A conversation with experts on developing education policy to address gender bias and gender-based violence

Chopra, Priti

Gowda, Veena

Morarka, Vandita

Panicker, Anne

Sathe, Prachi

Greenwich Academic Literature Archive

Three Newsletter Issue #6 May 2021 About Ni3 None in Three (Ni3) is a global research centre for the prevention of gender-based violence (GBV). The name None in Three comes from the statistic that one in three women around the world will experience some form of physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. We believe this is an unacceptable number; that any violence against women and girls is not OK, and we work to make that number NONE in three. GBV is the term used to describe harm inflicted upon people that is connected to how their gender is understood within their culture. We research different forms of GBV and are developing interactive computer games as educational tools for young people, to be played in schools. Through these games we aim to effect meaningful cultural change. We work to change attitudes and behaviours that relate to different types of GBV, including sexual abuse; adolescent dating violence; gender bias and its relationship to gender-based violence; and child marriage. We are passionate about making a difference. Through our work we are striving to change the behaviours and attitudes not only of individuals, but of governments too. We seek to achieve real-world impact through our research. We want to persuade governments to listen to the facts about GBV, to accept the extent of the problem, to acknowledge how many women and girls are being abused, and to act in order to change this. Get Involved We welcome the support of like-minded organisations who share our commitment to preventing violence against women and girls. If you would like your organisation to be listed on our website as a supporter of None in Three, please click here to complete a short online form registering your interest. You can also get in touch by email on noneinthree@hud.ac.uk    Welcome to the May 2021 None in Three newsletter. In this edition we focus on the educational curricula we are creating to accompany our schools-based, violence-prevention video games. These curriculum documents are a key output from the None in Three project. They provide a supportive, structured framework for delivery of our educational games. They can also be used as standalone resources. They give teachers the tools they need to help students engage with challenging gender-based violence issues constructively, exploring themes in a safe environment, enabling deepened understanding and reinforced learning. For this issue we interviewed Dr Priti Chopra and Professor Paul Miller, leaders of this strand of our work, together with Prarthana Patil and Dr Karyl Powell-Booth, representatives of our research teams based in India and Jamaica respectively, to gain an insight into the process of developing our curricula. Read on to find out more, and click the video links below to see and hear directly from each of them. Providing a structured scheme of work that wraps around our games is central to enabling their uptake and leveraging their impact as effective, schools-based, anti-violence interventions. None in Three Curriculum Development Development of these schemes of work, as with None in Three’s foundational research, is rooted in nationally recognised gender-based violence issues that shape the lived experience of millions of children and young people. In Uganda the game and associated curriculum content focus on child marriage, and sexual coercion surrounding it; in India, the focus is gender bias as an enabler of gender-based violence in and outside of the home; in Jamaica the topic is child sexual abuse in the home; and in the UK, abusive behaviours including coercion and control within teenage relationships. Engaging with young people and actively involving them in a change process is central to our vision of preventing gender-based violence. Our use of innovative educational strategies to challenge negative gender attitudes while they are being formed empowers young people to develop the knowledge and skills they need to protect themselves, recognise and call out abusive behaviours, and to respect and support others. The curriculum design and content is shaped by an interdisciplinary, youth-centred approach that draws on and combines:  critical pedagogy;  creative and performing arts;  an ecological framework for human development; and  integrated, intercultural therapeutic practice.    Sample images of the current version of our curriculum for Jamaica, still under development The objective is to create the conditions for inclusive, equitable and ethical teaching in a safe, boundaried learning environment. Through these curricula young people are given an opportunity to develop critical awareness of oppressive ways of being, relating to their own sense of self and others. They offer context-relevant activities for reflection and effecting change within self and others. A scheme of work with suggested topics and activities has been developed to tie in with themes and learning objectives within each ‘chapter’ of each of our prosocial games. While we are developing separate curricula for each of our study countries, there are commonalities across all four. In each, we include suggestions for extension activities, formative assessment and locally accessible, low/no cost resources and activities. We have maintained a focus on understanding how support and intervention, and a lack of bystander intervention, can have powerful consequences for those living with experiences of gender-based violence. We focus on participatory and engaging activities for students as a way of creating sustained shifts in their learning, knowledge and attitudes. Although there are common themes running across the curricular content, we have engaged in an iterative and collaborative development process, working with stakeholders, curriculum experts and research teams in each country. Pedagogical principles underpinning the design are combined with Ni3 country research findings to ensure cultural relevance and to create a unique approach situated within each national context. We referred to our reviews of existing literature on the research (and game) topic in each country, together with our own quantitative and qualitative research findings, to design a powerful, culturally relevant approach to learning. Dr Priti Chopra, University of Greenwich, is leading on the development of our curriculum content for all four study countries Professor Paul Miller is a member of the Board of the Commonwealth Council for Education Administration & Management and a member of the British Educational Leadership Society. He is a curriculum consultant for None in Three. We believe this work has huge potential to change attitudes towards gender-based violence. For decades, governments, researchers and policy makers have tried various interventions to protect women and girls from violence within homes and the wider community. As we have seen from reviewing the literature, many of these interventions have had limited or no success. Our work offers a different approach to the challenge of tackling gender-based violence. By engaging with young people while their opinions are still forming, we have a real opportunity to instil in the next generation positive attitudes towards gender equality, together with a recognition of, and a desire to address, social injustice. Our teams have engaged educational leaders in each country. We have worked with senior school leaders, government representatives and ministries of education. While it has, at times, proved challenging to reach the right people, we have been overwhelmed by the positivity with which our approach has been welcomed once we have been able to speak with key educational stakeholders, and are hugely grateful to all those who have taken the time to talk to us. There is widespread recognition that gender-based violence is a real and pressing issue, and that the work of None in Three represents a powerful new resource to help address it. Our conversations with educational leaders and experts have proved invaluable in refining and improving our curricular materials. Conversing with school-based experts and policy makers within ministries of education has grounded and contextualised our empirical research and understanding of the cultural and policy environment into which our four games and educational curricula are designed to integrate. Having their input will – we hope – help enable wide take-up of our resources by schools beyond the life of our project. This combination of the insight of researchers, committed to making change, with the practical, situated perspectives of educators, makes None in Three’s educational curricula powerful tools in the global struggle against gender-based violence. Our curricula will be made available for free download from our website, following trialling of each of our games. Keep an eye on our games pages where we anticipate the Uganda curriculum will be the first to be launched in a just a few weeks’ time. 

Developing policy

http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/35270/6/35270_CHOPRA_Three_Newsletter_Issue.pdf

Developing policy

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