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GATE - Tackling sexism in primary schools by addressing stereotypes

Established in 2019, the European GATE project[RH1]  (Gender Awareness, Tackling stereotypes in Education) brings together expertise from Bulgaria, Denmark, Spain, Finland and France around gender awareness and tackling stereotypes in education. This project is funded by the Erasmus+ programme and coordinated by France Éducation International.

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A collection of good practices and training in gender equality for teachers

Facilitating classroom discussions, organising ball-free break times – the first step was to identify and examine good local practices in Bulgaria, Denmark, Spain, France and Finland, with the aim of testing them on a larger scale and spreading them across the EU.

The activities identified were evaluated to create an educational catalogue for primary school teachers in order to develop a culture of equality and cooperation. This catalogue contains about fifteen classroom activities to be carried out invarious subjects. Each activity comes with clear objectives and instructions  which can be  completed by teachers with the aid of other educational resources.

These trial  initiatives are currently being tested on around 100 teachers and 1,500 students in 25 schools within the 5 partner countries.

Trial testing  in schools

Several GATE project teacher training sessions have been conducted since February 2022, the objectives of which include: :

  • building awareness around the theme of gender, which will enable them to identify existing inequalities in their environment and in their teaching practices;
  • providing them with a catalogue of activities that they can adopt and test in the classroom .

Initial feedback from teachers has so far been very positive. They have expressed  interest, curiosity, and willingness to adopt  these new tools as part of their teaching practices.

An international meeting with the partners

Members of the consortium met in Copenhagen on 4, 5 and 6 April for the International Gender, Equality and Diversity Week organised by the University College Copenhagen (KP). Throughout  these three days, the partners took part in conferences and educational awareness workshops on gender equality, taking into account cultural differences and the role of women in science.

In addition to these achievements and the validation  of the next steps of the GATE project, the participants were able to visit one of the schools involved in the project and interact with the teachers and their pupils. 

This meeting, much like the GATE project as a whole, encouraged dialogue and interaction with the education systems of the partner countries, in keeping with the primary missions of France Éducation International.