16 June 2022 - The UNIQUE partnership, consisting of 9 partners in 7 European countries, stands in solidarity with LGBTIQ* Prides in Europe and worldwide. The UNIQUE project promotes the full inclusion of all students in vocational education and training, including LGBTIQ students. GALE is part of the partnership.

We completed successfully a 3-days “Train-the-Trainers” Workshop which was organized by GALE in Amsterdam, on the 11-13th of May 2022. Our participants, VET Teachers/Trainers from the project’s partner countries, had the chance to get trained on anti-discrimination and active inclusiveness of LGBTIQ learners within VET institutes.

Our 3^rd Transnational Meeting, which took place in Amsterdam on 9-10 of May 2022, was just completed. The meeting was hosted by GALE and contributed not only to the design of our future activities but also to the team’s bonding. The partners had the chance to meet face-to-face for the first time, due to COVID-19 measures and local lockdowns that had been imposed throughout the first year of the project’s implementation.

The main aim of the manual is to introduce a non-discriminatory VET educational strategy, promoting the inclusion of LGBTIQ people and challenging discrimination and human rights violations based on sexuality and gender, as well as other forms of exclusion.

This manual is meant to aid VET teachers and trainers, as well as the developers of training Curricula and materials, in increasing their understanding of sexuality and gender and building their capacity to recognise stereotypes and discriminatory patterns against LGBTIQ people, creating VET programmes that are inclusive of sexual and gender diversity, and evaluate VET curricula from a gender and sexuality informed standpoint.

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Read our 2nd newsletter HERE.

Read our 2nd newsletter HERE.

The second Transnational Meeting of the UNIQUE partnership was held on 20 October 2021. Due to the uncertainty caused by COVID-19 throughout Europe, it was organized online via Zoom platform and was hosted by our German partner, BK Consult.

The partnership discussed the progress of the project and the next steps. Currently, the partners have completed the National Reports which presented the status quo of LGBTIQ inclusiveness in VET in Greece, Poland, Croatia, Bulgaria and Cyprus (the piloting countries) as well as the level of discrimination that LGBTIQ VET Learners are facing due to their sexual orientation or gender expression.

In June, KES College has successfully organized two focus groups with students from their college. The discussion of the focus groups included issues such as preventing and combatting homo/trans/biphobic stances, perceptions and behaviours against LGBTIQ learners in the vocational education and training (VET) sector, thus facilitating their equal participation and creating an inclusive and safe educational and training environment.

The Unique project was selected for the “Platform of European Associations of VET Providers” Meeting of the Directorate-General for Employment Social Affairs and Inclusion Expert Group that was organized online on the 17th of June 2021. Being proposed as a possible candidate by EVBB, the European Association of Institutes for Vocational Training, which AKMI S.A. is an institutional member of, Unique project was eventually selected for the session dedicated to Gender Balance in VET.

On the 25^th  and 26^th of February, ΑΚΜΙ S.A. participated with UNIQUE: EqUal iNclusIon of LGBTIQ stUdents in VET project, in the Coordinators' kick-off meeting of the Erasmus+ Social Inclusion and Common Values: Contribution in the Field of Education and Training which was organized virtually by EACEA. 

During the meeting, the Coordinators of the selected funding projects of the respective 2020 EU Call for more inclusive education across Europe, had the opportunity to meet each other and discuss the current opportunities and challenges that are arising in our joint efforts. Education is a pivotal area where social inclusion, one of the main pillars of the European Union, could be encouraged and achieved. Therefore, it is a pleasure to feel that we will contribute to establishing a society where everyone will feel welcomed, safe and protected. 

We are delighted to announce that we officially launched our project on the 4^th of February, during a virtual kick-off meeting which was organized by the Coordinator, AKMI S.A.

Over the past few months, the project partners undertook extensive desk and fiel research in order to map the existing situation and framework in Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Poland. The data collected at a national level were compiled and analyzed in a Transnational Benchmarking Report, aiming to identify discrimination patterns and norms in VET and provide a comparative methodology for the development and implementation of the training and capacity building activities of the project. The responses of a total number of 333 VET students and 160 VET teachers that completed an online survey across all participating countries were analyzed. In addition, further insights were gathered through the focus groups and interviews that were performed with the participation of 46 individuals, including VET students and teachers, as well as LGBTIQ experts, in the five target countries.

The key strategy of the UNIQUE project is to recruit and train Ambassadors that are willing to support equality for LGBTIQ trainees in vocational education.

Are you interested in joining us? Would you like to explore what you can do as a UNIQUE Ambassador?