The global federation representing the world's teachers' unions and associations is establishing an international task force on globalization and education.

Education International is creating the task force to develop recommendations on how it should respond to the growing commercialization and trade in education within the global economy.

CAUT's associate executive director of policy and communication, David Robinson, has been appointed to the 13-member task force and says he is eager to bring the perspective of Canada's academic staff to the discussions.

"Organizations in Canada, including CAUT, have really been at the forefront of a lot of the thinking on how international trade agreements and economic globalization are affecting public services like education," Robinson said.

"I think the challenge now is to broaden our critique to include an international vision of what alternatives to the current trade agreements we would like to see. The task force is an important first step in building this vision."

The first meeting of the group will take place in Berlin in April.