May 16, 2019 at 12:19 pm
16th May – World Education Support Personnel Day
The Malta Union of Teachers is joining Education International (EI) in celebrating the World Education Support Personnel (ESP) Day today 16th May. This year’s theme is Making the invisible visible – standing with ESP.
The World ESP Day was launched in connection with EI’s first-ever ESP Conference in 2018, following the adoption of the ESP Resolution at the 7th World Congress in 2015. Similar to World Teachers’ Day, the day is an occasion to celebrate the work of ESP across the globe, underline their role in ensuring quality education, and shine a light on the challenges that ESP still face at work. Education support personnel are the crucial nuts and bolts that ensure that quality teaching and learning can take place in education institutions and they must be sufficiently valued for the work they do.
In a comment given to the MUT, Education International General Secretary David Edwards stated that “Education Support Personnel are an essential part of the education community. Though we have different conditions and experiences in different countries, we have shared challenges, and we must recognise that it takes a whole workforce to educate the whole student.”
To mark the occasion, Education International (EI) is releasing “Understanding the invisible workforce: education support personnel’s roles, needs and the challenges they face”, a research study designed by EI’s ESP Task Force and based on a survey administered in seven case study countries. Click HERE to read it.