Open lecture: Design and development of educational interventions on gender perspective: Teachers’ raising awareness on issues of discrimination and gender equality
This lecture focuses on the design and development of educational interventions from a gender perspective, with an emphasis on raising teachers’ awareness of discrimination and promoting gender equality in educational contexts. Grounded in the concept of gender socialization, the seminar examines how sociocultural norms shape different expectations, roles, and behaviors for boys and girls, often reinforcing hierarchical and unequal power relations. Drawing on an intersectional perspective, gender is approached as one dimension of identity that interacts with other social categories such as class, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation.
The lecture also explores the role of education systems and policies at national, European, and international levels in promoting equality and non-discrimination. Particular attention is given to the impact of both the formal and the hidden curriculum in reproducing or challenging gender stereotypes.
Through practical examples, participants engage with strategies for designing inclusive educational interventions, such as the use of non-stereotypical role models, critical use of educational materials, and collaboration with families. The lecture highlights the importance of empowering teachers across all educational levels to critically reflect on their own beliefs and practices, and to actively promote democratic values, human rights, and social justice through gender-sensitive pedagogies.
About associate Professor Vasiliki Pliogkou
Lecture is presented by Associate Professor Vasiliki Pliogkou from University of Western Macedonia
Vassiliki received her BA in Pedagogy at the University of Patras. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Ghent in Belgium. She has two MA, the first one on the subject of "Comparative Education and Human Rights" from the University of Athens and the Institute of Education of the University of London and the second in "Bilingual Special Education" from the University of Western Macedonia.
She received her PhD in Science Education from the Department of Primary Education in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She had been for many years (1997 to present) academic staff and a member on research programs at the Democritus University of Thrace, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the University of Ioannina, while she has a continuous cooperation with the Hellenic Open University, the University of Athens, the School of Pedagogical and Technological Education in Thessaloniki and the Frederick University of Cyprus.
During the spring semester of 2025, she was a visiting professor at the Department of Early Childhood Education and Care, Faculty of Teacher Education and International Studies, Oslo Metropolitan University in Norway, through the ERASMUS+ Faculty Mobility Program.
She is a reviewer in over 25 Greek and International Journals. She has more than 180 presentations in Greek and International conferences and relative publications in collective volumes, Greek and International Journals and proceedings, which focus on human rights education, childhood and children’s rights, citizenship, family-school connection, gender and educational implementations using different pedagogical tools in various formal and non-formal educational environments.
From 1998 till now, she has organised or co-organised events, such as conferences, seminars, educational activities which have been mainly addressed to students at the Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education, educators, preschool and primary school children and their families. Since 2011, she is the president of OMEP (World Organization for Early Childhood Education) in Central Macedonia. She has been awarded the first prize of the International Committee of OMEP for 2016 in Education for Sustainable Development under the UNESCO Global Action Programme, at the University of Ewha Womans in Seoul (S. Korea).
