Breaking gender stereotypes with eTwinning

eTwinning can help promote education free from gender stereotypes 

Through collaborative, creative and interdisciplinary projects, eTwinning can help teachers and pupils to dismantle existing biases and stereotypes in a fun and educational way. 

The Spanish National Support Organisation has outlined the strategies that are generally encouraged in eTwinning projects, showing their fundamental role in promoting gender equality in schools (in Spanish), including: 

• Capacity-building and awareness-raising among teachers
• Inclusive education materials
• Using inclusive language
• Fostering reflection and debate
• Applying social-emotional learning ideas 

Fostering gender equality with educational projects 

The Girls’ Shine project involved pupils aged 12–18. The founder of the project was inspired by the poetry of Anila Bukhari, and used creative expression to promote girls’ education and raise awareness about gender inequalities. Pupils developed their advocacy skills while exploring identity and empowerment through literature.  

Find out about their journey in this webinar success story: 

Girls from Mars, boys from Venus? fostered equality by examining where gender stereotypes exist in everyday life. The teachers led their upper secondary school pupils in reflective discussions on identity and fairness. The pupils used a Europeana learning scenario and documented their journey in an implementation story.  

Another project, Beyond Stereotypes, empowered 8-to-12-year-old pupils through fairytales. It retold traditional stories, introducing novel elements of inclusion and critical thinking. Through this reimagined storytelling, pupils confronted their own ideas about gender roles and produced a collaborative digital storybook. The project video provides more insight into the work they carried out.  

Project kits and further resources 

These eTwinning project kits offer teachers practical activities related to challenging stereotypes. 

• Equality explorers: Demonstrates how to deepen pupils’ understanding of gender equality (e.g. through language and role modelling)
• Tolerance, discrimination and equal rights: Pupils apply humanities and basic human rights principles to creatively and artistically express their views, as well as the importance of dialogue, tolerance and cultural openness
• Girls play with dolls, boys play with cars?: Pupils study and observe the differing roles of girls and boys, women and men in their surroundings, and reflect on their own attitudes and prejudices 

To exchange more ideas on this topic, join the Inclusive education featured group and check out the ‘Gender know-how to set your students free’ webinar: