European Trade Union Committee for Education

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On 1 and 2 December 2020 ETUCE will hold its quadrennial Conference. For the first time in its history, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this important Conference will be organised online. Member Organisations across the European region will gather virtually, discuss and take important decisions to represent the realities and challenges of more than 11 million teachers and other education personnel.

2020 has indeed been a challenging year for all of us. The COVID-19 crisis has heavily impacted people’s lives, their work and education systems in general. In the education sector, the crisis has aggravated and brought challenges to the foreground which had existed long before, such as growing inequalities, decreasing public funding in the sector, market mechanisms undermining quality education and social dialogue and collective bargaining, lack of comprehensive national digitalisation programmes as well as increasing pressure on teachers and other education personnel, just to name a few.

Building on trade union solidarity the ETUCE Conference is the opportunity for ETUCE member organisations to discuss and adopt strategies on how to address these existing and future challenges of the teaching profession in the context of the COVID-19 recovery. The delegates will identify ways in which education trade unions in Europe can embrace social change in vital areas such as environmentally sustainable development, active democratic citizenship, equality and inclusion. The conference will also be an opportunity to address education and the digital transformation and the inherent risks of commercialisation of education, while identifying ways to strengthen social dialogue and collective bargaining in the context of wider political developments.

Invited guest speakers are Maryia Gabriel – European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Vivianne Hoffmann – Deputy Director-General for DG Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (EAC), Dr. Stefanie Hubig, President of the Council of Education Ministers of Germany, David Edwards – General Secretary of Education International, will enrich the conference with their views on teachers and education trade unions taking the lead in campaigning to enhance the teaching profession.

Central points of decision at this virtual ETUCE 2020 Conference are the elections of the ETUCE President, ETUCE Vice-Presidents and ETUCE Committee members for the upcoming four years’ term of office as well as constitutional decisions and the main conference resolution and the ETUCE Work programme next to the budget for the years 2021 – 2024.

The main resolution to be adopted at the Conference concerns the commitment of education trade unions to actively engage in social change based on fairness, equal opportunities, quality education and strong social dialogue. It regards the need to maintain the trade union fight for the core principles of democracy, solidarity, equality, sustainability and respect for trade union and human rights in the context of the pandemic and in a climate of neo-liberal policies and polarising nationalist discourse and extremism.

This ETUCE Conference invites for debate around the core topics:

• The future challenges for the teaching profession
• Teachers’ world of work: professional autonomy and academic freedom
• Preventing and combatting occupational hazards in education
• Education for social change boosting progress towards equality and inclusion
• The digital transformation
• ETUCE position against the privatisation and commercialisation of education
• Education trade unions in solidarity for strong social dialogue
• Trade union renewal: mobilising the collective power of education trade unions

But the debates will not stop there. ETUCE will hold an extraordinary ETUCE Conference on 05-06 July 2021 where the ETUCE member organisations’ delegates will have the opportunity to debate in person and adopt a wide range of resolutions and action plans to further accompany the ETUCE work programme with ETUCE policy.

Join us for the education trade union event of the year in Europe!

View the Conference website here.

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