The International Center on Child Labor and Education (ICCLE) brought together the American Federation of Teachers, Child Labor Coalition, National Consumers League, International Labor Organization, National Education Association, and Stichting Kinderpostzegels Nederland, and nearly 40 teacher-participants and child labor experts for the 2005 Workshop on Teaching about Global Child Labor Issues, July 27-28. The objective was to provide teachers with the resources and skills needed to integrate lessons on global child labor issues into their classrooms and to promote youth leadership on global child labor issues. Funding for this workshop was provided by the United States Department of Labor. The workshop was inaugurated by the President of the National Education Association Mr. Reg Weaver standing along side Jill Christianson from NEA and Helen Toth from AFT International Affairs Department. Mr. Kailash Satyarthi Chair Global March Against Child Labor and President of the Global Campaign for Education was also present on the occasion.

Eighty percent of all teacher-participants and resource persons who filled out an evaluation were "very satisfied" overall with the program. The other 20 percent were "satisfied." A few of their overall impressions were that the workshop was both local and global and covered both the big issues and particular actions and experiences. One participant wrote, "It was a great way to share ideas from different states." Impressively, the teachers represented the following states: CA, CT, IA, MA, MD, MI, MN, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TX, VA!

The information and sessions that respondents found most interesting, relevant or useful for them were: 1) the way Nick Grisewood, author of the ILO-IPEC Education Pack SCREAM Stop Child Labor, led them in hands-on teaching activities, such as the moving debate, 4-squares activity, and creating a story from an image; 2) the actual personal experiences, work and reflections of real people who have done "impressive stuff", particularly Kailash Satyarthi, Chair of the Global March Against Child Labor as well as Ron Adams, Teacher, and Kristen and Tom, students from Broad Meadow Middle School in Quincy, MA. The teachers appreciated their laying out step by step processes to take action; and 3) learning teaching strategies and lessons from experienced teachers like Beverly Witwer and Marlene Johnson, authors of the University of Iowa's Child Slavery and Hazardous Child Labor teaching modules.

Learning about the positive work that different organizations, schools, and people, especially young people, are already doing was most inspiring for those who filled out the questionnaire. That is, hearing from real people who are making a difference, e.g., The Broad Meadows team and Kailash Satyarthi, a "real-life hero" and the Global March. Many participants were also inspired by observing the passion, dedication, and courage of not only speakers like 17 year old Emily, Youth Editorial Board member of the youth-led e-newsletter Youth Network for Children’s Rights, and Kailash, but also of the other teacher-participants.

Future Education Plans and Workshop Opportunities

One hundred percent of the teacher-participants and resource persons who filled out an evaluation of the 2005 Workshop indicated that this sort of workshop for teachers will be useful in the future. So, look for announcements of upcoming workshops for teachers and you might like to inform your teachers about the upcoming workshops. You might also like to participate as resource person if you have some meaningful outcomes.