AFT Massachusetts | AFT Stateweb Upcoming Events PreK12 Teachers More than 1 million members strong the AFTs Public Education unit has become a major force for preserving and strengthening a national commitment to reclaiming the promise of American education. It all began more than 100 years ago A group of Chicago teachers reasoning that theirs was a noble profession organized themselves to share resources and build respect for the invaluable work they were doing. Those early efforts led to the birth of a national teachers union in 1916 that has been in the vanguard of every major advancement in American public education ever since. Higher Education The AFT represents higher education faculty including both full and parttime professional staff and graduate employees in all sectors of higher educationpublic and private twoyear and fouryear institutions of higher education.