IGUALA – a gender equality training package

This project will allow the translation and adaptation of a flexible on-line gender equality training package developed in Spain as a result of a project in the framework of the EQUAL Initiative between 2005-2007.

The objective of the project is the development of an Internet-based platform to deliver the Equal Opportunities course for teachers and trainers enhancing education and employability practice under the Lisbon Agenda. The adaptation will take into consideration the national idiosyncrasy of the other members of the partnership comprising SMEs, vocational and training associations, research institutions and non-profit associations.

The aim behind a Leonardo da Vinci Transfer of Innovation project is to improve the quality and attractiveness of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in the participating countries by transferring existing innovations to new environments through working with transnational partners. Innovation transfer projects generate synergies by exploiting existing VET innovations. These innovations can be based on previous Leonardo projects, or on any other national, European or international innovative projects, and can be transferred into vocational training systems and organisations at national, regional, local or sector level.

The partners in the project – from Spain, Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, Portugal, France, Germany and UK – considered the lack of gender skills in training staff. As equality between women and men is a key principle of European policy, gender mainstreaming should be present at the design, development and evaluation of the VET systems. In doing so, it is necessary that VET practitioners and staff linked to the VET system increase their skills and competencies on gender equality.

A study by Eurydice “Gender Differences in Educational Outcomes” from 2010 pointed out that traditional stereotypes are a challenge for establishing gender equality in education in EU member states, and that it is difficult to find gender specialists working in academic institutions who could help trainers, tutors and teachers to design pedagogical units from the gender perspective.

The proposal required the consortium to analyse the needs of the target groups, identify innovations that in principle are suitable, select those that will meet the needs of the target group in the best way, and analyse the feasibility of the blending and the transfer. We explained how the project would blend the selected innovations, adapt them to the legal framework and training system – public, private, sector – as well as adapting them to the language, culture, geography and needs of target groups. We showed how we would transfer them to, and test them in, the new environment, and how we would integrate the transferred innovations into a range of training systems and practices.

There should be a result from this application in June 2011.