The promotion of gender equality in and through education is a prerequisite to the achievement of equality between women and men in all spheres of life in society. The Council of Europe has promoted gender equality and non-stereotyped education at all levels. By shaping gender representations, attitudes and behaviours, early education is an essential factor to combat stereotypes and bring about social and cultural changes. Gender mainstreaming will play an active part in implementing awareness-raising and training on gender equality. Policymakers and educators worldwide should not underestimate the importance of early childhood education on the development of deeply engrained gender norms. It is important to consider the cognitive and affective formation of gender identity which develops in early childhood.

The types of skills, personality attributes, and career aspirations learned through teacher-child interactions and childhood play can form stereotypical masculine and feminine attitudes toward gender roles, which develop before adolescence. By associating gender equality and STEAM focused on pre- school, primary and junior secondary education the project addresses the underrepresentation of girls in STE(A)M (Science, Technology, Arts, Engineering and Mathematics) who will be the future women in STE(A)M careers. Objective: This project is concerned with gender equality in pre-school, primary and lower secondary education and aims at contributing to increased capabilities to reduce stereotypes by developing a series of innovative and interactive materials, tested through a behavioural science lens for their potential to increase equality by amendment of practical everyday skills and social norms regarding attitudes and stereotypes, especially in STEAM and in what concerns teachers and youngsters.Learning Objectives:(using Bloom’s Taxonomy action verbs)

By concluding this project, participants will be able to:

• Define unconscious biases and gender stereotypes in pre-school, primary and secondary STEAM education by raising awareness of target groups.
• Support pre-school, primary and lower-secondary school teachers by providing them training, materials to deal with diversity and gender-balance in their classrooms (e. g. helping them to design suitable education programmes, organise hands-on activity, promoting Equality in STEAM and mentoring) and then engage more girls in STEAM education.