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Raising the quality of sexual diversity education
Raising the quality of sexual diversity education
Start date: Jun 1, 2014,
End date: May 31, 2016
PROJECT
FINISHED
Within the frames of the Erasmus+ Adult Education Mobility grants seven members of the Association’s LGBTQ section had the opportunity to take part in two mobility courses abroad, in October 2014 in Riga, Latvia, and in July 2015 in Sitges, Spain. On the courses held by the Dutch Global Alliance for LGBT Education (GALE) we explored and discussed the forms of homo- and transphobia, exclusion and abuse in schools, survey methods and various applicable policies against them on the institutional level. Plus we received a full toolkit from GALE, based on which a sensitize training could be carried out serving the above school strategy-changes.
The participants for the project were chosen from volunteers based on their diverse professional and institutional backgrounds; 3 university students earning their degrees in psychology during the project, one of them is the project coordinator; 3 experienced psychologists active in higher education as well; and a jurist-mediator experienced in LGBTQ and minority group mediations.
GALE, which is a formal cooperating partner of UNESCO, is a learning community focusing on education about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues. GALE is supported by and works in consultation with the Dutch government and the European Commission.
GALE's practice involves the cooperation of LGBTQ NGOs, the school management committee and the education policy body of the government for elaborating school policies essential for a safe school climate and for the initiation of the universal right of education.
The participants of the courses were from seven countries (Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Hungary and the Netherlands), mostly representing European LGBTQ NGOs, but there were also teachers and an EU-level policy maker among them. As yet it is unfortunately not easy to adapt the Dutch example in Hungary, but that is why it is even more important that Eastern Europe be represented in such events.
„Assessing Homophobia in Schools”, 6-8 October 2014. Riga
During the major part of the course we got suggestions on how to examine homo- and transphobia in schools, and all forms of social exclusion, bullying, the school climate in whole.
The organization was citing examples from its Dutch and international practice to demonstrate what research methods are useful in several constellations (the professional and research goals of the organization, the type of the school, its inner needs, etc.), how to examine the needs of schools (teaching staff, students) before setting up a research.
For this reason it is of crucial importance that both the teachers and the activists have the information and skills which are essential to sensitize the students for the needs and issues of LGBTQ people, and to enhance tolerance.
„Sexual Diversity in Schools”, 12-17 July 2015. Sitges
As the combined course of three previously planned courses it was focusing on how to promote and support a safe school environment with education, which is equipped with tools working with stereotypes, „strong opinions”, for all kinds of social exclusion, especially SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity)-phobia.
Being a more interactive course than the one in Riga it's major aim was to get the participants acquainted with interactive educational techniques which could be applied during LGBTQ education programs.
The course put a huge emphasis on promoting the overview of the attending organizations' structure and operations with grasping the strengths and weaknesses in order to set more definite goals and to increase efficiency.
Another aspect of the course was focusing on the methods with which a change can be achieved on organisational and attitudinal level necessary for a safe(r) school climate.
The courses yielded a lot for each participant, taking into account either their psychologist, educator, lawyer, mediator or volunteer practice. The mobilities and their requisites enhanced the cooperation within the section and the HPA, and with Hungarian and international NGO-s as well.
After the mobilities we set up and carried out a research among secondary school students using an online questionnaire considering the recommendations of GALE. We examined the attitudes of secondary school students towards various minority groups (refugees, gypsies, lesbian women and gay men). The summary of our research can be found on the following link: http://mpt.hu/a-tarsasagrol/szervezet/szekciok/lmbtq-szekcio/overview-of-our-pilot-survey/
The project indirectly generated a further international collaboration between the Network of European LGBTQ Families Associations (NELFA) and a related NGO of the participants initiated by the Swiss attendee of the Riga course, who is the head of NELFA, with which the attendees took part in an anti-discrimination project (Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme) of the European Union as associate partners.