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Raising the quality of sexual diversity education
Start date: Aug 1, 2014, End date: Jul 31, 2015 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The Akademie Waldschloesschen is a national NGO in Germany which aims to secure equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. To be able to do this in the education sector, we need on the one hand reliable statistics which show the challenges LGBT students face and the needs for change in their educational institutions. On the other hand, we often have to deal with strong negative opinions like “Homosexuals do not deserve respect because they are not people” and “The Bible says homosexuality is a cardinal sin so why should we respect you”. In more progressive groups we increasingly encounter “organized disinterest” to avoid engaging in a discussion about values: “You can do what you want, we have no issues with it. Why should we talk about this?”. At the same time, these students would not like to be friends with a homosexual or tell them to keep their hands off. Such responses in education sessions are difficult to deal with and we need to learn how to deal with them in a more effective way. The mobility plan will enable us to develop adequate research methods and coaching of the implementation as well as dealing with strong opinions in an effective way such as preparing ourselves by documenting strong opinionated and sham-tolerant statements and questions by students and our responses. We will take part in international workshops facilitated by GALE (Global Alliance for LGBT Education) to learn how to develop a good survey on sexual diversity and education and to analyse where our responses on strong opinions come from and how our own history, feelings and values may block us to respond effectively. After the workshop we will put a questionnaire online, recruit respondents and prepare an analysis framework. During a second international workshop we will compare and discuss results and prepare high impact reports and organize round table meetings with educational authorities to discuss the results and recommendations. We will also share the results in our own education networks to develop a strategic development plan. After the other workshop we will put the expertise we learned into practice, both in our education sessions and in approaching orthodox groups for a dialogue on equal rights and tolerance. During a second international workshop we will compare and discuss results with like-minded groups across Europe. After the second workshop we will publish articles and digital media postings on our good practices and learning experiences. We will integrate our expertise in an outreach and marketing strategy implement these to do more work with orthodox organisations. Our learners become members of GALE, which will offer a platform and framework for European cooperation. The results of researches in participating countries will also be published on the GALE website and discussed in European and “school” strategy groups of GALE. This will secure European dissemination and impact. Part of the impact will be that our organisation will reach out to conservative European politicians and play a role in the debates about equal rights in the EU parliament
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