The World Federation of Teachers Unions known by its French initials FISE (Federation Internationale Syndicale de L'Enseignement) is an international trade union of educators affiliated with the World Federation of Trade Unions.
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History
The FISE was founded in Paris in July 1946 as a merger of the International Professional Secretariat of Education and l’Internationale des Travailleurs de l’Enseignement (ITE), with the support of the American Education Association. It was reorganized in 1949 and became the first international trade union to become affiliated with the WFTU. It took this step right after the non-Communist unions had left the WFTU and the organization became completely dominated by communists. In 1951 a group of unions split off and founded the International Federation of Free Teachers Unions.
The FISE was the WFTU's "only true professional organization" and had a degree of independence. The FISE was able to work with non-Communist teachers groups through the Joint Committee of International Teachers Federations, or Comite d'Entente. In conjunction with these groups it helped publish a "Teachers Charter" in the mid 1950s During the 1980s it cooperated with the International Federation of Teachers Unions (then affiliated with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions), the World Federation of Educators (affiliated with the World Confederation of Labour) and the World Federation of Organizations of the Teaching Profession.
FISE is an organization with consultative status with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). It has had its position within UNESCO since at least 1985.
Organization
The organizations highest organ is the Statutory Conference, formerly called the World Conference of Teachers. Originally annual events, they were held at irregular intervals in the 1950s and now are constitutionally mandated to be held every four years. Between meetings of this conference the organization is headed by an Administrative Committee which meets at least once a year. Day to operations are directed by a Bureau which consists of the General Secretary, President, Vice-President and Secretariat, who are ex-officio members of the Administrative Committee.
FISE was originally headquartered in Paris but was expelled in 1952 for "fifth column activities". It then moved to the Soviet sector of Vienna, but was expelled, again, in February 1956. The location of the headquarters immediately after the expulsion from Vienna is unclear, though FISEs' journal Teachers of the World was published from 10 Rue de Solférino, Paris 7ème. In 1978 its headquarters is reported at Wilhelm Wolff Strasse 21, East Berlin 111. It was at the same address in 1985. Its current headquarters is at 6/6 Kalicharan Ghosh Road, 700 050, Kolkata, India.
Conferences
The first six conferences were called "World Conferences of Teachers". They were denoted "Statutory Conferences" since at least 1985:
Membership
In August 1956 FISE was reported to have seven million members in 34 countries. By the 1978 this had grown to over 16 million in 74 organizations in 50 countries. In 1985 the group claimed 20 million members in 121 organizations in 82 countries. As of 2009 FISE claimed over 26 million members within 156 trade unions in 40 countries including France, Greece, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Congo, Ethiopia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, Togo, Argentina, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Bangladesh, China, India, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestinian territories, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, and Yemen.
Regional federations
By 1978 the FISE had two regional federations, the Confederation of American Teachers and the Federal of Arab Teachers Syndicates. As of 2009 there are four regional affiliates - Confederation of American Educators, Federation of Teachers Organizations of Central America, Federation of Arab Teachers and the Federation of University Workers Unions of Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico
National sections
In 1978 the following organizations were affiliated with FISE:
Publications
The FISE published a quarterly Teachers of the World in English, French and German with "separate" Latin American Spanish and Japanese editions. By the 1980s this publication carried a "pedagogical supplement" financed by UNESCO. Another bulletin was published 8 times a year and was variously called Educators International Courier or International Teachers News. It was published in English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, Portuguese and Arabic.
FISE still publishes Teachers of the World quarterly in English as well as the FISE Information Letter eight times a year in French, English, Spanish, Russian, German, Portuguese, Arabic.