Fwd: Australian Education Union and Education International

[Monty Neill <monty@fairtest.org>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[epata] Australian Education Union and Education International
Date: 	Fri, 10 Dec 2010 15:14:20 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
From: 	George Sheridan <learn@jps.net>

	

	

	

Today I heard Angelo Gavrielotos, President of the Australian Education 
Union,

address the Board of Directors of the National Education Association. AEU
represents 85-90% of Australiaâs teachers.

He brought greetings of solidarity from what he called a âparallel universe.â

Three years ago AEU campaigned hard to defeat a right-wing government. But the
new labor-supported government inflicted a national standardized test on every
student. They went on to propose and implement a series of policies including a
merit pay scheme with cash bonuses for teachers twice a year based on national
standardized tests and cash bonuses for schools (but not proper funding for all
schools).

They introduced a program called âTeach for Australia,â and another called
âTeach Nextâ âfor those for whom formal qualification is a hurdle,â
suggesting that anyone can teach.

When Angelo told Dianne Ravitch whatâs going on in Australia, she said, âOh
dear. How quickly bad news travels!â

Finland is recognized as the nation with the worldâs highest rate of literacy.
Angelo says policy makers go to Finland, only to return and ignore everything
about Finland. They say they want evidence-based policy, but we have stacks of
evidence supporting our vision and they ignore it.

Pay for test scores is an international agenda. We must confront it together so
we can continue to campaign for what is important.

Angelo concluded by quoting former NEA President Keith Geiger, âThe question is
not whether we always win, but whether we always fight.â

The General Secretary of the Australian Education Union, Susan Hopgood is also
President of Education International. EI is a global union federation including
more than 30 million educators in 400 education unions, in over 100 countries.

EI is a trade union, human rights organization, professional organization. Its
World Congress will be in 2011 in Capetown, South Africa.

Education is the most important investment a society can make for the future of
its economy, culture, and social order.

Across the globe, 75 million children are not in school and do not have access to
education. Governments have promised that all children will be in school by 2015.
In recent years they promised to commit $30 billion but actually provided only $3
billion. In the global financial crisis, the public sector is facing the brunt.
Public services are being cut in the developed world and the developing.

By 2015 there will still be 56 million children out of school.

What must we do to ensure for educators around the world trade union rights,
working conditions, salaries and collective bargaining?

How will we ensure that every child in every country has access to quality
education â primary, secondary, career and technical?

Strength comes from building solidarity at the local and national levels as well
as the international level. Over 2000 educators will attend the World Congress of
Education International. The Congress will monitor the work of the last 4 years
and set EI's course for the future.
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-----------------
Thanks in advance!
-Eric Crump



--
Monty Neill, Ed.D.; Interim Executive Director, FairTest; 15 Court Sq., 
Ste. 820; Boston, MA 02108; 857-350-8207 x 101; fax 857-350-8209; 
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