“The elimination of social inequalities requires inclusive education. It requires schools open to all students, democratic schools that respect the diversity of each child”.
On Wednesday 30 May 2022, from 17:00-18:30, KMOP – Social Action and Innovation Centre organised an online event on the topic of inclusion in education and the elimination of discrimination around issues of sexual orientation, identity, expression, and gender characteristics in schools.
The event took place in the framework of the European project CHOICE – promoting sCHOol environments InClusivE of diversity based on SOGI and the results of the project were presented.
In the online event, the partners discussed the challenges in education at the national and European levels, the key role of the teacher, the good practices that can be implemented in schools, and there was a presentation of the results by all partners.
Mx. Rubén Ávila Rodríguez, Policy and Research Manager of Iglyo, presented the situation of LGBTQI students in Europe, and the role of schools to support them. They stressed that LGBTI students consistently report higher rates of victimisation than their non-LGBTI peers. Although teachers were present in over half of the incidents of verbal harassment, respondents stated that they tend to not mediate (less than 3 % always intervened). Regardless of the grounds of harassment, most learners who had experienced bullying never reported those incidents to anyone.
Mx. Rubén was emphatic that a reactive approach is not enough to create safe, inclusive, and supportive schools for LGBTQI learners. Schools and educators have the opportunity —and responsibility— to create learning environments in which all students can thrive and achieve their full educational potential (Right to health, education, safety, and wellbeing).
Mr. Egle Kuktoraite, Communication Manager of National LGBT rights organization LBL presented the results of the project in Lithuania. LGL launched its emotional support platform on the 1st of September, 2020. LGL volunteers actively participated in raising awareness of the issues faced by LGBT students and to this date, LGL consulted 216 students and 48 parents/teachers.
In order to facilitate volunteers’ participation in the project events, LGL applied to the European Youth Foundation. LGL volunteers implemented a project “Anti-bullying Alliance: Building a support network to counter homophobic bullying at schools”. The aim of the project was to raise awareness of the problem of homophobic bullying within school communities and existing emotional support services. The project also encouraged active youth to youth support, volunteering, and access to education free from discrimination.
Ms. Monika Pisankaneva, who represented Bilitis presented the Licensed online psychological support service that supported 314 young people, 79 Parents, and 31 Counselors (Volunteers) for 18 months.
Τhe most important thing is the successes they have achieved. They succeeded to raise awareness which led to an understanding of the problem. Also, they achieved bottom-up demand for new school policies (teachers and students
Ms. Teodora Ion-Rotaru, Project Manager of Accept, highlighted the difficulties they faced in the implementation of this project in Romania. In 2020 a bill aiming to ban so-called gender ideology was adopted by Parliament. The bill was challenged by the Romanian President at the Constitutional Court, which declared the bill unconstitutional. Proposals continue to be developed – currently, three bills aim to make illegal any education around sexual orientation, and gender identity, and prevent bullying and discrimination towards LGBTI children and youth.
One bill would actually punish by jail any mention of anything LGBTI-related towards children – a citizen initiative reuniting over 100 000 signatures of fellow Romanian citizens.
Colour Youth and KMOP, represented by Mr. Spyros Boviatsis and Ms. Panagiota Kokoliou respectively, presented information about the workshops that were facilitated, from January 2022 to March 2022.
The 81 professionals who participated in the workshops, found that they offer meaningful knowledge which is based on experience and provide answers to topics that they discuss frequently with their colleagues and they open new ways of thinking.
CHOICE e-learning platform offers online modules with activities aiming to enhance the capacities of secondary school professionals in order to support diversity in the classroom.
These modules will help school professionals implement diversity policies in schools, create an inclusive school environment and raise awareness of the school community and the wider public about SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) related discrimination/bullying/violence. They are available in the “Hombat” e-learning platform.
For more information, you can visit the website: https://www.itsyourchoice.eu/ Contact us: choice-project@kmop.org
The European Commission’s support for the production of this press release does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
