The project rationale is grounded on the numerous critical events that women should still often face around EU. The Gender-based violence (GBV), according to EIGE 2013 studies (EU Inst.for Gender Equality), the findings for lifetime violence experiences show that the proportion of women that have experienced physical violence from their partner ranges from 4 % (EL) to 37 % (EE), with an index of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) that registers 9 out of 10 victims as women.According to this scenario, education appears as a fundamental means for a ‘gender culture change’ that can only start since childhood.Therefore concerning education and schools, what strategies are nowadays possible to challenge gender stereotypes and gender roles played in curricula and textbooks? What specific teaching tools can be used to address the issue of sexual difference and sexism in language? How the school can encourage the free expression of different sexual identities, promoting equal opportunities and respect for differences?In order to be able to provide a concrete answer and a real support it is necessary then to ‘equip’ educational world, in particular teachers, with additional knowledge and competences.In this regard and in line with Erasmus+ and ET 2020 priorities, the E4E aims at:- spread a gender culture and support the overcoming of gender stereotypes through the development of tools and methods targeted at educational system and institutions.Below the main E4E actionsThe project will be managed by a Steering Committee (SC) for the organizational aspects, along with a Scientific Committee (ScC) for the scientific part.E4E will began with a definition of the gender cultural model (A3) that should be than implemented through all project testing phases. At the same time the setting up of the E4E web site with related web 2.0 tools and facilities will take place (A4). Besides that, through the management of ScC, the training activities targeted at partners staff who should become the E4E animators/trainers, will be accomplished in Italy (34h – A5).Once trained the animators/trainers will be able to develop the networking ph. (A6), involving different stakeholders and policy- makers. At the same time they will start the design of ‘Teachers KIT’ and related training (24h) -again through the support of ScC- targeted at teachers of pre- and primary schools (A7). Again, once the teachers will be trained, they will start the testing phases as the 2 core actions of E4E, targeted at children and their families: Language and Creative Labs (A9-A10). As a transversal action, across all the process, partners will organize and manage an Awareness-raising & diss.campaign with the aim of renewing gender culture, against gender stereotypes (A8). Exploitation of activities (A11) will be joined to stakeholders networking and diss. enhancing then E4E sustainability.Besides partners staff as animators/trainers and the experts for the ScC, E4E will involve mainly teachers, children and their parents. In each country there will be involved 4 schools with related target groups:- 4 schools per country (3 classes each) = 16 schools for E4E- 12 classes per country= 48 classes for E4E- average 15 children per class =180 children per country = 720 children for E4E- average 3 teachers per 1 class= 36 teachers per country = 144 teachers per E4EConcerning methods, in particular teachers, through to the use of E4E wiki space and web 2.0 tools, will test and use a cooperative learning and a peer to peer educational approaches thanks to the exchange of best practices with other colleagues. For the children a ludic approach will be embedded in all the activities targeted at them.Among the main Intellectual Outputs are: the E4E platform with the web site and web 2.0 spaces; ‘Teachers Kit’ as an ‘equipment’ both for further teachers training and for testing ph. management; gender vocabulary for children in different languages; final guidelines.According to the numbers mentioned above and in the respect of the indicators foresees by the project, an increasing of at least 30% is expected of all of them, including final beneficiaries that could reach than become about 950 children and then about 2000 parents. These significant quantitative data are going to have an impact at local level in partners country, both for the single schools and for the educational level.Besides the numbers, for a longer term, an exploitation strategy will be implemented, taking in particular into account E4E partners and their networks.As concrete and immediate actions towards sustainability E4E partners will sign at least 3 Memorandum of Understanding with stakeholders interested in multiply its effects in different country, along with create a ‘Community of Practice’, network between teachers, to support in teaching actions concerning gender culture and the overcoming of gender stereotypes.
The design of the project was born from a European context that, through some data, which, according to EIGE 2013 (EU Instance for Gender Equality) studies, that the percentage of women who have suffered physical violence from their own partner ranges from 4% (EL) to 37% (EE), with an Intimate Partner Violence index (IPV) which records 9 out of 10 victims as women. This scenario emphasizes even more that the fundamental tool to change "gender culture" is education from early childhood, so we asked ourselves the following questions: a) Regarding education and schools, what strategies are needed to overcome gender stereotypes and gender roles in curricula and textbooks? B) What specific teaching tools can be used to address the problem of sexual difference and sexism in language c) How can schools encourage the free expression of different sexual identities, promoting equal opportunities and respect for differences? To concretely respond to these questions it is necessary to "provide" the world of education, especially teachers, with additional knowledge, skills and teaching tools. Objective: to spread a gender culture and support the overcoming of gender stereotypes through the development of tools and methods for the system and educational institutions. The participating organizations that have been part of the partnership are: Teseo (coordinator): training company, specialized in the design, implementation of European projects. FBI: research and education organization, born in 1992. Among the main expertise: elaborating gender issues (e.g. gender history, Gender Pedagogy, gender dialogue, gender sensitive counselling, cross work and intersectionality) including mainstreaming techniques. OLIKA: publishing house founded in 2007. Specialized in the publication of children's books and method books, ith the aim to find new channels to children and making an impact on norms concerning gender, equality and diversity. COGAM: Since 1986, is The Lesbian, Gay, Transgender & Bisexual Collective (LGBT; LGTB) of Madrid is a democratic, participatory, inclusive, independent non-profit organization. Italian Committee for UNICEF: it is part of the UNICEF international organization (United Nations Children´s Fund), a body of the UN, with the mandate of protecting and promoting children (age 0-18) rights. The actions and activities of the project were implemented by members identified within each partner organization and who were part of the Steering Committee. The validation of the results produced was validated by a Scientific Committee, which included two experts such as Prof. Irene Biemmi (University of Florence) and Prof. Elena Mignosi (University of Palermo). Going specifically to the activities carried out, E4E began with the search and selection of the best practices adopted in each of the 4 countries involved in the partnership. This work served to define the Model E4E (O1). At the same time, was created the E4E website, the Facebook profile, a communication email within the partnership, the newsletter template (O2). Following the definition of the Model and the basic principles of all the E4E methodology, the main outputs to be transmitted to the teachers were implemented: "E4E Teachers Tool kit" (O3) composed of activities and educational tools (exercises, group work and fun activities ) and the “E4E Language labs” (O4) with exercises and activities, aimed at both children and adults (teachers and parents) to encourage reflection about the use of a language oriented to gender equality. After the creation of these tools, some staff members (2 for each partner organization) participated in the training and development of the tools (C1 - 32 hours). Subsequently, the same members trained the teachers of the schools identified and selected in each country, with the aim to test the outputs with their students. During the course of the project, 6 meetings were held between the partners, during which the main activities were carried out and the objectives to be achieved were defined. Furthermore, transversal activities have been carried out with the aim of disseminating the results achieved and the objectives of the project. In particular, the dissemination was carried out through various tools such as: newsletters, communications on the Facebook profile, website and multiplier events in each of the 4 countries to which teachers, educators, stakeholders and policy makers were invited. The project involved 16 schools, 258 teachers and 766 students. Subsequently, the network of relations was enlarged, also involving other actors such as associations, public bodies and political decision makers who were interested in the development and deepening of the priorities indicated above, guaranteeing E4E an impact even in the long term, involving at least 5 other schools in each country (+ 35%) around 60 classes (+ 30%), reaching another 180 teachers and around 900 children, reaching indirectly up to 1800 parents.