Engaged in Equality, Teacher Training Starts on 23 November

The overall objective of the Engaged in Equality project is the transformation of relationships based on unequal power between adolescent males and females by involving young people as allies in the fight against gender-based violence. Hence the need to strengthen teachers’ skills in preventing gender-based violence by stimulating the participation of adolescent males as agents of change in promoting positive relationships through creative and youth-friendly methods.

Engaged in Equality

Engaged in Equality, the European project that aims at challenging traditional gender roles and hegemonic masculinity by involving adolescent males to put an end to gender-based violence, is now in full swing. It involves five different countries with the Istituto degli Innocenti for Italy, the SURT Foundation in Barcelona as coordinator, the Association for Men's and Gender Issues Styria for Austria, the Mediterranean Institute for Gender Studies for Cyprus and the Peace Institute for Slovenia.

Training for Secondary School Teachers

Today sees the start of a training course aimed at teachers in upper and lower secondary schools to provide them with the knowledge and skills to deal with issues relating to masculinity and gender discrimination and relations among adolescents in order to involve adolescent males in these issues.

The course will have a participatory character, with the use of techniques from the Theatre of the Oppressed and pedagogical/educational methods that refer to pop culture (TV series, pop music and graphic novels). The course will include face-to-face lessons, practical exercises and materials for self-training.

Course Modules and Topics

The course is comprised of three 3-hour modules that will be taught at the Istituto degli Innocenti in Florence (an institution accredited by the Ministry of Education and Merit). The training will focus on gender and masculinity in adolescence, gender-based violence, the need to move from a toxic to a caring type of masculinity and, more specifically, on the prevention of gender-based violence in schools through peer education. Today's first module will be followed by two more: one on Tuesday, 6 December and the other on Monday, 19 December.