all EI member organisations. The Brussels-based ICFTU represents 124 million workers in 137 countries and territories. More on Internet: http://www.icftu.org
 

World Teachers' Day 1997: Teachers on the Front Line

What are your plans for this fourth World Teachers' Day? Education International member organisations have already received promotional material for this 5 October 1997: logos, Post-its, a Media Handbook, a cassette with a series of videos (27m, 11m, and clips) entitled Teachers Make the Difference, a copy of the time-coded script and posters with quotes "about the world's most important job" from the videos. Affiliates have been invited to contact national broadcasters to ask for these
EI/UNESCO videos to be shown on television around WTD. Efforts are being made by EI to have a special presentation about teachers over the European Commission satellite. More details to follow.

Affiliates should also receive Portraits in Courage: Teachers in Difficult Circumstances, a brochure prepared by UNESCO. TV5 International will air interviews of some of the teachers portrayed (from South Africa, Rwanda, Mongolia, the USA and France) from 5 to 9 October 1997. French television stations France 3 and La Cinquième should also broadcast this material on 3, 4, and 5 October.

EI has also urged its national organisations to ask their governmental or postal authorities to  issue (by the year 2000) stamps to commemorate World Teachers' Day.

Best wishes and keep us informed.
 

PUBLICATIONS

Tolerance in Films - Keys to the language of motion pictures in schools. Education International and UNESCO, June 1997. 84p. 14x14cm. A selection of 60 movies promoting democracy, human rights and tolerance. Also available in French La tolérance au cinéma - Clefs pour l'éducation à l'image dans l'enseignement and Spanish La tolerancia en el cine - Claves para la educación de la imagen en la enseñanza. More information on Internet: http://www.education.unesco.org/ei and in the June 1997 issue of the Education International Magazine.

Media Handbook. Education International, June 1997. 45 pages. A practical guide about relations with the medias and about communications with your membership from the production of a traditional newsletter to the creation of your own site on Internet. Also available in French Le manuel médias and Spanish Manual de Prensa.

Teachers make the Difference. Time-coded script of videos produced by Education International with the co-operation and support of UNESCO, June 1997. 18 pages. Filmed in five different countries, the videos examine current problems facing education worldwide, such as structural adjustment and privatisation, and the impact on teachers. With contributions from educators, union leaders, politicians and representatives of the UNESCO and the ILO. Also available in French Les enseignants feront la différence and Spanish Los docentes harán la diferencia.

The Progress of Nations 1997. UNICEF. ISBN: 92-806-3314-7. 68 pages.  Also available in French Le progrès des nations ISBN: 92-806-3315-5, Spanish El Progreso de las Naciones ISBN:92-806-3316- 3. Read also The 1997 UNICEF Annual Report. 65 p. More on Internet: http://www.unicef.org

United Nations Publications Catalogue 1997-1998. New York and Geneva. 150 pages. More information on the UN Statistical Yearbook, the Demographic Yearbook, CD-ROMs, etc, on Internet at: http://www.un.org/publications. Note that new On-line services (Monthly Bulletin of Statistics and an Optical Disk System giving access to more than 300,000 UN documents) are now available through subscription. More information:  http://www.un.org/depts/unsd/mbsreg.htm and  http://www.ODS.un.org

Four new affiliations to Education International
 
The Officers confirmed the affiliation of four new organisations which brings EI's
membership to 278 unions from 148 countries. Welcome to our new European members:
 
Finnish Union of University Researchers and Teachers (FUURT), Finland
Fédération Formation et Enseignement Privés (FEP-CFDT), France
Syndicat national des chercheurs scientifiques (SNCS), France
Syndicat national de l'enseignement technique agricole public (SNETAP), France