Background

Teacher unions are complex and diverse institutions. According to Stromquist (2018, p.10), teacher unions are “strongly shaped by their historical trajectory, the size of their membership, and the national context in which they function”. In any ‘global’ survey, it is important to highlight that teacher unions are boundary spanners. On the one hand, their evolution is largely dependent on responses to historical, social, economic, and cultural events and expectations that emerged within specific national and subnational contexts. On the other hand, as Stromquist points out, unions are increasingly immersed into extra-national relations, highlighted by such documents as the ILO/ UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers, enacted in 1966 and indeed the aims and mandate of Education International itself.