Gender sensitive education

The main objective of the project is to enhance gender sensitivity of current and future teachers and to develop, pilot and disseminate a methodology for training in gender sensitive education.

We will develop two 30-hour courses in gender sensitive education, one for current teachers and one for future teachers (students of faculties of education). Our target group is current and future lower secondary school teachers, i.e. teachers of pupils of age 11-15. The project priorities include social inclusion by addressing the issue of gender diversity in classroom, and strengthening the teaching profession by supporting teachers in dealing with diversity in the classroom.

"Towards gender sensitive education" is a three-year long project implemented by five organisations from three EU countries in a strategic partnership. The project addresses the issue of gender diversity in classroom. The main objective is to enhance gender sensitivity of current and future teachers.

- Gender Information Centre NORA (Czech Republic)

- Masaryk University (Czech Republic)

- Hungarian Women's Lobby (Hungary)

- Eötvös Loránd University (Hungary)

- Verein EfEU (Austria)

Equality between women and men is one of the European Union's founding values. However, according to research studies, gender inequalities are reproduced in education from the earliest stages in multiple ways, including the official curriculum; the hidden curriculum; teachers' ways of treating girls and boys differently based on their own gender stereotypes and convictions about the "proper" gender order in society; peer gender socialisation among children; steering children towards gendered educational and career choices. These gendered educational practices result in the reinforcement of gendered inequalities in society in general, and in gendered achievement patterns, career choices which may be disadvantageous for women, the internalisation of male dominance and female submission in social relations, personal relations and in employment.

Teachers who themselves did not receive education about gender issues are typically unaware of their role in the reproduction of social inequalities. In fact, in our experience, many teachers are simply unaware of the importance of gendered socialisation in schools but resistant to take up the issue and reflect on their practices from a gendered perspective. At the same time, there are teachers who do have an awareness of gendered stereotyping and inequalities in schools but lack methodological knowledge and/or practical tools to help them teach in a gender-sensitive way.

In the course of the project 5 videos have come into existence. They were prepared by two video artists and animators Kateřina Hausenblasová and Tereza Peroutková from the Czech Republic. All the below listed videos are available in 4 languages, namely in English, German, Hungarian and Czech.

Career Counselling
The video depicts a situation in which a career counsellor is not able to respect individual choices of students. Their preferences for a profession are not in line with traditional ideas of feminine/masculine professions.
The video can trigger discussion about the role of a career counsellor at schools and their impact on pupils´/students´ career choices. It can also incite a reflection on the importance of decisions based on individual preferences.

Double Standard
The video shows a situation where a teacher reacts differently to a female and male pupils' participation and activity in classes and thus in fact brings about passivity and disinterest on the part of a girl.
It can be a starting point of discussion about the impact of teachers' actions on pupils.

Homophobic Bullying
The video depicts acts of homophobic bullying at school and its emotional effects on a victim.
The video can trigger discussion about the role of teachers and peers in preventing and stopping homophobic bullying, about caring for victims of such violence and also about masculinity.

Sexual Harassment
A female student is harassed at school by her male schoolmates. The film depicts two different reactions of teachers to such behaviour and shows also consequences of these two different attitudes to sexual harassment.
The video can open up discussion about possible ways of interventions by teachers in situations of sexual harassment at school.

Parallel Scene: This Way or That Way

The video shows a girl walking through a school building and noticing discrimination and gender stereotypes. The girl changes - through the power of her thoughts - the school environment. What she wants is a supportive environment for all pupils.
The video can be a starting point of discussion about how to make school a place with as little discrimination and stereotyping as possible.

Comparative report: Gender in national education documents and teaching resources, and in teachers' pedagogical approaches and everyday teaching practices in Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary

The report includes:

• analysis of national education policy documents and teacher training curricula (in all involved countries)
• analysis of focus groups with teachers, students, teacher trainers on the topic of gender in education (in all involved countries)
• analysis of daily educational practices in selected schools (in the Czech Republic and Hungary)

Více zde: https://gendersensed.eu/