Implementing the ETUCE Action Plan on Work-Related Stress (2009)
The safety and health of teachers is a priority of ETUCE. ETUCE believes a school should be a safe, healthy and propitious place for teaching and learning. Schools are the workplace of teachers, but first and foremost they are educational institutions for young students. Occupational health and safety problems can thus be harmful not only for the workforce (teachers and other staff in education), but can indirectly harm the pupils and put at risk the quality and efficiency of the education provided.
Related topics
Description
Within this project ETUCE intended to continue its work carried out during 2007. ETUCE aimed to work on the implementation of its Action Plan and to go further in supporting its member organisations in the implementation of the European Framework Agreement (FA). The three main focus areas, as identified in the first project, were to work further on risk assessment, the inclusion of work-related stress in collective agreements and the procedures and strategies that teacher unions should follow while dealing and preventing work-related stress at school level. Thus, the project overall objective was to implement the ETUCE Action Plan on teachers' work-related stress and to continue supporting national teacher unions in the implementation of the FA on work-related stress.
Its specific objectives were to deal with:
- supporting teacher unions in the establishment of risk assessment systems on work-related stress in schools;
- supporting the inclusion of psychosocial hazards (focusing on work-related stress) in social dialogue;
- supporting teacher unions to set up strategies on H&S to perform in schools, specially as regards preventing and tackling work-related stress.
With this project the ETUCE Network traditionally known as "Network on Working Conditions" enlarged its scope to cover also teacher's health and safety issues. It is now called "ETUCE Network on Working Conditions and Health and Safety". During its first year of work, this section of the network dealt with the topics mentioned above. The exchange of experiences among member organisations through the network helped attain the project objectives. Good practices on risk assessment systems were gathered through the network. In addition, the on-line debates helped us to learn from those countries where the social dialogue systems at local, regional and/or national level deal with this topic. Finally, we gathered good examples from those unions having the most effective strategies in order to preserve teachers' health and safety at the workplace.
Advisory Group
-Anne Jenter (GEW, Germany)
-Anders Eklund (Lärarforbundet, Sweden)
-Monika Konczyk (KOiW NSZZ Solidarnosc, Poland)
This project has been carried out with the financial support of the European Commission