We believe that through education and knowledge about violence, we can end violence!
We can visit your school.
In 2022, primary schools can book our course "Gender, Body and Class" for free via the Copenhagen Municipality's website right here
We offer sexual education based on an understanding of power relations, boundaries, consent-based communication and knowledge of health and well-being.
About the course
We send a teacher to your class for four double lesson. Our course lasts a total of four weeks, and involves three lessons for students, as well as one lesson for both teachers and students, where we, together, can create a framework for safe teaching in the future. We are passionate about adding well-being to the schools' agenda, and we invite you to a conversation regarding how each class can be a part of preventing dissatisfaction, bullying and violence.
First lesson: 'Gender'
A presentation about gender and sexuality, and what they mean in regards to the expectations we have for each other. The lesson goes into the topic of how norms regarding gender have evolved over time, breaking down limiting stereotypes. In an anonymous mailbox, the students can ask questions that relate to all parts of the teaching process. We will return to the questions continuously.
Second lesson: 'Body'
A presentation on the diversity of bodies: race/ethnicity, ability, myths about the masculine and the feminine body, different ways of having sex. The lesson talks about understanding the connection between body and mind. We prepare a workshop on boundaries, and an exercise with fictional letterbox stories.
Third lesson: 'Teacher's hour'
A presentation on unthriving. With the teachers, we reflect upon how to become aware of signals of unthriving among students. We work with 'forum theatre', where we investigate how to spot and act on unthriving. The teachers make a manifesto, in which we map their needs and expectations for each other, and for the management.
Fourth lesson: 'Class'
A presentation on consent and responsibility for one's own, as well as the class's well-being. We discuss how to handle uneasiness, conflict, as well as who you can turn to, if you don't have the language to put complicated topics into words. We do an exercise with fictional letterbox stories and forum theatre, where the students have an opportunity to come up with ideas for how to handle difficult situations. The students write a manifesto regarding their expectations of each other, as well as how they want to ensure a safe space in the future.
Do you want to know more about our presentations and training?
Would you like to get in touch with our local branch in Aalbrog?
Write to Cecilie Ryom Kramer (she/her) cecilie-cma@talomvold.dk
Cecilie is trained as a Social and Health Worker before she took a bachelor's and master's degree in sociology. Cecilie has special knowledge within sociological methods and looks at how children and young people are developed in institutions and how professionals can help ensure children's well-being and development.
Do you want to know more about our education or book a presentation?
Contact us here educationcma@talomvold.dk
Head of Knowledge of Violence in Copenhagen, his name is Dan Dudkowski (they/them). Dan graduated from Roskilde University, Cultural Encounters & Communication in 2022. Dan must help develop our educational efforts with their special skills in knowledge of gender, sexuality, culture and intersectionality and their own experience as a non-binary person.
Our approach to teaching
Through specialised knowledge about violence, as well as experience with the peer-to-peer method, our teaching is based on lived experiences of violence. On the basis of the peer-to-peer method, we work based on the idea that exposure can constitute a resource that can be used and developed, thus creating value for the person themselves, and for others with similar experience. When the students share their life experiences with those who are part of the learning space, unique communities, connectedness, as well as like-mindedness, develop.
Peer-to-peer in practice
The literature indicates that peer support in particular areas differs positively from the support provided by professionals, who do not have a uniform lived experience (VIVE, 2019). It can, for example, instill hope in the participants to see others with similar experience act as role models. Additionally, the teacher can often ask other specific questions to the students, as the teacher has a different starting point for understanding the students' terms, and what is needed to change them.
Our method and experience have been met with positive reactions from students. The fact that they are taught by people with lived experiences of violence, unthriving, bullying, etc., provides authenticity and reassurance that can help the students to communicate openly with each other. That way, the teachers, together with the young people, can work towards creating a space where breaking taboos is seen as important, necessary and a joint project.
How do we prevent violence
We have developed the initiative "Understanding Violence" as a series of presentations for students in primary schools, upper secondary schools, colleges, universities etc.
Through presentations and workshops, we take students and professionals into our knowledge of violence, and how violence is connected to power relations, such as gender, class, geography and much more.
We understand violence as verbal, psychological and physical violence. We nuance and de-taboo what violence is. In our experience of providing support to victims of violence, we have learned that the majority of participants identify having experienced violence for the first time early in their lives. For example, bullying. The early violence is often the background to other forms of unthriving in their adult lives. The violence that repeats itself in the childhood of a number of participants is the verbal violence, such as threats, shaming, as well as isolation at home and at school. These forms of violence, as feelings of powerlessness and misunderstanding of what the problem is. We have identified a need to reach out to the younger generations and articulate these patterns of unthriving, because we believe that we can help prevent the violent patterns from branching out in the individual, or continuing into their adult life.
We have taught, held presentations and workshops here, among other places:
