Our commitment to Internationalism and advancing the interests of quality education globally was reflected in the EIS’s attendance at this year’s International Summit of the Teaching Profession (ISTP), hosted by Singapore.

Whilst a worthwhile professional and trade union experience, it was not all that it could have been had Scotland been in attendance as a participating trade union-government delegation alongside the other big-hitters like Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Germany, Poland and Estonia; the USA and Canada; Australia and New Zealand; Ireland – the only delegation from these islands; and many other countries whose education systems are judged to be high performing by OECD standards and who were able to send an appropriately configured delegation.

Organised jointly by Education International (EI) and the Office for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), countries’ attendance at ISTP is predicated on the willingness of governments and lead trade unions to collaborate: to form joint government-trade union delegations, to discuss in good faith, and to agree ways forward around key issues in the form of three pledges that are worked on together post-summit. Since the inception of ISTP, the EIS has always been willing.

(In fact, the genesis of EIS’s PACT Project- to provide anti-poverty professional learning for the teaching profession, soon to be re-launched – was an agreement between former General Secretary Larry Flanagan and then Cabinet Secretary for Education, John Swinney, back in 2017.)

Over the 14-year history of the Summit, the UK has been a frequent non-attender – the UK Government often unwilling to commit to the requisite trade union-government collaboration, to the frustration of our sister unions south of the border.

Scotland up until last year, had perfect attendance – even stepping up on past occasions to lead the UK delegation when the Westminster Government would not. But, this is the second year in succession that Scotland – the host nation of ISTP in 2017 – has not attended.

2023 was the first in all the years since 2011 that Scotland was absent – a late decision that was taken by the Scottish Government following last year’s change of First Minister. This year, Scotland was prevented from attending – a late decision taken by the UK Government not to attend – again – itself, coupled with what appears to have been a petty diplomatic swipe, in not allowing Scotland to attend either.

Arguably the Scottish Government’s decision last year, unfortunate enough because it meant Scotland missing out on a gold-dust opportunity to learn from a vast range of international perspectives, and on further valuable social dialogue and collaboration with the EIS, also unfortunate because it paved the political way for the UK Government to thwart Scotland’s attendance this year.

Despite the diplomatic and political manoeuvring of the Scottish and UK Governments of late, though, the EIS has ensured that we, as a respected EI affiliate, have not begun disappearing over the horizon from the network of committed international educationalists who annually engage with the theme set for ISTP exploration and debate. We have been consistently present.

I attended ISTP this year and last as an official observer, able to participate in many of the activities but, frustratingly, not the country delegation deliberations. Nonetheless, we have maintained our commitment to internationalism, to looking outwards, to learning from colleagues across the world in order to advance the interests of education, of children and young people, and of the teaching profession, at home and abroad.

That same commitment was demonstrated in our participation earlier this academic session in the form of oral and written evidence, to the United Nation’s High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession. In the face of a shortage of 40 million teachers globally, Antonio Guterres, the UN’s Secretary General, established a commission to investigate the reasons for such a shortage and to identify the solutions.

we have maintained our commitment to internationalism, to looking outwards, to learning from colleagues across the world in order to advance the interests of education, of children and young people, and of the teaching profession

After extensive consultation, including with trade unions, including the EIS, 59 recommendations regarding teacher pay, conditions, wellbeing and safety at work, were made by the United Nations Commission, to governments across the world.

To give a flavour – on ‘Enabling the transformation of the teaching profession’, Recommendation 1 states that: ‘Governments should develop economic and social policies that support teaching and learning through adequate and equitable funding for education and lifelong learning.’

Recommendation 4 provides that: ‘All governments should adopt, implement and regularly revise as needed… national teacher policies…through social dialogue with representative teachers’ organisations…National teacher policies should cover attraction to the profession and recruitment… career pathways…in-service training and professional support; employment; and working conditions, including retention, reward, recognition and remuneration commensurate with qualifications.”

On ‘Investing in teachers’, Recommendation 7 provides: ‘Quality education is not possible without adequate funding…Tax revenue should allow for sustainable education financing.’

And Recommendation 8: ‘Long-term funding for well-qualified and well-supported teachers is an investment in the quality and sustainability of education systems and is more efficient than short-term measures to fill teacher gaps, which result in high turnover and attrition.’

On ‘Fostering humanity in teaching through decent work’, the UN recommends: ‘Working conditions should also provide for…a safe and healthy workplace …support structures for managing problematic student behaviour; balanced workloads…and working-time arrangements (including duties beyond the classroom teaching such as lesson preparation, marking and out-of-class student and parent engagements) that allow for adequate rest and work-life balance.’

On Advancing human-centred education technology, countering the evangelical fervour of some to advance without question the digitisation of education, the UN recommends that: ‘The digital revolution and artificial intelligence must be pedagogically harnessed by teachers and integrated through active and human-centred teaching and learning methods and practices. Such tools should not become a substitute for teachers, but rather should empower teachers to guide their learners’ quest for inquisitive, critical and creative lifelong learning.’

And Recommendation 46, if we were in any doubt: ‘At no point should technology replace the human relationship with the teacher.’

That sounds very much like the United Nations along with the EIS, is standing up for quality education!

These and other recommendations were captured in the contributions of Education International colleagues, at ISTP, and, more importantly, in the commitments made by individual country delegations.

For example, the Australian Education Minister, together with the Australian Education Union, built on Australia’s first-time attendance at last year’s ISTP following the introduction of a new, progressive government, and committed to, ‘Examine initiatives to further support teaching and learning and considering the recommendations of the UN High Level on the Teaching Profession.’

Canada committed to ‘Implement the necessary conditions to promote teachers’ wellbeing in the school community and bolster the attraction and retention of teachers.’ Finland pledged that: ‘We will make sure that every young person is given sufficient support on their path of learning. Support must be provided as soon as the need is identified.’

New Zealand committed to, ‘Develop a framework in partnership with stakeholders for the responsible and ethical use of generative AI in education.’

And reflecting the value that it places on international collaboration, Germany shared its wish to ‘strengthen the focus on international collaboration and learning from each other. Exchange formats such as the ISTP format are valuable platforms for this, as is the substantive co-operation between OECD countries.’

Observing all of this, it sounded very much to me like countries across the world have grasped the need to act decisively, not only to safeguard, but to recover the future of the teaching profession and of the education that the profession provides to young people, the world over.

I was in the room to see and hear all these commitments being made in good faith. In observing, taking all of it in and capturing as much as I could to take home, I was sorry not to be sitting alongside our own Cabinet Secretary for Education at the huge table of international delegations, making our joint commitments to take things forward in the right direction at home in Scotland. Regrettably, she missed out. And even more regrettably, Scotland has somewhat missed out.

But I was there. The EIS was there – in the conference hall, at one of Singapore’s primary schools, at one of its secondaries, at a national teacher education centre; and welcomed warmly by the Singapore Teachers’ Union, its members and members of the Singapore Trade Union Congress.

7000 miles each way is a long distance to travel but every mile was worth it for the professional perspective and trade union solidarity that we gained and shared.

Next year, Iceland is hosting. The EIS will be pressing for Scotland not to be totally out in the cold….