Education International and its global contribution to educational debates

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, this paper reviews the global contribution and significance of the work of Education International, an international professional trade union organization. It provides a short history of the organization, of its key values and core objectives are, and an indication of the ways it works multilaterally with international organizations, such as the International Labor Organization, UNESCO and the OECD and various systems of education around the world. The second half of this paper describes some of the ways in which Education International approaches some of key issues of policy and practice, both long-standing, such as social equality and human rights, and those that are emerging, such as uses of new technologies, privatization, decolonization of education and climate change. The paper demonstrates the importance of professional voice of teachers and their attempts to organize collectively in the defense and promotion of major educational and social principles.