The last decade has seen unprecedented growth in the number of private schools, especially in low-income countries. This growth is so robust that it is threatening to bring about profound change in very fragile educational systems.
“Students Before Profit” – the theme of the 2017 Canadian Forum on Public Education, held in Ottawa in July, brought together teachers and teacher leaders as well as representatives from school boards, government and NGOs to discuss issues related to the impact of privatization in/of public education, both globally and here in Canada.
The global trends that are impacting our work to ensure free, equitable, quality and inclusive education can be reversed, suggests David Edwards, Deputy Secretary General of Education International.
In July 2017, over 100 teachers, union leaders, and others interested in publicly funded public education gathered together at the Canadian Forum on Public Education, an annual event of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) aimed at increasing the breadth, depth, and reach of dialogue about teaching and learning in order to inform and contribute to continuous systemic improvements so that all children and youth have access to quality publicly funded public education.
Edu-business is a term used to describe the multi-trillion dollar education market. According to Edudemic, a pro-tech in education website, the industry is “not only huge; it’s undergoing more changes recently than it has at possibly at any other point in history. Startups are sprouting to fill in gaps and create new technologies to service this increasingly lucrative field.”
One hundred years after many Canadian women won the right to vote, their “Daughters” took their seats in the House of Commons! Our ancestors would have been proud to see their dignity and self-confidence. The teachers who accompanied them certainly were!
