LGTB at school Erasmus Project

Project Title

LGTB at school

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Access for disadvantaged; Gender equality / equal opportunities; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education

Project Summary

This is a project about LGTB at schools. Although we could think this is a controversial topic, we think it is absolutely necessary. According to the “Out in the Open” report released by UNESCO in 2016, violence in schools and other educational settings is a global problem, and students who are perceived not to conform to prevailing sexual and gender norms, are more vulnerable. Besides, according to UNICEF (2018) 50% of LGTB students have suffered bullying or cyberbullying during Secondary School. Therefore, although the legal and social framework has improved in Europe, we still have a long way to go.
According to the European International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association, two of the main problems at school are bullying but also the lack of visibility. So the main objective of this project is to contribute to solve these problems in order to decrease the number of bullying cases and school drops and encourage respect to create a more secure enviroment in the schools.
Concerning the partners we are going to work with Germany, Belgium and Romania. They have been chosen because of their commitment to the project. The teachers are willing to fight against intolerance and discrimination and are eager to continue learning new strategies to educate free and responsible citizens who do not see difference as a reason for exclusion but for enrichment.
We will start with a short-term joint staff to meet local associations that specialise in this topic to get some advise about the problems we could have to face and the best practices to avoid harming any sensibility. Also, Belgium and Romania will provide the other partners a small session about working on eTwinning.
Then, this Project is divided into four main topics that will be led by different partners.
In October we start with the four main topics.
1.Getting to know LGTB framework, led by Spain. (Oct, Nov, Dec and Jan). We will compare the current situation with the former years and will obtain conclusions about the work that is still to be done. We will produce games. In January a training and learning meeting will take place in Spain. We have chosen this country because, although there has been a big progress, according to a report about hatred crimes done by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2016, hatred homophobic crimes have increased 36%.
2.LGTB and 20th century Art (Feb, Mar, Apr and May). Despite the persecution suffered by this group, we can’t really understand 20th century art without it and also pop and art have contributed to free gender expression.This part will be led by Germany, we will visit the Gay Museum and the main objective is to give visibility to LGTB and their contribution to our culture.
3. What is it like to be a minority? This part will be led by Romania as they have a big experience in activities promoting tolerance. Its aim is to promote empathy and prevent bullying so our schools won’t be perceived as an unfriendly place.We are especially interested in their point of view, because it was not until 2001 that the article number 200 of the Penal Code that condemned public or private homosexuality was abolished.
4.Finally, we will study about new models of families.This will be led by Belgium, second country recognizing same sex marriages. We will look toward the future and we will reflect respectfully on our doubts and fears in order to face them in the most rational way. We will visit the EU parliament to confront. Students, with their recently developed visions concerning LGBT will be confronted with members of European Parliament of the respective countries in a debate form.
Concerning the management of the project it is divided into three elements: budget, dissemination, and learning and training activities. We all be working side by side and there will also be a teacher responsible for each task in each country so as to facilitate the international communication.
We want to have a collaborative project, so there will be student local groups and international ones. The international groups will work in person when Teaching and Learning Activities abroad but they will also cooperate and communicate online so the students can improve their IT skills and the use of foreign languages. In addition, students will work in international groups on the eTwinning project we have created: “LGTB, a comedy radio play”.
Activities are very different so as to use different methodologies: investigation, gamification, role games, creation of different types of materials, and so on, and to develop these skills: investigation skills, creativity, critic thinking, empathy, tolerance, languages skill.
This project will be open to the whole community (students, teachers, families etc); however, its impact will be bigger on the students who are between 16 and 19 years old since adolescence is a delicate stage in life, full of emotional and psychological changes, in which they build up their personality.

Project Website

https://lgtbatschool.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 104738 Eur

Project Coordinator

Instituto Educación Secundaria La Rosaleda & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Liceul Teoretic “Aurel Lazar”
• Friedensburg-Oberschule
• GO! Atheneum Oostende