Moving abroad to teach can be a complicated and uncertain process, full of cultural adjustments, visa challenges, and for some seeking a better way of life, can involve the violation of their rights.
This is why Education International has launched a website dedicated to teacher migration worldwide to help teachers on the move and improve education quality.

The launch is being accompanied by the release of a broad study commissioned by EI, “Getting teacher migration and mobility right,” which garnered usable responses from 1,358 teachers from 53 home countries who worked abroad in 127 host countries. This represents the largest and most extensive known survey of migrant teachers and offers useful insights to inform engagement by various stakeholders.

The study is the result of EI and its member organisations ongoing efforts to protect migrant workers, particularly teachers and other education employees and their families.

“As a global union dedicated to teacher’s voices and dignity, as well as to quality education for all students around the world, EI has long recognised the profound importance of international teacher migration and mobility,” said EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen. “We acknowledge that international migration and mobility has become a global phenomenon, representing a notable challenge for many countries, and risen to the top of the policy agenda in many parts of the world”, he stressed.

Through the website portal, Migrant Teachers’ Rights, teachers going abroad to teach will find valuable information. The site includes a useful checklist, educators’ fundamental rights, along with the opportunity to meet others and share stories. For unions, the portal will provide resources, strategies, and examples of best practices.

The report, commissioned by EI, also seeks to elevate the voices of teachers in order to better understand their motivations for migrating, the benefits they gain from their experience, and the challenges they face. The study reviews existing literature on teacher migration and publicly available data sources, as well as information collected through research visits to a range of source and destination countries.