The project responds to the problem of peer violence, including verbal, emotional, physical, bullying and trolling. The scale of violence is alarming – almost half of all male and female students in Poland have experienced it. The number of suicides among young people is also on the rise; the reasons include increasing violence, hate speech, lack of acceptance, and depression. The political and media hate campaign targeting LGBT+ people and the pandemic have increased social polarization and peer violence. Meanwhile, schools are failing to deal with radicalization among young people, and are not providing preventive anti-discrimination education. It has fallen on male and female teachers to take responsibility for the welfare and safety of male and female students, while they lack competence and knowledge in this area.
As part of the project, teaching staff took part in a series of anti-discrimination and psycho-educational training courses to prepare them to conduct equality activities. In addition, those participating in the project benefited from individual tutoring and psychological support. Finally, they implemented 30 anti-discrimination projects with the participation of male and female students and local institutions (including photography workshops, conferences, murals, living libraries, artistic performances, workshops for children and young people). The Project Promoter also issued a publication with good practices, recommendations for schools and proposals for systemic solutions at the local level. The project involved 60 teachers from 38 schools at all levels of education from all over Poland. Thirty local networking meetings were also organized to disseminate knowledge about equality measures.
The project primarily benefited teachers from schools across Poland, especially in smaller towns. They improved their competence in identifying radicals, influencing the attitudes of male and female students and supporting those experiencing violence; they also felt more confident in their roles as leaders and champions of courageous social change. Indirectly, the project targeted male and female students and entire school communities, helping to make schools more welcoming, safe places. Equal Treatment Codes were implemented in 20% of the participating schools, and in a few anti-discrimination became – on a pilot basis – part of the core curriculum or therapeutic and educational program.