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Fighting the commercialisation of education
Education is a human right and a public good that can be fully realised only through the provision of free, equitable, inclusive, quality public education. The growing commercialisation and privatisation in and of the sector is the greatest threat to the universal right to education.
Across the world, corporate interests are striving to transform all levels of education, from early childhood to higher education, into yet another market with winners and losers. As private-sector management models are applied to education institutions, employment conditions in the sector are being undermined. As low-fee, low-quality private schools expand rapidly, there is a risk that governments abrogate their responsibility to ensure the right to education for all. Unaccountable corporations have undue influence on education policies and institutions. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this trend which risks transforming education into a commodity, favouring profit over quality education.
As educators, we put students before profit. In 2015 we launched our Global Response to the Commercialisation and Privatisation of Education. Through this campaign, we work to expose and challenge the policies and practices of governments, intergovernmental organisations and international financial institutions which undermine public education and the rights and status of teachers and education support personnel. We also resist global corporate actors, especially education technology providers, who push the commercialisation and privatisation in and of education.
Our work in this area
Opinion 5 September 2019
"Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Cote d'Ivoire: problematic privatization and a framework to be redefined", by Eric Lavigne.
Eric Lavigne
The Pathways to Education and Work research group from the University of Toronto has published its report entitled "Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Cote d'Ivoire". The study assesses, negatively, the results of privatization of education on technical and vocational education and training (TVET), calls for more public participation,...
An education union guide to copyrights and copywrongs in education and research
Copyright laws around the world are being changed to accommodate the digital environment. It is essential that education unions take an active role in copyright reforms to ensure that teachers and researchers are not deprived of their rights to use and build upon creative works for teaching, learning and research.
Liberia: civil society calls on government to stop the expansion of private education
The fight against the privatisation of education has taken a step further in Liberia. The National Teachers' Association of Liberia together with twelve civil and human right organisations and two religious organisations sent a joint letter to public authorities reminding them of their responsibility to ensure quality public education for...
Opinion 13 August 2019
"For the integrity and status of Higher Education and Technical and Vocational Education and Training", by Fred van Leeuwen.
Fred van Leeuwen
Higher education is indispensable if we are to maintain a foundation of facts, knowledge and free discussion in society. TVET reaches very many young people and adults and has a key education function in addition to providing skills training. Both are under attack as many, public and private, innocently or...
Technical and vocational education and training as a framework for social justice: Analysis and evidence from world case studies
Gavin Moodie, Leesa Wheelahan, Eric Lavigne
This report observes several limitations of human capital theory, both as a description of the way qualifications are used in the labour market, and in severely limiting the potential roles of technical and vocational education and training (TVET). It proposes as an alternative the human capabilities approach which posits that...
Educators' unions in Australia and the EU call for education to be carved out of trade negotiations
During the Education International (EI) 8th World Congress, affiliated educators' unions in Australia and the European Union issued a statement calling for the Australian government and the European Commission to be more transparent in ongoing negotiations on the potential free trade agreement and to explicitly carve out education from the...
Opinion 26 July 2019
"Education Unions and the Struggle for Democracy", by Hugo Yasky.
Hugo Rubén Yasky
"As we approach the centenary of the birth of Paulo Freire, whose teachings continue to inspire and influence our actions, the Latin American Pedagogical Movement, EILA and its national member organisations embody the collective will to defend education as a social right and a powerful means for the emancipation of...
EI celebrates education champions
Today Education International honoured two outstanding activists during its 8th World Congress in Bangkok, Thailand. Curtis Riep received the Albert Shanker Education Award and Jalila al Salman received the Mary Hatwood Futrell Human and Trade Union Rights Award.
Trump, Trumps, Trumpted: Cat and Mouse Games in 'The Education House of Cards'
By Susan L Robertson, Professor of Sociology of Education - Faculty of Education, Cambridge I've recently been heard remarking I never thought I would say politics appears to be trumping economics. Of course, I am mostly talking about the disastrous consequences for the UK economy if BREXIT finally comes to...
The highs and lows of higher education analysed at EI Congress
Participants at the higher education caucus learnt from academics from all over the world on topics ranging from the lack of funds, privatisation and commercialisation of higher education to precarious employment conditions and attacks on academic freedom.
#OffTrack #3: Government Violation of Trade Union Rights and Educators' Academic Freedom in Turkey
Today, at the United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLFP), Turkey will be presenting a Voluntary National Review (VNR) of its progress towards achieving the SDGs.
Official UNESCO Recommendation on Open Educational Resources moves one step further
Education International welcomes UNESCO global commitment to advancing access to works for teaching and learning through expanding access to quality and locally relevant open educational resources.
Former EI President Thulas Nxesi appointed to South Africa's cabinet
Education international and the South African Democratic Teachers' Union welcome the decision of the President of South Africa's to appoint former President of Education International, Cde Thulas Nxesi, to the Cabinet of South Africa as Minister of Labour and Employment.
News 4 June 2019
Nigeria: Union steps up campaign against privatisation and commercialisation of education
The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) has stated its determination to prevent exploitation of the poor by marketers in education.
Opinion 3 June 2019
Imagining Good Universities
By Raewyn Connell There's been a lot of discussion of the bad things that have been happening to universities recently. We've seen a stream of books with titles like "The University in Ruins", "The Fall of the Faculty", "Selling Students Short", "The End of the South African University".
News 29 May 2019
Japan: Grief following the attack on schoolchildren in Kawasaki
As people around the world express their shock and disbelief on the student stabbing in Japan, educators express their deepest sympathy and sorrow.
"When Open Educational Resources and platform capitalism meet", by Nikola Wachter.
Nikola Wachter
Technological advances have an ever increasing impact on every aspect of the education system, from the provisioning of education to working conditions and administrative governance. Unfortunately, technology is too often dumped onto education institutions leaving behind a big ecological footprint but no educational improvement. However, there are also many examples...
Latin America defines the next steps in the fight against privatization
Union leaders have gathered in Costa Rica to discuss how to take the global response against the privatisation of education to the next level.
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