Project Description

The project is a part of Action Category 4.1.1.δ -O.P.Ε.I.V.T ΙΙ and it is known as: “Development of supplementary educational material for introducing and mainstreaming gender-related issues in the educational process”.

It is co-funded by both National and European budgets and it aims at promoting and incorporating sensitive gender-related issues within the everyday curriculum for all levels of the school educational processes. The project aspires to meet the challenge of updating these processes with a view to contribute to the contemporary dialogue on gender (in-)equalities by actively and practically involving educators of all grades into ameliorating their approach on communicating such issues to all their pupils and students. This shall be accomplished with the use of the appropriate educational material especially developed for the needs of this project, as stipulated by the long-term relevant research preceding its initiation into the Greek educational system.

More specifically, the material that has been developed in order to satisfy gender-specific educational / communicational demands in the contemporary Greek school offers the possibility to:

a) (re-)introduce issues on gender (in-)equalities into the everyday educational framework

b) Contribute to promoting gender equality in other education-related environments such as the family, the market, the field entertainment and the policy-making centers

c) Advance the positive aspects of gender equality to all visible social strata’s

The relevant educational material prodused is mainly addressed to teachers and is intended to provide them with a pool of creative ideas, suggestions and tactics for effectively approaching students with novel concepts on gender-equality that would sensitize them and make them more conscientious when interacting with their peers and the adults of their environments. It is generally meant to empower teachers to function efficiently within the educational framework as a whole.

The material is presented in both

• a) printed and
• b) electronic form

The printed material includes five (5) module-like sets of information, four (4) of which are designed to be used by both teachers and students.These sets include:

• a) a teachers manual
• b) a kindergarten manual
• c) a book concerning novel professional gender-sensitive profiles
• d) a series of supplementary brochures on gender-sensitive re-interpretation of schoolbooks and
• e) a book of gender-specific essays especially for teachers aimed at their further empowerment and sensitization towards the issue at hand

The electronic material includes two (2) module-like sets of information:

• a) audiovisual / multimedia material and
• b) a long list of quality-checked gender-specific internet sites hyper-linked to ours

All sets of both the printed and the electronic material have been applied to certain representative school units of all grades on a pilot basis. This was carried out at schools of the first and second grades of the municipalities of Ioannina and Eastern Thessaloniki. Following the pilot applications, internal evaluation was carried out and the appropriate improvements were incorporated so that for the final version will be introduced to all Greek schools at a next stage of application. The improved material has been already sent to the authorities of the Greek Ministry of Education and the Greek Institute of Education for its official approval. Such approval being granted, the Extended Application Phase will be initiated for all Greek School Units. Thus all sets of the material at hand, improved and certified, shall be aptly disseminated.

In order to achieve both the short-term and the long-term goals of the project, that is, the advancement of gender equality initially in schools and finally in all social fields, respectively, sensitization of all teachers is required. The process of sensitization shall be additionally accomplished via a series of Seminars and Mini-Conferences. These will systematically promote gender equality issues in a way that will encompass pertinent novel concepts and techniques into the everyday approaches. In addition, counseling practices of teachers shall empower them for actively applying the newly produced material in the educational process. In this way, better state of affairs is expected to arise with regard to systematically illustrating gender equality views within the ‘episodes’ of our everyday educational realities.