Mistreatment of university students most common during medical studies

BACKGROUND: This study concerns the occurrence of various forms of mistreatment by staff and fellow students experienced by students in the Faculty of Medicine and the other four faculties of the University of Oulu, Finland. METHODS: A questionnaire with 51 questions on various forms of physical and psychological mistreatment was distributed to 665 students (451 females) after lectures or examinations and filled in and returned. The results were analysed by gender and faculty. The differences between the males and females were assessed statistically using a test for the equality of two proportions. An exact two-sided P value was calculated using a mid-P approach to Fisher's exact test (the null hypothesis being that there is no difference between the two proportions). RESULTS: About half of the students answering the questionnaire had experienced some form of mistreatment by staff during their university studies, most commonly humiliation and contempt (40%), negative or disparaging remarks (34%), yelling and shouting (23%), sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based mistreatment (17%) and tasks assigned as punishment (13%). The students in the Faculty of Medicine reported every form of mistreatment more commonly than those in the Faculties of Humanities, Education, Science and Technology. Experiences of mistreatment varied, but clear messages regarding its patterns were to be found in each faculty. Female students reported more instances of mistreatment than males and were more disturbed by them. Professors, lecturers and other staff in particular mistreated female students more than they mistreated males. About half of the respondents reported some form of mistreatment by their fellow students. CONCLUSION: Students in the Faculty of Medicine reported the greatest amount of mistreatment. If a faculty mistreats its students, its success in the main tasks of universities, research, teaching and learning, will be threatened. The results challenge university teachers, especially in faculties of medicine, to evaluate their ability to create a safe environment conducive to learning

Gendered structures and processes in primary teacher education:challenge for gender-sensitive pedagogy

Abstract My aim was to study gendered structures and processes and the challenges arising from them in primary teacher education. The topic was studied from structural and from agency-based and processual perspectives. The special tools used in the analyses consisted of culturally produced differences and asymmetry and the symbolic meanings given to them. The study included historical and contemporary parts. The historical part of the study acquired its focus through the structures of the first Finnish Teacher Seminar and through three annual curricula of primary teacher education in Oulu. Data for the contemporary analyses were collected during a pedagogic development project carried out at the Oulu Department of Teacher Education in the years 1988–1996 The most visible components of the gender system identifiable in the structures of the first Finnish Teacher Seminar were the following: – different aims for personal growth – sex- and grade-based division of prospective teachers: female teachers for girls of all ages and small boys, male teachers for boys aged 10 or more – differences in study subjects; especially in physical education, handicraft and pedagog – everyday chores and pedagogical tasks of the student – moral code and normative contro – different enrolment requirements The sex-related differences in the first curriculum of the Oulu College of Teacher Education were surprisingly similar to the differences seen in the first Finnish Teacher Seminar. The academic curricula proved to be ostensibly gender-neutral. But the research findings showed, in accordance with several other research findings, that formal neutrality does not eliminate institutionalised gendered features or gendered perspectives for personal and/or professional development. On the basis of the findings, the following aspects of the gender system and gender contracts in contemporary primary teacher education in Oulu could be identified: – Almost without exception, the students qualifying in the education of the first two forms were female. – Female students qualified in various subjects taught in primary school while male students rather tended to acquire their qualifications according to a more personal orientation. Their special qualifications were mostly physical education and technical work. – There was a tendency among the student teachers to notice boys differently from girls and to experience boys as more challenging, and to – interpret pupils’ school achievements in sex-related ways. This tendency was also shared by te pupils

Physical Sexual Harassment as Experienced by Children at School:in Northern Finland and Northwest Russia

Abstract The research focused on physical sexual harassment as a mistreatment that threatens the realisation of full citizenship, safety, dignity and equality of girls and boys at school. There were 1738 children aged 11 to 12 years from 36 northern Finnish and 22 northwest Russian school classes who answered a group of questions concerning their experiences on physical sexual harassment at school or on the way to school. While analysing the data, critical qualitative content analysis, and critical and reflective reading, and contextualisation were used. On the basis of the children’s answers to the question whether they had been groped, and on the basis of the analysis of the case-descriptions the children wrote, it was considered that at least every fifth of the Finnish and every fourth of the Russian girls had experienced physical sexual harassment at school or on the way to school. More than every tenth of the Russian boys and a little less than every twentieth of the Finnish boys had partly corresponding experiences. Typically groping occurred in hallways, in front of the restrooms, in the gym, on the school-bus and bus stop, or on the road to school or from school. But it also occurred in classrooms. Girls constituted the vast majority of the victims of physical sexual harassment and boys constituted the vast majority of perpetrators. A girl was groped in nine cases out of ten by a male classmate in both the Russian and Finnish data. But, the boys’ harassers were not very commonly girls. The harasser of the Finnish boy was more often another boy than a girl. In the Russian data, the perpetrator was in six cases out of ten a girl alone or with somebody else. In the cases where a girl was perpetrated by a boy classmate, it was often possible to infer messages of heterosexism – the exercise of, or an attempt to exercise masculinist power over girls. Heterosexisist messages could also be seen from some of the cases where a boy or a girl had experienced groping by a classmate of the same gender. In boys’ mutual relationships and in girls’ indeed, the heterosexist norm not to be different in sexual terms was strong in some school classes. The type of groping that surprised the most was groping perpetrated by an adult towards a pupil; a boy or a girl. This is not to say that sexual violence perpetrated by adults against children is a new issue. What surprised was that it became visible in the context of researching 11 to 12 years old children’s experiences of groping in school. Pupils’ texts about what stopped harassment are not promising. Although the children were not asked whether the harassment had stopped and what had stopped it, some children wrote about the matter. Almost one half of them wrote that the harassment was still going on. Some children had successfully managed to stop harassment by using violence as a defence against the harassment, and only one child informed to have stopped harassment through conversion. Furthermore, the pupils told the teacher about the harassment very rarely.Abstrakt Denna undersökning fokuserar på fysiskt sexuellt trakasseri som hindrar förverkligandet av flickors och pojkars fulla medborgarskap, säkerhet, människovärde och jämställdhet i skolan. I undersökningen deltog 1738 skolelever i åldern 11–12 år från 36 skolklasser i norra Finland och 22 skolklasser i nordvästra Ryssland. Eleverna svarade på en mängd frågor som gällde deras erfarenheter om fysiskt sexuellt trakasseri i skolan och på skolvägen. Vid analyseringen av materialet användes metoden kvalitativ innehållsanalys samt kritisk-reflexiv textläsning. Dessutom fördjupades analysen av texternas innehåll genom korsläsning och genom att jämföra enskilda skolelevers texter med alla elevers texter i de egna skolklasserna. Undersökningen visar att fysiskt sexuellt trakasseri är allmänt till och med i skolorna på Europas nordliga periferiområden. Elevernas svar på frågan om de har blivit tafsade på – och fallbeskrivningar som de har avfattat – visar att en femtedel av de finländska och en fjärdedel av de ryska flickorna som deltagit i undersökningen hade blivit utsatta för fysiskt sexuellt trakasseri i skolan eller på skolvägen. Delvis liknande erfarenheter hade var tionde rysk och var tjugonde finsk pojke som deltog i undersökningen. En mycket klar skillnad mellan de ryska och finska barnens beskrivningar gällande sexuellt trakasseri var att de ryska barnen hade det tydligt svårare att skriva om det trakasseri som de hade blivit utsatta för. Det var typiskt att tafsandet hade skett i skolans aula, i närheten av sanitetsutrymmena, i gymnastiksalen, i skolbussen och på busshållplatserna eller på skolvägen. Men det hade också förekommit i klassrummen. Flickorna utgjorde en mycket klar majoritet av dem som hade blivit föremål för fysiskt sexuellt trakasseri och pojkarna utgjorde en mycket klar majoritet av antastarna. Både i det ryska och i det finländska materialet hade flickan – i nio fall av tio – blivit tafsad på av en pojke i samma klass. De som antastade pojkar var inte särskilt ofta flickor. Den finländska pojken blev oftare antastad av en pojke än en flicka. I det material som samlats in i Ryssland var antastaren i sex fall av tio en flicka, ensam eller tillsammans med någon annan. Sådana fall där en flicka blev antastad av en pojkelev karakteriserades ofta av antastarens heterosexistiska försök att utöva maskulin makt över flickor och/eller att stötta macho-maskulin kultur inom en viss grupp pojkar och/eller inom en hel skolklass. Heterosexistiska värderingar tycktes också ingå i några sådana fall där pojken eller flickan hade blivit tafsad på av en klasskamrat av samma kön. I några skolklasser föreföll det att det fanns två faktorer som var starka i både pojkarnas och flickornas inbördes relationer: en heterosexistisk norm som förbjuder olikhet på sexuellt område samt en rädsla att bli tolkad som annorlunda. Det som överraskade mest i det undersökta materialet var elevernas omnämnanden om erfarenheter där tafsandet kommit från vuxenhåll. Att en vuxen utsätter ett barn för sexuella övergrepp är ingenting nytt. Det överraskande var att stöta på sådana fall i ett material där det är fråga om 11–12 -åringars erfarenheter om tafsande i skolan. Sex finländska och sju ryska skolelever berättade att en vuxen hade tafsat på dem i skolan eller på skolvägen. Forskningen bekräftar tidigare forskningsresultat enligt vilka undervisningspersonalens tolerans mot sexuellt trakasseri och ofredande har en mycket stor betydelse för det, hur stort problemet med sexuellt trakasseri och ofredande kommer att bli i en skolklass. Skolelevernas texter om det vad det var som gjorde slut på trakasseriet var inte lovande. Fast eleverna inte blev tillfrågade om trakasseriet tagit slut och vad som hade gjort slut på det, skrev några barn dock om saken. Nästan hälften av dem skrev att trakasseriet fortfarande pågår. Några elever hade lyckats göra slut på trakasseriet genom att använda våld som försvarsmedel mot ofredandet. Bara en elev berättade sig ha kunnat göra slut på trakasseriet genom att diskutera med antastaren. För läraren berättade de mycket sällan om det ofredande som de hade blivit utsatta för.Резюме Это работа посвящена исследованию проявлений физического сексуального преследования, определяемое как плохое обращение, которое угрожает реализации полной безопасности, достоинства и равенства девочек и мальчиков в школе. В опросе принимали участие 1738 детей, в возрасте с 11 до 12 лет из 36 классов школ Северной Финляндии и 22 классов школ Северо-запада России. Вопросы касались фактов физического сексуального негативно опыта в школе или по пути в школу. Для обработки данных использовались -качественный контент-анализ, критическое рефлексивноечтениесучётомконтекста. Исследование показывает, что физическое сексуальное преследование довольно обычное явление в школах даже на северных перифериях Европы. На основе детских ответов и описаний случаев выяснилось, что, по крайней мере, каждая пятая финская девочка, и четверть российских школьниц, испытал физическое сексуальное преследование в школе или на пути к школе, которое проявлялось в негативном прикосновении («тискали, лапали, щупали»). Подобный опыт испытали более десятой части российских мальчиков, и немного меньше двадцатой части финских мальчиков. Прослеживается заметное различие между российскими и финскими детьми в описаниями физического сексуального преследования: российским детям было гораздотруднеенаписатьопроблеме. Как правило, щупание происходило в коридорах, возле туалетов, в раздевалках и на уроках физкультуры, в школьных автобусах и на автобусных остановках, по дороге к школе, но это также происходило и в классных комнатах. Девочки составили огромное большинство жертв физического сексуального преследования, преследователями, в подавляющем большинстве оказались мальчики. В девяти случаях из десяти девочек осаждали мальчики-одноклассники и вроссийскихи вфинских школах. Более того, гораздочаще финскиемальчикитакжестановились жертвами другого мальчика. В российских данных, в шести случаях из десяти мальчики становилисьжертвами девочки, действующей в одиночку, либо с кем-то еще. Случаи, где девочку обижал одноклассник, можно отнести к проявлениям гетеросексизма, или к попыткам маскулинного доминирования. Проявления гетеросексизма наблюдаются также и в случаях, когда обидчик был того же пола, что и жертва. В некоторых классах сформировалась жесткая модель взаимоотношений, когда одной из причин гетеросексистского поведениясталожелание невыделяться изгруппы, т.е. превратилосьв «норму». В ходе исследованиявыяснилось, что частьшкольников, как девочки, так имальчики, стали жертвами сексуального преследования со стороны взрослых. Нельзя сказать, что сексуальное насилие, совершаемое взрослыми против детей, является новой проблемой. Поразителен тот факт, что это проявляется и в контексте исследования опыта неприятных прикосновений в школе у 11–12 летних. Шесть финских и семь российских учеников описали свой опыт, где обидчиком был взрослый. Предыдущие исследования показывают, что терпимость к сексуальному преследованию является решающим фактором, влияющем на саму возможность возникновениясексуального преследования, особенно в образовательном контексте. Письменные мненияучеников отом, как остановитьподобноеявление, ксожалению, малообещающие. Хотя детей не спрашивали, прекратилось ли преследование и что его остановило, некоторые дети высказались по этому вопросу. Почти одна половина из них написала, что преследование все еще продолжается. Некоторые дети успешно сумели остановить преследование, используя насилие как защиту против преследования. Только один ребенок сумел прекратить преследование через беседу с обидчиком. Кроме того, ученики очень редко сообщали о преследовании преподавателю.Abstrakti Tutkimuksen fokuksena on tyttöjen ja poikien täyden kansalaisuuden, turvallisuuden, ihmisarvon ja tasa-arvon toteutumista koulussa ehkäisevä fyysinen seksuaalinen ahdistelu. Tutkimukseen osallistui 1738 iältään 11–12-vuotiaita koululaista 36 pohjoissuomalaisesta ja 22 luoteisvenäläisestä koululuokasta. Oppilaat vastasivat joukkoon kysymyksiä, jotka koskivat heidän kokemuksiaan fyysisestä seksuaalisesta häirinnästä koulussa tai koulumatkalla. Aineiston analysoinnissa käytettiin kvalitatiivista sisällönanalyysimenetelmää sekä kriittis-reflektiivistä tekstiluentaa. Lisäksi tekstisisältöjen analysointia syvennettiin ristiin luennalla ja vertailemalla yksittäisten koululaisten tekstejä heidän koululuokkiensa kaikkien muiden oppilaiden teksteihin. Tutkimus osoittaa, että fyysinen seksuaalinen ahdistelu on yleistä jopa Euroopan pohjoisten reuna-alueiden kouluissa. Oppilaiden vastauksista kysymykseen, onko heitä käpälöity – ja heidän kirjoittamista tapauskuvauksista – kävi ilmi, että vähintäänkin joka viides suomalaisista ja joka neljäs venäläisestä tutkimukseen osallistuneista koulutytöistä oli kokenut fyysistä seksuaalista ahdistelua koulussa tai koulumatkalla. Osittain vastaavanlaisia kokemuksia oli noin joka kymmenennellä tutkimukseen osallistuneella venäläispojalla ja joka kahdennellakymmenennellä suomalaispojalla. Erittäin selvä ero venäläisten ja suomalaisten lasten välillä fyysisen seksuaalisen häirinnän kuvauksissa oli se, että venäläisten lasten oli selkeästi vaikeampi kirjoittaa kokemastaan ahdistelusta. Tyypillisesti käpälöintiä oli tapahtunut koulun aulassa, saniteettitilojen lähistöllä, voimistelusalissa, koulu-bussissa ja bussipysäkeillä tai koulutiellä. Mutta sitä oli tapahtunut myös luokkahuoneissa. Tytöt muodostivat hyvin selvän enemmistön fyysisen seksuaalisen ahdistelun kohteista ja pojat hyvin selvän enemmistön ahdistelijoista. Sekä venäläisessä, että suomalaisessa aineistossa yhdeksässä tapauksessa kymmenestä tyttöä oli käpälöinyt oman luokan poikaoppilas. Poikien ahdistelijat eivät olleet kovinkaan usein tyttöjä. Suomalaisen pojan ahdistelija oli useammin toinen poika, kuin tyttö. Venäjältä kerätyssä aineistossa ahdistelija oli kuudessa tapauksessa kymmenestä tyttö yksin tai jonkun toisen kanssa. Tapauksia, joissa tyttö joutui poikaoppilaan ahdistelemaksi, luonnehti monissa tapauksissa ahdistelijan heteroseksististinen yritys käyttää maskuliinista valtaa tyttöihin ja/tai pönkittää macho-maskuliinista kulttuuria tietyn poikajoukon keskuudessa ja/tai koko koululuokassa. Heteroseksistisiä arvotuksia näytti sisältyvän myös joihinkin sellaisiin tapauksiin, joissa poika tai tyttö ilmoitti kokeneensa käpälöintiä samaa sukupuolta olevan luokkakaverin taholta. Joissakin koululuokissa näyttivät heteroseksistinen seksuaalisuuden alueella erilaisuuden kieltävä normi, sekä erilaiseksi tulkituksi tulemisen pelko, olevan vahvoja sekä poikien että tyttöjen keskinäisissä suhteissa. Yllättävintä tutkimusaineistossa olivat oppilaiden maininnat kokemastaan käpälöinnistä aikuisten taholta. Aikuisen lapseen kohdistama seksuaalinen väkivalta ei sinänsä ole uusi asia. Yllättävää oli kohdata tällaisia tapauksia aineistossa, jossa on kyse 11–12-vuotiaiden lasten käpälöintikokemuksista koulussa. Kuusi suomalaista ja seitsemän venäläistä koululaista kertoi aikuisen käpälöineen heitä koulussa tai koulumatkalla. Tutkimus vahvistaa aikaisempia tutkimustuloksia, joiden mukaan seksuaalisen häirinnän ja ahdistelun sietäminen opetushenkilökunnan taholta on erittäin merkityksellistä sen suhteen, kuinka isoksi seksuaalisen häirinnän ja ahdistelun ongelma koululuokassa muodostuu. Koululaisten tekstit siitä, mikä lopetti häirinnän, eivät ole lupaavia. vaikka oppilailta ei kysytty, oliko häirintä/ahdistelu loppunut ja mikä sen oli lopettanut, jotkut lapset kirjoittivat asiasta. Melkein puolet heistä kirjoitti, että häirintä jatkui edelleen. Jotkut oppilaista olivat onnistuneet lopettamaan ahdistelut käyttämällä väkivaltaa puolustuskeinona häirintää vastaan. Vain yksi oppilas kertoi saaneensa häirinnän loppumaan keskustelemalla ahdistelijan kanssa. Opettajalle koululaiset kertoivat kokemastaan häirinnästä vain hyvin harvoin

Näytön voimalla ja varjossa opintiellä:tutkimus mieleenpainuneista kouluoppimisen kokemuksista

Abstract The research focused upon stories on memorable learning events. There was a total of 314 stories. Most of the writers were women. Content and discourse analysis were the research tools used for looking at the stories. Content analysis was used to seek out the learning environments and focuses, and established what were typical and untypical accounts in each environment and focus. Discourse analysis was used to establish how difficulties in different school subjects were expressed, how the learning society was structured in the stories, and how the learner conceived of her/himself in relation to the teacher, the school subject and other pupils. It was also used to see how different discourse was actualised and modified within individual accounts of different school subjects and different learning environments. School did not emerge as a particularly memorable environment in the learning experiences. Only 44 % of the memoirs concentrated on learning in school, despite the fact that in five out of the seven rounds of collecting material people were specifically asked to write in the first instance about learning in school. There were differences in the discourse of the memoirs according to the school subject being described, but the central messages that rose above the specific subjects were showing, the instrument value of learning, hierarchy, competition, lack of time, and external definitions of time. These messages were repeated in memoirs written by both men and women, although the stories otherwise did differ according to gender. Many memorable learning experiences were not particularly meaningful from the learning perspective. Meaningful learning required confidence in one's own abilities, boldness to step into an uncertain world, and a desire to learn. It was also characterised by a sense of challenge, testing one's independence in relation to the experts in the actual teaching process, a sense of security in relation to external threats, a lack of hurry yet accompanied by time limits, and rather than a need to show, a need to use what was being learned. The research material contain many such stories that left a negative feeling. However, along with the negative memoirs, there were some descriptions of extremely positive learning experiences. One group of positive accounts was formed from those who spoke of an excellent teacher. Positive feelings also stemmed from exceptional circumstances allowing one to make an effort, or from succeeding in showing just what one can do. One clear group of negative memoirs was formed from those cases where difficulties stemmed from the teacher behaving in an unjust manner. Another group was formed from accounts in which the teacher had in some other way caused problems: the teacher had been frighteningly authoritarian or extremely strict. Fear of failure and fears related to one's own status among other pupils were also frequently mentioned

Ethical challenges for teacher education and teaching:special focus on gender and multicultural issues

Abstract The publication is a product of the research group, which studies education and multicultural issues from an ethical viewpoint. The group members especially analyse various justice-, equity- and growth-hindering constructions in pedagogical relationships and processes. In this report the group particularly discusses the challenges of diversity, inequity and injustice from three perspectives: 1) ethnicity, 2) spirituality/worldviews and 3) gender and sexuality. Two additional and current discussion topics - information technology and ability-disability -dimension have also been included in the selection of articles. The themes have been analysed in varied settings but special attention has been paid to teacher education, which is considered an important means to change the course of education. The articles are very different as to their nature: some are introductions to the researcher's research theme, others philosophical discussions or presentations of results. As a whole, the articles introduce the research themes of the group and the stage where various people are in their study. Many common concepts emerge; either to describe the inequitable structures and processes or the way out towards a more just and equal school and society. Diversity, otherness, monoacculturation, hegemony, ethnocentrism, androcentrism, marginalisation, emancipation, and human rights and responsibilities are examples of such concepts. As to pedagogy, the concepts are more theme-specific; one, however, is shared by the group members. That is transformative pedagogy

Gendered and sexualised violence in educational organisations

Foreword This book has been made as a part of the Aware-project - "Increasing Awareness in educational Organisations of Sexualised and Gendered Violence -publication and web project 2001-2002". Articles are based on current and ongoing research made worldwide. The Aware-project is funded by the European Commission's Daphne-programme. The aim of the whole Daphne-programme is to develop measures to prevent violence targeted at children, youth and women. The aims of the Aware-project were 1) to increase public and academic awareness of sexualised and gendered violence in educational organisations, 2) to develop communication between existing research networks and 3) to produce a publication, which would be suitable educational material for teacher education pedagogical studies. Our way to prevent violence is to increase administrators', educators' and public awareness about various forms of sexualised and gendered violence. We are proud to publish this book in the Femina Borealis -publication series, which is the publication forum which concentrates especially on Northern Women and Gender Studies. The Aware-project was organised by the Women's Studies of the University of Oulu, which has been actively developing Women and Gender Studies in the northern part of Europe. The book presents some results of the projects which have roots also in Femina Borealis. Most of the writers of the book are from the northern part of Europe and the book gives some special insights into gendered and sexualised violence in educational environments from a northern perspective as well as comparative insights from other parts of the world. The book is partly based on work done in various networks and reserach projects. The most important of them are the research project entitled "Gendered power relations and violence in schools and teacher education in Northern Finland", and the research network entitled "Gendered violence in schools and teacher education in the Barents region". The network is organised between research groups from Finland, Norway, Sweden and Northwest Russia. Most of the writers come from North and Middle Europe and several of them are working as educators in institutions of higher education and as teachers and psychologists and also crisis centre workers. The project had also a public call for papers, which resulted in a few dozen interesting abstracts. Some of them developed to full grown articles, others have important subjects like trafficking, prostitution and child abuse and may be published in future publications. The call for papers gave us a possibility to find new and future partners in different parts of Eastern Europe like Karelia, Lithuania, Tadzhikistan and Georgia. Central theme areas of the publication are violence as a part of school culture, representations of femininity, masculinity and body, sexual harassment and coercion, heteronormativity and sexual violence. The themes are intertwined in the articles. The Aware-project participated in organising two seminars, the NCRB closing seminar "Crisis Centres and Violence against Women", Oulu, in which Aware-project had a special workshop "Sexism, Sexual Harassment and Anti-Sexist Pedagogy" and the theme seminar "Culture, Violence and Gender - Dialogue between Africa and the Arctic" held in Oulu together with the NCRB-project and the Gender &amp; Violence network. The project was presented in several international conferences, for example NERA-Congress 2002 "Education and Cultural Diversities" in Tallinn, Estonia; Gender &amp; Violence Research Network meeting in Umeå, Sweden; Farväl heteronormativitet -conference, Göteborg, Sweden; GLEE (Gay &amp; Lesbian Equality in Education) Leadership Training Course, Oulu; 27th ATEE Annual Conference: "Teacher Education and Educational reform" Warsaw, Poland; IV Barents Rainbow Festival &amp; Conference, Oulu. The publication will be published in a conference in University of Umeå, Sweden. The seminars and conferences have provided a special possibility to build networks worldwide. The staff of Aware-project also organised lectures "The myths, mysteries and misinterpretations of sexuality and sexuality education", which was especially aimed at the students studying education and teaching. Some writers of this book gave lectures and presented their current research. During the Aware-project there has been a need and also a possibility for societal activism in addition to academic work. The workers and writers have attended in public demonstrations against violence, coordinating and participating in the Finnish national Women's Line phone service in Oulu, a help line for girls and women who are facing violence or the threat of violence and urging the local newspaper Kaleva to quit publishing sexual service ads by threatening to boycott the newspaper. The second, revised edition is available from http://herkules.oulu.fi/isbn9514271505/</a

Gendered and sexualised violence in educational enviroments:the second, revised edition

Foreword This book has been made as a part of the Aware-project - "Increasing Awareness in educational Organisations of Sexualised and Gendered Violence -publication and web project 2001-2002". Articles are based on current and ongoing research made worldwide. The Aware-project is funded by the European Commission's Daphne-programme. The aim of the whole Daphne-programme is to develop measures to prevent violence targeted at children, youth and women. The aims of the Aware-project were 1) to increase public and academic awareness of sexualised and gendered violence in educational organisations, 2) to develop communication between existing research networks and 3) to produce a publication, which would be suitable educational material for teacher education pedagogical studies. Our way to prevent violence is to increase administrators', educators' and public awareness about various forms of sexualised and gendered violence. We are proud to publish this book in the Femina Borealis -publication series, which is the publication forum which concentrates especially on Northern Women and Gender Studies. The Aware-project was organised by the Women's Studies of the University of Oulu, which has been actively developing Women and Gender Studies in the northern part of Europe. The book presents some results of the projects which have roots also in Femina Borealis. Most of the writers of the book are from the northern part of Europe and the book gives some special insights into gendered and sexualised violence in educational environments from a northern perspective as well as comparative insights from other parts of the world. The book is partly based on work done in various networks and reserach projects. The most important of them are the research project entitled "Gendered power relations and violence in schools and teacher education in Northern Finland", and the research network entitled "Gendered violence in schools and teacher education in the Barents region". The network is organised between research groups from Finland, Norway, Sweden and Northwest Russia. Most of the writers come from North and Middle Europe and several of them are working as educators in institutions of higher education and as teachers and psychologists and also crisis centre workers. The project had also a public call for papers, which resulted in a few dozen interesting abstracts. Some of them developed to full grown articles, others have important subjects like trafficking, prostitution and child abuse and may be published in future publications. The call for papers gave us a possibility to find new and future partners in different parts of Eastern Europe like Karelia, Lithuania, Tadzhikistan and Georgia. Central theme areas of the publication are violence as a part of school culture, representations of femininity, masculinity and body, sexual harassment and coercion, heteronormativity and sexual violence. The themes are intertwined in the articles. The Aware-project participated in organising two seminars, the NCRB closing seminar "Crisis Centres and Violence against Women", Oulu, in which Aware-project had a special workshop "Sexism, Sexual Harassment and Anti-Sexist Pedagogy" and the theme seminar "Culture, Violence and Gender - Dialogue between Africa and the Arctic" held in Oulu together with the NCRB-project and the Gender &amp; Violence network. The project was presented in several international conferences, for example NERA-Congress 2002 "Education and Cultural Diversities" in Tallinn, Estonia; Gender &amp; Violence Research Network meeting in Umeå, Sweden; Farväl heteronormativitet -conference, Göteborg, Sweden; GLEE (Gay &amp; Lesbian Equality in Education) Leadership Training Course, Oulu; 27th ATEE Annual Conference: "Teacher Education and Educational reform" Warsaw, Poland; IV Barents Rainbow Festival &amp; Conference, Oulu. The publication will be published in a conference in University of Umeå, Sweden. The seminars and conferences have provided a special possibility to build networks worldwide. The staff of Aware-project also organised lectures "The myths, mysteries and misinterpretations of sexuality and sexuality education", which was especially aimed at the students studying education and teaching. Some writers of this book gave lectures and presented their current research. During the Aware-project there has been a need and also a possibility for societal activism in addition to academic work. The workers and writers have attended in public demonstrations against violence, coordinating and participating in the Finnish national Women's Line phone service in Oulu, a help line for girls and women who are facing violence or the threat of violence and urging the local newspaper Kaleva to quit publishing sexual service ads by threatening to boycott the newspaper