<< Background >>The Council of Europe’s Gender Equality Strategy 2014-2017 (www.coe.int) sets out five strategic objectives. The first on the list is combating gender stereotypes and sexism. The strategy defines gender stereotyping as preconceived ideas whereby males and females are arbitrarily assigned characteristics and roles determined and limited by their sex. A conscious effort on the part of society to change attitudes and to accommodate diference is a prerequisite for an inclusive society. Education plays a central role in this process. Schools occupy a unique position in society, and the role of the school is fundamental in promoting gender equality. By offering new models of behaviour, the school can be seen as an instrument for positive change. The Conference concluded that societies remain strongly gender stereotyped and that the education system, which is a subsystem of the societies they serve, reproduce the values and culture of those societies without challenging their possible limitations on the life opportunities and experiences of their pupils. Furthermore, in the conference the issue of technology and on the conscious use of it and the social media, was raised. And it was also concluded that the influences of parents and schools on the personal and social development of young people have been diminished by their children’s ever increasing use of social media.Destructuring stereotypes is an urgency. Learning to think critically is therefore a first step towards this path of awareness. The Diogenes project aligns, stands in synergy and reponds to the council of Europe conclusions and suggestions (Schools should play an active role in preparing all young people to develop the skills necessary to fully participate in all spheres of modern society) and responds to The Polish National Action Program for Equal Treatment for 2021-2030, and to serveral national and international project and dispositions like the Italian project “Gender School- affrontare la violenza di genere” by INDIRE and the Dipartimento per le Pari Opportunità della Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, the art. 5, co. 2 lett. c) of the DL93 / 2013, also the DDL July 2015 n 107 and the point.4 of Objective 2030) . Furthermore it pays attention to the EIGE report which shows that there’s no Nation that is totally free from Gender Stereotypes and this project, if carried out transnationally could favour and put a small brick toward a culture of gender non-discrimination. The project aims at contributing in the road towards the improvement.<< Objectives >>As a general priority, the project Diogenes aims at promoting –in particular through innovative and integrated approaches– gender equality, non-discrimination and social inclusion. Specifically, the project goal is to address the difficulty that students have to activate information processing in a critical way, regarding a sensitive topic as gender equality. Moreover, it aims to promote- in particular through innovative integrated approaches- shared values, equality, social inclusion, diversity and non-discrimination. The need is for teachers to be able to address and share these values and therefore it is crucial to update their competences to transfer these topics to the student.The aim of the project is to:-define and test laboratory activities capable of stimulating critical abilities with respect to gender stereotypes disseminated through Social Media and implementing proactive attitudes towards gender equality.-Update teachers' skills in the field of Social media Storytelling, critical thinking and gender equality.-Define school-family alliance models and facilitate students’ active participation processes-Encouraging the creation (by students) of awareness videos aimed at both peers and parents and adults, to activate users' critical abilities towards the messages that social media transmit in terms of gender stereotypes.<< Implementation >>To achieve the above mentioned objectives, the project is going to develop:IO1- Digital storytelling laboratories to stimulate critical thinking on the issue of Gender StereotypesIO2- Training course for teachers on digital storytelling and a set of video contents to sensitize the general publicIO3- To do and not to do list for parents (to help them understanding appropriate and inappropriate behaviour or statements towards gender stereotypes)Through the implementation of the activities the project aims at updating of teachers' skills on basic concepts of gender difference and elements of critical thinking, have teachers acquire a new path to stimulate critical thinking regarding the issue of gender difference and also have the ability to apply and experiment with the abovementioned techniques within a class. This is to plant a seed for an initial change by pupils of the perception they have about gender difference and for the transition towards the idea of gender equality and non-discirmination. Furthermore it will help towards a more conscious and more critical use of the social media. Last but not least aims to raise awareness by parents of the most appropriate attitudes to adopt in influencing their children.The partnership will involve 5 lower secondary schools, a university, a training and consulting agency, a cooperative and a NGO.The project aims at having an impact on school education system in order to empower teachers’ skills providing them with innovative and effective methodology tools.It also aims at having an impact on the social system, raising awareness, both at a local and international level, regarding a conscious and critical use of social media, in particular regarding gender stereotypes.<< Results >>Through the implementation of the activities related to these four Intellectual Outputs, the Diogenes Project aims to obtain the following results: 1- Updating of teachers' skills on basic concepts of gender difference and elements of critical thinking2- The acquisition by teachers of a path made of Laboratory activities to stimulate critical thinking regarding the issue of gender difference. 3- The ability, also by the teachers, to apply and experiment with the abovementioned techniques within a class4-The ability to transfer these skills to other fellow teachers who intend to experiment the above techniques in their class.5-The acquisition, by teachers, of community engagement tools to trigger a school / family alliance and raise awareness on the issue of gender difference 6-An initial change by pupils of the perception they have about gender difference and about a more critical and aware use of social media.7-An awareness by parents of the most appropriate attitudes to adopt in influencing their children The TANGIBLE RESULTS of the 3 IO's are:IO1 will produce a set of Digital Storytelling laboratories that contain elements of critical thinking and gender equality stimulation IO2 will produce a teacher training course on Digital Storytelling workshops and a set of videos aimed and parents and peers to sensitise on the topicIO3 will produce a very clear and direct list of appropriate and not appropriate attitudes to be adopted with their children, but not only, on the theme of gender equality