Federation for National Education

The Federation of the National Education (Fédération de l'Education nationale or FEN) was a French federation of teaching unions.

It succeeded the

CGT Federation of Education.^[1]

The FEN was dominated by the group called "Unity, independence and democracy" close to the

far left

.

The FEN was nicknamed the "fortress of teachers" and advocated secular education. Its power and mobilization capacity were dreaded by the government, but it imploded due to its political divisions. At the beginning of the 1990s, faced with the growth of "Unity and action", the Socialist majority proposed that the union should affiliate to a non-CGT national union confederation. The unions dominated by "Unity and action" were ejected and founded the Fédération Syndicale Unitaire (FSU, United Trade Union Federation).

The FEN and other reformist unions of

National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions (Union nationale des syndicats autonomes or UNSA). In 2000, the FEN became UNSA Education

. However, UNSA Education today represents a minority in the teaching world and has largely been surpassed by the FSU.