our
Project
The start
As teachers and coordinators, we are confronted with the fact that a school carrier in secondary education is more often a challenge for boys than it is for girls.
On the other hand, we notice that on the job market there is still a pay gap with man earning more than women for the same job. Man more often get key positions in companies and in society.
Exploring these subjects on the internet, we soon found out that our school was not the only one facing this problem. We discussed the issue and decided to meet and design a project to tackle this problem.
We choose a step-by-step approach, involving students throughout the whole process. This way we created awareness on the topic, could gather first hand information and have a longer lasting impact. By integrating the assignments in the regular curriculum of the students in different school subjects, we involved a larger team of teachers and aimed for a change in the curriculum, even after the international project ends.
The outline
Starting from exploring students’ own reality and environment as well as the evolution of opinions over time, students investigated the job market versus education, involving employers and experts regarding to male and female competences. In the second year on the project the emphasis was on gender stereotypes in general and in early childhood. We concluded by focusing on gender related problems in our schools and ways to deal with it, turning back to the initial motivation for our project and to the concrete class practice, using the results and information gathered during previous project activities.
This way, the project followed a path where participants started with being informed, made aware and increased knowledge to concrete results and possible solutions, in the meantime offering a starting point for further activities and measures in the schools and beyond.
The main goals
Through education and awareness of the issues followed by dissemination in our schools and communities the long term aim is to reengage boys in their education, therefore cutting down on poor behavioural choices and early school leaving. At the same time we aim to raise awareness of the issues surrounding gender inequalities in school and beyond making for a more equal future workforce and to provide a starting point for other schools, associations, etc. to investigate gender equality and promote it.