Ei-iE

Future of work in education

The future of education depends on strengthening the teaching profession, enhancing its status, and improving conditions to ensure that every student has a qualified teacher. The expertise of teachers must be recognised. Teachers must be the ones leading the development and future of education.

Technology and artificial intelligence are currently changing education as we know it. COVID-19 has accelerated the pace of change, forcing classrooms to move online for extended periods of time. While technology has the potential to support teaching and learning, it also poses major challenges, such as the critical digital divide and increased inequity, the commercialisation of education, issues of data privacy and cyberbullying, to name just a few.

Simply introducing education technology does not lead to enhanced learning. The teaching profession has a critical role to play in evaluating and deciding on the appropriate technology for teaching and learning.

As proven by the COVID-19 crisis, relationships between teachers and students and school communities are critical to student development and cannot be replaced by screens. We advocate for a human and student-centred approach to the use of technology and artificial intelligence in education.

Our work in this area

  1. Worlds of Education 6 March 2023

    Are new technologies feminist?

    Pauline Schnegg

    Surprisingly, while most teachers (70% of teachers in France are women) are in favour of equality between girls and boys, as soon as the words “feminist pedagogy” are uttered, they are met with confusion and even rejection. It is like claiming to be in favour of equality without promoting the...

    Are new technologies feminist?
  2. News 6 December 2022

    France: State education staff called to the ballot box for the social dialogue elections

    French education unions are currently campaigning for their social dialogue elections. The 1.4 million voters in the Ministry of National Education and Youth, the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research are invited to vote by internet from 1 to 8 December 2022.

    France: State education staff called to the ballot box for the social dialogue elections
  3. Worlds of Education 25 November 2022

    Sportswashing edtech: how a World Cup corporate sponsor is playing with education

    Ben Williamson

    Education technology companies do not usually sponsor global sports tournaments. The brand logo of Byju’s, however, is currently displaying in football grounds in Qatar, after becoming an official FIFA World Cup sponsor . But the most highly-valued EdTech company on the planet is also carrying a lot of recent reputational...

    Sportswashing edtech: how a World Cup corporate sponsor is playing with education
  4. Worlds of Education 24 November 2022

    The Copyright Experience of the University of the South Pacific: a Union Perspective

    Elizabeth Reade Fong

    Legislation is meant not only to protect but to bring equity. And copyright legislation is not meant to be any different. However, the reality on the ground in a developing country like Fiji has only reinforced the inequity of access to and, more importantly, the use of information for learning...

    The Copyright Experience of the University of the South Pacific: a Union Perspective
  5. News 25 October 2022

    Education unions on the move to rebuild in Asia-Pacific

    The 9th Education International Asia-Pacific (EIAP) Regional Conference “Rebuilding the Asia-Pacific: Educators and their unions at the forefront towards a sustainable future” provided education trade unionists in the region and beyond with an extraordinary opportunity to connect, exchange experiences, new perspectives, fresh ideas, and delve deeper into achieving decent working...

    Education unions on the move to rebuild in Asia-Pacific
  6. Worlds of Education 25 October 2022

    Teachers, not computers, are the beating heart of education

    Susan Hopgood

    More than 130 countries committed to prioritise education at the United Nation’s Transforming Education Summit (TES), a global meeting of Heads of State held in September in New York.

    Teachers, not computers, are the beating heart of education
  7. Worlds of Education 18 September 2022

    Teachers are ready to transform education — it’s time for governments to step up

    David Edwards

    Despite the global crises facing the world, the power and optimism inherent in education will always provide hope for our future. To move forward from this pandemic, and the deepening inequities it exposed, we need to transform education by fully funding public education systems and investing in, supporting, and respecting...

    Teachers are ready to transform education — it’s time for governments to step up
  8. Worlds of Education 8 September 2022

    The unheard impact: technology and the teaching profession

    Lainie Keper

    Education International (EI) recently hosted a consultation event to provide feedback into the 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report on technology and education.

    The unheard impact: technology and the teaching profession
  9. News 8 July 2022

    European educators reaffirm their commitment to enhance the status of the teaching profession for inclusive, peaceful, democratic and sustainable societies

    Confronted with turbulent times for teachers, educational staff and their trade unions, delegates at the Special Conference of the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE), the European region of Education International (EI), took a pro-active stand and reasserted their will to mobilise and organise for quality public education, for...

    European educators reaffirm their commitment to enhance the status of the teaching profession for inclusive, peaceful, democratic and sustainable societies
  10. Worlds of Education 13 June 2022

    Why the education community should be paying attention to the WTO E-commerce Work Programme

    Michael Geist

    E-commerce has emerged in recent years as critical part of commercial activity. With mounting online sale of goods and delivery of services, the implications of e-commerce for the education community arise at both the commercial and policy levels. Indeed, e-commerce and online education delivery played an increasingly prominent and important...

    Why the education community should be paying attention to the WTO E-commerce Work Programme
  11. News 19 May 2022

    Technology in education: Strengthening the leadership of the teaching profession

    A major area of interest before the pandemic, the use of technology in education has become a key priority for Education International in the context of the sudden and large-scale expansion of technology in the sector as a result of Covid-induced lockdowns. EI’s work in this area includes the development...

    Technology in education: Strengthening the leadership of the teaching profession
  12. News 16 May 2022

    The voice of educators at the UNESCO World Higher Education Conference

    The 3rd World Higher Education Conference brought together the global higher education community to reflect on how to address the impact of the pandemic and design the future of higher education to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Organised by UNESCO, the Conference took place from...

    The voice of educators at the UNESCO World Higher Education Conference
  13. News 12 May 2022

    International Summit on the Teaching Profession 2022: Governments and teachers’ unions working together for an equity driven public education

    Convened by Education International and the OECD, the International Summit on the Teaching Profession brings together governments and education unions in OECD countries in order to strengthen and support an informed and honest policy dialogue between and among elected representatives of the teaching profession and national government authorities.

    International Summit on the Teaching Profession 2022: Governments and teachers’ unions working together for an equity driven public education
  14. Publications

    The pandemic - moving forward: Governments and teacher unions working together to leave no-one behind

    A briefing by Education International for the International Summit on the Teaching Profession 2022
    9 May 2022

    Convened by Education International and the OECD, the International Summit on the Teaching Profession brings together governments and education unions in OECD countries in order to strengthen and support an informed and honest policy dialogue between and among elected representatives of the teaching profession and national government authorities.

    The pandemic - moving forward: Governments and teacher unions working together to leave no-one behind
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  15. Worlds of Education 9 May 2022

    Education and Copyright: obstacles to teaching in the digital age

    Teresa Nobre

    Access to knowledge is an important aspect of the right to education . In order to respond to the needs in the classroom, teachers often complement traditional teaching resources (e.g., textbooks and other curated materials) with a wide spectrum of materials from a variety of sources (e.g., short videos, images,...

    Education and Copyright: obstacles to teaching in the digital age
  16. Worlds of Education 26 April 2022

    Enabling the future of youth research through copyright

    Sean M. Fiil-Flynn

    This year’s World Intellectual Property Day is being dedicated to the theme of youth empowerment . The focus is on recognition of the role of youth “stepping up to innovation challenges, using their energy and ingenuity, their curiosity and creativity to steer a course towards a better future.” Intellectual property...

    Enabling the future of youth research through copyright
  17. Worlds of Education 28 January 2022

    Challenging global tech giants: the critical role of Global labour

    Carmen Ludwig, Edward Webster

    In a recent research paper, Carmen Ludwig and Edward Webster examined the role of global unions to contest the use and abuse of digital technology through transnational activism in two African contexts. Action included work with Education International’s Global Response against the privatisation of education.

    Challenging global tech giants: the critical role of Global labour