Council of Pacific Education


The Council of Pacific Education is a regional organisation of education unions from the South Pacific Region. COPE is a sub-branch of Education International's Asia and Pacific regional division. The COPE office is based in Suva, Fiji. The current Secretary General is Neselinda Meta.

Affiliates

Australia

National Tertiary Education Union

Independent Education Union of Australia

Australian Education Union
Cook Islands

Cook Island Teachers' Union
Fiji

Fijian Teachers' Association

Fiji Teachers Union

Association of the University of South Pacific Staff
Kiribati

Kiribati Nation Union of Teachers
New Zealand
New Zealand Educational Institute

Post Primary Teachers' Association

Independent Schools Education Association of New Zealand

ASTE & AUS amalgamated to become Tertiary Education Union effective 1 January 2009
Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea Teachers' Association
Samoa

Samoa National Teachers' Association
Solomon Islands

Solomon Island National Teachers' Association
Tonga

Friendly Islands Teachers' Association
Tuvalu

Tuvalu Teachers' Association
Vanuatu

Vanuatu Teachers' Union
Wallis and Futuna

FORCE Ouvriere Enseignement

Activities

COPE provides advice and assistance on professional, industrial, legal and human rights issues for teachers, support staff and their representative union affiliates in the region. It also acts as a clearing house for information to both its affiliates and to other organisations across the Pacific and to Education International.
COPE hosts biennial conferences to address issues facing education in the South Pacific. In August, 2008 the Roundtable and 18th Biennial Conference was held in Nadi, Fiji, together with UNESCO and UNICEF, on "Improving the Status of Teachers as per International Labour Organization -UNESCO's 1966 Recommendation and promoting Children's Rights to Quality Education".

The topics of discussion ranged from key issues and challenges in the pacific region concerning the status of teachers, to school leadership and obstacles to children's right to education specific to the region.