European Trade Union Committee for Education

Across Europe, the working lives of teachers and other education personnel are challenged by transformations in society. Powerful ideas and narratives about public education are increasingly shaping the nature of the work of  teachers and other education personnel, and framing what becomes a general understanding of the purpose of education, the resources that are committed to achieving these purposes, and the way in which schools and other education institutions are organised and governed.

Together with attempts to undermine the scope of collective bargaining and to restrict or avoid social dialogue, they have increased burdens on teachers and other education personnel, as well as altering the organising environment

Recognising these challenges, education trade unions across Europe are engaged to enhance their organisations around the most important force shaping education: teachers and all other education personnel.

Policy

Adopted by the ETUCE Committee on 13 October 2020, the ETUCE Action Plan on Organising and Renewal is a comprehensive and sustainable strategy aimed at increasing solidarity and improving coordination between ETUCE member organisations to build even stronger and more democratic unions at national level, through increased participation, capacities and actions intended to bring about change. It builds on a two-year work conducted by ETUCE in the frame of the project “Your Turn! Teachers for Trade Union Renewal”.

Actions

• On 23-24 September 2020, ETUCE published a research report, a Handbook for critical reflection, and a Workshop methodology as a result of the European Commission-funded project “Your Turn! Teachers for trade union renewal”. The research report and annexes were elaborate by a research team at the University of Nottingham.
• In the frame of the project “Your Turn! Teachers for Trade Union Renewal”, ETUCE organised a kick-off conference (May 2019), three workshops in Italy (November 2019), the Netherlands (February 2020), and online (May 2020), and a final conference, gathering hundreds representatives from education trade unions across Europe to discuss challenges, definitions and priority areas for joint work at European and at national level for growing as unions around membership recruitment, density, engagement and activism.
• ETUCE member organisations mobilise engagement and sustainable cross-national exchanges around the campaign “Together in the Union: #For Quality Education” through a series of online awareness raising actions and communication sharing.