On Tuesday 7, and Wednesday 8 May representatives from Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Spain and the UK came together at the University of Roehampton for the first Gender Empowerment through Politics in Classroom (G-EPIC) annual general meeting (AGM).
The three-year Horizon/UKRI research project, G-EPIC, which brings 704,872.32 euros to Roehampton, is making an important contribution to tackling gender and intersectional inequalities in politics.
The project's focus is to develop and test education methods that increase confidence in their political voice, particularly to girls and girls from minority backgrounds, whose voices are less heard and to encourage them to participate in politics.
Partners came together at Roehampton to talk about the project's achievements, identifying next steps and how best to capture the impact and change on students and teachers, teaching practice and education policy, nationally and across Europe.
The project's achievements so far are the co-construction of inclusive citizenship methodologies with secondary school teachers, students and stakeholders across Europe, with the project in the process of piloting these approaches in schools.
The methods that are currently being tested include:
- The use of counter narratives and stories of women, including those from minority backgrounds who are playing a key role in creating changes to laws through engagement in politics
- The use of small group work before class discussions
- The use of short films of female politicians (from intersectional less advantaged backgrounds) as role models
- The use of student-led activities including a creative production project
- Five class intervention combining the above methods together with knowledge on party politics and delivered by teachers in schools in England, Belgium, and the Czech Republic.
Professor Bryony Hoskins, Chair of Comparative Social Science at the University of Roehampton, said: “This research project is important to Roehampton as its underpinning values are in line with ours: equality in the strength of voices within a democracy.
“Roehampton is committed to advancing equality, diversity, and inclusion. We enable students from intersectional disadvantaged backgrounds to access higher education and support students, many who are the first in their family to go to university, to have the opportunity to learn the skills for work and, importantly, the skills to have their voice heard in politics and society more broadly”.
You can read more about research at Roehampton on our website.