Upon finalization of the two training seminars of 28 teachers of secondary education started in 2016 the implementation of Experiential Awareness Raising Workshops of students on issues related to gender stereotypical attitudes, gender equality and of gender-based violence in adolesents' relationships.
A total of 18 workshops were implemented in Spain during the school year 2015-16 in the context of the GEAR against IPV II project: 14 workshops were conducted by trained teachers inside their school program in 8 schools of 6 different municipalities of the Barcelona County and 4 workshops were conducted by professionals working with high risk groups in Barcelona.
296 adolescents (152 boys and 144 girls) aged 12 to 17 years old participated in the “Building healthy intimate relationships” Workshops. And 27 adolescents (17 girls and 10 boys) aged 12 to 17 that had been suffering abuse or are at risk that participated in one of the workshops that were conducted outside the educational context in a support service in Barcelona.
Students were also involved and motivated to create, outside the workshop, awareness raising campaigns as a peer education action. A total of 19 materials were created in the context of the project, in diverse formats from video to radio spot, that participated in the Awareness Campaigns’ National Award and were disseminated online (5.452 unique viewers) and during the National Conference and the XII Forum against gender violence to 6.000 people.
The Teachers Training Seminar, the National Package, the learning method and the monitoring of the workshops implementation have been key elements for the successful completion of the workshops implementation process in Spain. Positive results were observed not only on the improvement of the knowledge related to gender stereotypes, healthy and unhealthy relationships, but also in generation of attitude changes related to unhealthy relationships between peers and the classroom coexistence, creating an atmosphere of trust, respect and friendship which has benefited very positively their relationships.
Also the workshops have had a positive impact on the bonding between teachers and students, helping to create a relation based on trust and improving the teachers’ perspective of the capabilities of their adolescent students. In different cases it was reported that some students approached their teacher during and after the workshop implementation to ask for support on personal issues and concerns. Moreover it is important to note that while the workshop was progressing the students were progressing in maturity personally and also collective, as well as their capacity of analyzing and actively reflect.
