“I want a future free of gender-based violence” and “Embracy equality now” are the main slogans of a short video that SAFER project is developing in order to raise awareness of primary school teachers, students, parents and all interested about gender-based violence.

However, in this article we are not going to talk about the short video as it is still under the development.

SAFER didactic materials were already developed! Now we are implementing piloting training sessions with teachers across the schools in Palermo to test it and improve it.

Teachers who participate in the trainings have opportunity to reflect on their attitudes and preconceptions regarding gender stereotypes and roles. They have opportunity to increase their knowledge about gender-based violence and learn new strategies to prevent it before it happens. Moreover, teachers have a chance to try different activities from 4 well connected and complementary modules: Gender-sensitive pedagogy, Resilience, Life Skills and Character education modules. Those activities they can implement with their students to:

• Get children to think about positive concepts associated with gender equality and to reflect on gender equality.
• Create awareness of common gender roles and expectations.
• Develop an understanding of the negative effects of gender stereotyping and related behaviours.
• Get children to critically reflect on their attitudes towards gender and gender-based violence.
• And much more..

Gender-sensitive pedagogy is not meant to discriminate against boys, nor is it meant to focus on one gender. It involves using different learning methods while giving equal opportunities for both girls and boys to participate.

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