gender issues in schools – tackle the problem Erasmus Project

Project Title

gender issues in schools – tackle the problem

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 : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Gender equality / equal opportunities

Project Summary

In our project “Gender ISsues – Tackle the problem (GIST)” the European School of Karlsruhe, Germany, worked together with secondary schools in Sweden (Malgomaj Skolan , Vilhelmina), Bulgaria (SOU Sveti Kliment Ohridski, Dalopol), France (Collège Vauban, Strasbourg) and England (Notting Hill and Ealing High School, London). In the 1st year, we reflected on our own gender and investigated important role-models for our students in European history and in the present and followed each our own focus regarding the topic. We had one transnational teacher meeting in Vilhelmina and two short-term exchanges of groups of pupils in England anf Germany to produce our project newspaper, have workshops together, exchange and present our results and products. In the 2nd year of our project we continued our work together. We now wanted to examine together gender roles and issues in society and, especially, in the media.
In our respective schools a lot of activities took place on ErasmusDay, 12th October 2018, which also served as a kind of opening of our year two. France produced posters with statistics and provocative questions, presented them in the Collège and discussed them with the students of the school. Students of the Erasmus club went into the classes and informed about the project. Sweden created an Erasmus wall. England had the first meeting of the Erasmus club. In a club fair at the beginning of the school year, they presented the project to the students of the school. Bulgaria created an Erasmus Gist – frame. They had a meeting in the cultural centre in Asparuhovo with the mayor of Varna and took photos with him and the Erasmus group in the Erasmus frame. Germany produced an Erasmus Rap and presented it to the school community. They also showed a film, in which, amongst other things, the students tear two banners saying ”Boys can do anythings better than girls” and ”Girls can do anything better than boys” trying to make a statement” while roping down a climbing wall.
In our second project meeting in Bulgaria, we discussed the topics and organisation of our 2nd project year. At the same time, we learnt from results or methods tried out in the first year. We agreed to further present our project via our blog (https://genderissuesinschools.blogspot.se/), on eTwinnning, Instagram (gistproject) and Twitter (@nhehs) and staged an Erasmus Gender in the Media Competition on Instagram: The students of all schools should be encouraged to post photos on a different topic each month on Instagram (# gist). We also started a discussion on eTwinning among our Erasmus students, presenting to them the genderbread person, among others. On Wednesday, 30th November 2018, the Erasmus group of the European School of Karlsruhe visited the partner school in Strasbourg, the Collège Vauban. Mme Françoise Bey, Vice-president and assistant to the mayor of Strasbourg spoke about actions taken by the town in order to support the equality of women and men and Mme Virginie Jeltsch, responsible for equality at the „Academie“, presented her field of work and discussed the topic “Gender Issues” with the French and German students. In the afternoon, the whole group went into the yard of the school, where the inauguration of the schools’ “Erasmus Street” took place. All partner schools and different results are being presented at the Collège at different posts, lined up as a “street”.
During the whole school year the schools worked in different classes and with their Erasmus groups on our topic, also preparing for our big Erasmus meeting in Straßburg in May 2019. In our final student visit to Strasbourg, Students and teachers from all partner schools met in the European Youth Centre outside the centre of the city of Strasbourg. We enjoyed a visit to the European Parliament where the group learnt about the important work conducted in the building as well as the structure of European politics. The 5 partner schools were divided into 4 groups. 2 groups set about creating Graphic Design displays on the topic of Gender Equality, whereas 2 other groups took part in Film workshops on the same topic. The groups all contained students from the 5 schools from both genders. Once the films and graphic designs were created, they were presented in the French school. The students themselves presented their work to their peers, the Headmasters of 2 of the schools and the Deputy Head of the French school. The Head of the German school closed the presentation discussing how powerful the work had been. Finally, we visited the town hall in Strasbourg to present the work to the Deputy Mayor. One additional interesting activity which took place during the visit to France was a series of presentations by each school on the Thursday evening about what each school had been doing in their own country to raise the profile of gender equality. Our final year ended with the evaluation of year 1 and the dissimination of our work.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 112341 Eur

Project Coordinator

Europäische Schule Karlsruhe & Country: DE

Project Partners

• SOU Sveti Kliment Ohridski
• Notting Hill and Ealing High School, GDST
• Collège Vauban
• Malgomajskolan