Overview of EI’s work and findings from the Survey on

the Impact of the CrisisGuntars Catlaks

Senior Coordinator ResearchEducation International

Purpose of presentation

• Provide an overview of EI’s work in the context of

the crisis

• Present the findings of the follow-up survey

• Compare the impact of the crisis in different regions

& expectations for the future

• Highlight what unions can do

EI’s work in context of crisis

• ‘Hands up’ Campaign: www.ei-ie.org/handsup

• EI high-level seminar on the impact of the global economic crisis on

education in central and eastern Europe in Warsaw, 2-4 September

2009

• Two global surveys among EI membership: January-March 2009 -

information collated from 40 countries & August-December 2009 -

48 countries

• Development of resources: fact-sheets, reports, EI-Action Aid

toolkit for member organizations, blog

Follow-up survey on the impact of the crisis (1)

• Follow-up from January-March 2009 survey

• Aim to collate detailed information on the precise impacts of

crisis on education across the globe

• Broadly addresses the following issues: What the consequences for education budgets are How this affects teachers’ working conditions and salaries What the impact is at the school level What the role of financial ‘aid’ instruments has been How unions have responded Unions expectations for the future

Follow-up survey on the impact of the crisis (2)

• 62 union responses collected representing 48 countries in all regions

• Majority of responses from Europe, Latin America & North America

• Impact of the global economic crisis not been consistent across countries and within regions

• Consequently the effects on education sectors heavily dependent on government policies adopted

Three main policy directions• Protection of education budgets, despite expected budgets

decreases in the future due to reduced tax revenues & fiscal

deficits

• Stimulus packages launched in numerous countries, but it is

uncertain how long these can last (education often not in

focus) – short-term measure

• In other countries, governments have reduced public

expenditure, including education, to offset fiscal deficits

Central and Eastern Europe• particularly hard-hit by crisis – high exposure to external

markets

• governments have reduced public spending to reverse soaring

fiscal deficits

• slashed public budgets, severely lowered salaries, redundancies

& hiring freezes within education sectors

• loans from international financial institutions have further

tightened public spending as part of loan conditionalities

Western Europe• impact of the crisis has been much lower on education

diverging government reactions• Iceland & Ireland economies hardest hit, lead to

redundancies & hiring freezes in education sectors• Some countries have (announced) increased public debt in

order to invest in public services including education e.g. France, Germany & U.K.

• Examples of investment in higher education as a recovery strategy, e.g. Norway & Sweden

• Higher education funding reduced eg. Portugal

North AmericaUnited States • one of the first countries that launched an exceptional

stimulus plan, including investments in education• However... fragile situation remains: many states depend

strongly on tax revenue & federal aid & concomitant increases or decreases of funding to education systems

Canada• unions expect that cutbacks in education will lead to layoffs,

larger classes, interventions by governments in the collective bargaining process and a lower of teaching and classroom resources

Latin America• relative macroeconomic stability in region• However, high public debt levels & declining tax revenues

could lead to decreased public funding in the future • Decreased export demand, drop in remittances & less

investment flow• countercyclical policies introduced by some governments to

cushion the impact on the poor & to maintain education spending levels

• Unions note no change or increase in education spending• many school-age children have never seen the inside of a

school in the region, particularly indigenous children

Africa• low-income countries in SSA reduction in private financial

flows & access to market financing • reduced global demand for African exports, lower remittance

inflows and lowered prospects for aid flows • Donors & int. community falling severely short of aid

commitments, development assistance may decline considerably

• gains made towards the EFA goals could be stalled or even reversed slowed economic growth + budgetary pressures + rising poverty levels (UNESCO EFA GMR 2010: Reaching the Marginalised)

• Unions continue to report: high teacher shortages, poor teacher training, unqualified teachers

Asia Pacific• growth severely affected lower export demand, lower

remittances & demand for migrant labour• could push an additional 21 million people in the Asia-Pacific

region in extreme poverty (UNESCAP et al. 2010)

• thwart steady and considerable progress achieved towards the EFA goals & MDGs

• many governments have not reduced, or increased, social sector expenditure (education), despite expected higher deficits

• Increased hiring of para-teachers (India & Nepal)

Trends: Reduced education spending • Cuts between 5% to 50% in many countries of Central and

Eastern Europe in all sectors• Reduction of curriculum and special education provision• Increased decentralisation of funding to municipal level &

private entities• Trend towards privatization in Western Europe →

governments used crisis as a pretext to introduce more private spending in education

• U.S. & Canada states and provinces affected unequally → many states and provinces face severe revenue shortages

Trends: Impact on teachers• Cuts in salaries, redundancies and non-salary

compensation • Lay-offs and hiring freezes• Reductions of retirement programs, maternity leave,

child-care and health insurance• Job losses for support staff

• Increased hiring of unqualified teachers and/or increased workloads

Cuts in education & impacts on teachers

Trends: Impacts at the school level

• Closure and merging of small public (rural) schools & special needs schools

• Special education classes are being reduced• Curricula reduced, particularly cutting of foreign

language classes & guidance counselling• Expansion of class sizes • Rise in tuition fees or voluntary contributions, e.g.

Cote d’Ivoire, India, Nicaragua, Nepal

Impacts at the school level

Trends: Financial ‘aid’ instruments• Countries in CEE (Latvia, Hungary, Poland, Serbia & Romania) & Latin

America secured different types of loans from IMF & other IFI’s → conditionalities that have been traditionally attached to such loans request rigid fiscal measures

• Economic stimulus packages in West → but few with an education component, often focused on investments in school infrastructure

• Declining aid to developing countries (SSA, Asia-Pacific, Latin America) slowly emerging, despite already failing donor commitments

Unions responses• Unions formally involved in discussions with national & local

governments in the context of the crisis• Little union involvement in decision-making process• Increased involvement in trade union confederations in

context of crisis lobbying, demonstrations, negotiations

• Successes include negotiating that schools have not been closed and teachers have not been laid off (lesser scale)

• Expect cutbacks in education spending (2011 – 2012)

Conclusions• Similar features of economic crisis: diversity of impacts→

variety of policy responses from governments• Size and scale of impact relative to size and openness of

economies• IMF loans have played negative effect on education• International community & donors must increase spending on

aid to meet EFA goals & MDGs• Impact on education depends on:

Governments ideological presumptions Fiscal flexibility of countries Ability to raise public debt levels Unions role