Jelmer Evers, Director of the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE), stated:

“The Educators and Scientists Free Trade Union of Georgia (ESFTUG) stands as a prime example of strong teacher organization combined with providing professional development training for educators.

ESFTUG is ahead in these directions. Therefore, sharing its resources and experience is both valuable and applicable for teachers’ unions across Europe.

ESFTUG’s work in enhancing members’ qualifications encourages teachers’ active participation in discussing professional needs and developing proposals.

In many countries, trade unions work primarily with government authorities only at the decision-making level, while their direct engagement with teachers remains weak or absent.

The Georgian reality is different. ESFTUG’s two main approaches—professional support for teachers and intensive meetings with educators—strengthen the union’s competent and effective participation in social dialogue.

Through professional support for teachers, ESFTUG has succeeded in consolidating and expanding its activities.

It is essential for European teachers’ unions to make their work visible to teachers. If we fail to ensure continuous communication and direct meetings with them, we risk losing members. From personal experience, I can say that education unions must be capable of developing their work in both equally important directions: trade union advocacy and professional support for teachers.”

The European Conference “Artificial Intelligence and Education: For Union Strategies, Advocacy, and Collective Bargaining,” held in Copenhagen, brought together 66 representatives from teachers’ unions of 20 European countries.