Creating a safe space for classroom discussions

Equinet brings together 49 organisations from 36 European countries which are empowered to counteract discrimination as national equality bodies across the range of grounds including age, disability, gender, race or ethnic origin, religion or belief, and sexual orientation. Equinet works to enable national equality bodies to achieve and exercise their full potential by sustaining and developing a network and a platform at European level.

2014

There has been steady interest in the ideology of equity in schooling practices reflected in the written artifacts of the United States, especially in the last thirty years. However, equality-laden language is often used without definition or critical examination. The assumed meaning of equality terminology is problematic—especially for classroom teachers who are directly held accountable for the practice of equality policy. This inquiry critically evaluates the multiple implications of this common-sense usage of language related to issues of equality, equity, sameness, and even democracy. Using the combined methodologies of educational criticism, critical discourse analysis, and self-ethnography, this transdisciplinary investigation describes, interprets, and evaluates the way staff members in a Head Start/early childhood education organization conceive of, and act upon, conceptualizations of equality policy. A close examination of these conceptualizations can serve to assist educa...

EqualBITE, 2018

EqualBITE is values-driven. The very first thing we did when starting the project was to agree what values should inform it, and how they would be reflected in our own behaviour and decision-making. Our initial statement affirmed our understanding "that by embracing differences we create a more vibrant and rigorous intellectual, supportive and learning context for all our community." Why a recipe book? In BITE: Recipes for Remarkable Research (2014), the first book in this series, we were faced with the challenge of approaching and making sense of a complex research landscape, and making it accessible to a diverse audience. only when we met with student groups (a Gender Studies class, Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) Illustration students, EUSA) and invited them to talk about things in their everyday experience, did they connect the phrase 'gender equality' with issues of everyday sexism.

SIE Journal , 2013

International Conference on Gender Research, 2024

This article explores the use of participatory approaches to promote gender equality in academia, focusing on initiatives implemented in two universities. First, we look at the experience of the University of Deusto (Spain) in developing a handbook to integrate a gender perspective into teaching and research practises through an equality, diversity and inclusion lens (EDI). This initiative, carried out as part of the university's Gender Equality Plan, featured active involvement from scholars representing the faculties of Law, Psychology, Social Sciences and Humanities, Engineering, Business, and Theology, as well as the university's Social Responsibility Unit. It serves as a valuable example of how participatory strategies can effectively engage a wide array of institutional stakeholders in change-oriented actions. Promoting increased participation fosters a sense of ownership of the process and outcomes among stakeholders and strengthens institutional recognition. Second, we analyse the introduction of a "gender+-responsive curriculum" developed at the University of Genoa (Italy), as part of the university's Gender Equality Plan. This initiative seeks to promote inclusion across all disciplinary subjects by incorporating current research that examines subject matters through the lens EDI, where relevant. The pilot implementation was undertaken in an undergraduate course focused on hydraulic engineering and hydrology, drawing guidance from various resources, including academic publications and EU-funded project reports. This initiative highlights the practical implications and challenges associated with interventions aiming to challenge conventional teaching and research norms from an EDI perspective, particularly in STEM fields. By exploring the experiences, obstacles and solutions associated with a gender+-responsive curriculum, we broaden our understanding of academia's potential to advance gender equality, diversity, and inclusion. In examining the two experiences, we emphasise the theoretical underpinnings that underscore the importance of participatory approaches for promoting meaningful and enduring changes in academic institutions. Additionally, we highlight the ongoing challenges associated with implementing such changes and offer initial insights into potential strategies for overcoming these obstacles. Our goal is to ensure that gender and other intersecting diversity factors are not relegated to the edges of institutional priorities, but are instead mainstreamed into wider institutional practices.

Journal of Curriculum Studies, 2013

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Equality and academic subjects ATLI HARÐARSON We all observe, and we all reason, […] we all ascertain truths […] If we could not do it in any degree, we should be mere instruments in the hands of those who could: they would be able to reduce us to slavery. (Mill 2009 [1867]: 154-155) A recent national curriculum guide for upper secondary schools in my home country, Iceland, requires secondary schools to work towards equality and five other overarching aims. This requirement raises questions about to what extent secondary schools have to change their curricula in order to approach these aims or work towards them in an adequate way. Textbooks on curriculum theory commonly invite their readers to choose between different perspectives that are presented as mutually exclusive. From one perspective, they tend to emphasize academic subjects, to the exclusion of perspectives that focus on improvement of society or individual development. There are, however, reasons to doubt that organizing a curriculum emphasizing general aims such as equality excludes using academic subjects as its principal building blocks. In this paper, I argue that if we take equality seriously as an aim of education, we should indeed emphasize academic school subjects, just as advocates of liberal education have done for a long time. Focusing on subjects and focusing on aims, such as equality, are therefore not mutually exclusive perspectives but two aspects that must coexist in any reasonable and sound pedagogy.

Canadian Woman Studies, 1998

Organizing for Change by Rebecca Megert Coulter leadership positions with the federa-with them and seen a lot of their tion and the board, the Gender-Bal-work. I remember bringing back Cet article examine k travail&s Eduanced Resources Committee was the work, like the information on cators for Gendcr Equality (EDGE) un born. the parallel retreats ftom the Togroupe dcprofesseurs m t'ducation, des

EqualBITE, 2018

EqualBITE is values-driven. The very first thing we did when starting the project was to agree what values should inform it, and how they would be reflected in our own behaviour and decision-making. Our initial statement affirmed our understanding "that by embracing differences we create a more vibrant and rigorous intellectual, supportive and learning context for all our community." Why a recipe book? In BITE: Recipes for Remarkable Research (2014), the first book in this series, we were faced with the challenge of approaching and making sense of a complex research landscape, and making it accessible to a diverse audience. only when we met with student groups (a Gender Studies class, Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) Illustration students, EUSA) and invited them to talk about things in their everyday experience, did they connect the phrase 'gender equality' with issues of everyday sexism.