Strategic advocacy to mainstream attention for homophobia in schools
Assess the implementation of the right to education in your region or country and strategize a high impact strategy to improve it
Date and location
10-13 June 2015, Barcelona, Spain
For who?
This course is tailored for activists and professionals involved in advocacy for emancipation and equality strategies in the education sector. It is also useful for education authorities like regional school boards, municipalities, ministries, and representatives in UNESCO Commissions.
What is it about?
In principle, the right to education is applicable to all students, including LGBT students. However in practice, this right is rarely implemented adequately. Although most advocacy organizations, educational institutions and government officials have a vague idea about the challenges of homophobia in schools, and potential solutions, a large lack of knowledge and a range of myths about methods and strategies to improve the situation exist. This course offers a clear view of the universal right to education and which strategies have been proven to be effective in schools. The participants will explore how this information can be made relevant for their own countries or educational regions and develop a draft plan for advocacy and possibly to plan grass roots organization services strategically.
What is the program?
This is a 4-day program. The first day is dedicated to understanding the right to education and how it is implemented in the participants countries. The next day is focused on developing strategic goals and translating these into feasible strategies. The other 2 days are dedicated to in-depth interactive training of how to engage in policy and advocacy dialogue.
What will you learn?
You will raise your expertise of the universal right to education and how it is implemented and monitored. You will get an impression how this right is implemented in your country or region and analyze opportunities and risks for next steps to improve adequate implementation of attention for sexual diversity. You will learn how to further document and strategically advocate for adequate implementation of the right to education for LGBT students.
How does this link into the Erasmus+ priorities?
- This course will support learners to acquire knowledge about the right to education for all, as well as skills how to make a strategic advocacy plan for improvement in that area (with specific attention to sexual diversity).
- This course will support the professional development of those who work on educational policies as how improve their strategies for making learning environments more inclusive for all, in particularly minorities like LGBT people.
- This course will enhance the participants competence of English as they in this language will study, discuss and develop the issues at hand.
- This course will raise participants awareness and understanding of the educational contexts of other countries or regions and the differences and similarities in a needed advocacy strategy. That will help them to develop a sense of European citizenship and identity.
- This course will increase network and expertise opportunities of the participants to collaborate at a transregional and a transnational level in advocacy for inclusive school environments.
How will it build your organization''s capacity?
Your organization will be better equipped to strategically contributing to inclusive learning environments and exploit its acquired expertise in the field of stakeholders that are involved in education contexts. Your organization will also be more able to know how to efficiently speeding up the process of applying the right to education for all, being theoretically well informed about human rights agreements and practically equipped to transform this into the steps which are necessary to change this area.
What to do now?
- Send us a note of interest so we can support you and your management in making an application.
- Make sure your management submits an application on behalf of the organization (deadline 17 March).
- Register formally by filling in the GALE Erasmus+ open course registration form, signing and scanning it and sending/mailing it to us.