School of Inclusion. Gender Equality Standard

About this project

<p>As part of the project, we would like to address three needs that we observe in the course of our activities with schools: the diagnosis of the gender equality situation, the support for gender equality, and the introduction of a global perspective in the context of gender equality and human rights in schools. In the report ‘A Future for Girls’ (Cosmos for Girls Foundation, 2020) a number of challenges have been identified that affect female students in the Polish educational system and have a significant impact on their development. These are: limiting stereotypes, educational barriers, pressure of appearance and lack of self-confidence. We see gender equality measures as key activities in striving to create an open school where all members of the community feel safe and where male and female students have equal access to educational opportunities, can develop their potential and form healthy peer relationships. The aim of the project is to develop and disseminate an educational programme for ensuring gender equality and equal treatment within the formal system of education at the primary (grades 4-8) and secondary levels. The programme will be set in the perspective of human rights and the concept of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. As part of the project will conduct educational activities addressed to male and female teachers (a blended-learning course, workshops), school managers (materials for the teaching staff) and youth (mentoring, tools that support carrying out campaigns in schools). We will also increase the competence of trainers cooperating with the Centre for Citizenship Education, who will strengthen the gender equality perspective in further programmes. Project partner is the European Wergeland Centre from Oslo. The partner will provide expertise in the field of education, consult both the programme and the developed diagnostic and educational materials, and conduct training on teaching controversial issues.</p>

Bilateral cooperation results

Activities carried out together with the European Wergeland Center from Norway allowed us to develop a comprehensive, multi-threaded educational program to ensure gender equality and equal treatment in schools. We exchanged experiences and conclusions from research conducted on the standard of gender equality in schools in Poland and Norway. EWC representatives were also involved in creating materials and conducted workshops on teaching controversial topics for the Polish expert group and lectures on the role of inclusive education in situations of intersectional discrimination. A tab with information about the project is still available on the EWC website: https://theewc.org/projects/school-of-inclusion/ An additional value was the involvement of EWC expert Khrystyna Chushak in the project, thanks to which we could delve deeper into the topic of intersectional discrimination in the context of Ukrainian students.

Project partners

• European Wergeland Centre Donor project partner· Norway