Gender sensitisation through course design thinking

Abstract

Translators’ training providers, including Higher Education (HE), play a big part in shaping the minds and behaviours of future translators. Therefore, translation courses must focus on implementing practices and resources which will enhance not only students’ linguistic and technical skills, but also cultural awareness, social responsibility, and ethical principles. Sexual/identity discourse is an area of critical enquiry which presents significant challenges that translators frequently do not seem to be able to handle due to their generally low level of gender understanding and sensitivity. This is where translators’ trainers need to take action. The current article – which collects the first findings of an in-progress educational project carried out at London Metropolitan University – suggests examples of activities and aspects to consider in curriculum design to create an effective framework which can ensure a more consistent embedding of gendersensitive policies in the curriculum of translation courses.