Teaching evidence based animal welfare in NSW schools

Sally Bannerman

^{Schools Animal Welfare Officer}

• Personal reflections
• School students in 2008
• How do teachers in NSW schools teach animal welfare?
• How are schools and teachers supported in relation to animal welfare?
• Summary
  
  

Personal reflections

I have spent my whole life living and working with animals. Currently my family has two enthusiastic Jack Russell terriers, three horses and a pen of chooks.

I watch the Jack Russells, Mouse and Jimmy, they are sniffing and wandering around as I load the wheelbarrow with wood. Suddenly Mouse stops, watches Jimmy and then pounces at him, emitting a growl. At that signal Jimmy commences running with Mouse in hot pursuit. They weave around trees, then suddenly stop have a stand-off in the middle of a garden bed, one on each side of a shrub. Mouse then heads off along the driveway with Jimmy now in pursuit. Jimmy can’t catch Mouse on the straight so he uses other tactics of cutting corners, weaving through gaps and ducking under vehicles, both miraculously ducking their heads just in the nick of time. Every now and then they meet and engage in what seems to me an incredibly aggressive exchange. The noise they emit reminds me of two Tasmanians Devils, fierce and ready to disembowel their opponent. As quickly as they began they stop, and wander back to their past entertainment, only now they are panting and looking slightly tired, tired for at least a few moments.

I ponder the whole game that so regularly occurs. Is it just fun, does it have some purpose, what triggers the game and most commonly I wonder about what I interpret as aggression when they physically meet during their chase.

Similarly I ponder about the behaviour of our horses. Often when they are tied up waiting to be saddled Sam niggles at Babe, only to bitten and told in no uncertain terms to ‘bugger off’. He then looks annoyed, giving her a look that I interpret as one of complete distain. Yet as Hannah finishes saddling, mounts and rides off on Babe, Sam neighs frantically, dancing around at the end of his lead rope, giving the impression that he will die of a broken heart if she doesn’t return immediately.

The purpose of these stories is to convey to how little I really understand of animal behaviour. I make assumptions and propose theories but am never sure. I gain great pleasure not only in the observation but in reflecting what it may mean, wishing I could have some confirmation about how accurate my thoughts are. The one thing I do know is that if I am unsure what this behaviour means when I have lived with, worked with and studied animals all of my life, how can the average suburban school student understand and make correct judgements about any animals that they encounter? Humans often don’t understand other humans, experiencing conflict, disappointment, aggression and turmoil in their relationships. Understanding other humans can be difficult, let alone understanding animals!

School students in 2008

In 2008 teachers report that many students have never owned an animal or had anything to do with animals. This creates additional challenges as ignorance, fear and unfamiliarity can lead students to treat animals inappropriately and make inaccurate assumptions about them. Many school aged Australians are more at home with computers, DVDs, iPods and mobile phones than they are with animals. So helping school students to learn about animals is becoming increasingly more important.

For those school aged students who do interact with animals, what are their interactions?

• Family pet
• Leisure activities such as horse riding, horse racing.
• Wildlife including zoos, exhibits and shows.
• Farm animals on excursions, family holidays or parents occupation.
  

In the least all students are consumers of animal products, e.g. meat, eggs, wool and should be informed about the production of these retail products.

How do they acquire their knowledge in relation to animal welfare?

• Parents and family
• Media, e. g. television, magazines
• Local veterinarian
• Puppy classes
• Riding lessons
• Zoo or wildlife park or show
•  School.
  
  

During the time that students are at schools they mature from very young impressionable 5 year olds to very emotive 14 year olds and hopefully onto responsible 17 or 18 year olds. During this time it is essential that the information we provide them is factual, current and appropriate to their age and demographics. We don’t want our students to be anthropomorphic, we want them to be informed and make rational intelligent decisions about their relationships with animals.

The role that teachers play has become increasingly important in assisting school students to understand animal welfare and the physical and behavioural needs of the animals they encounter.

How do teachers in NSW schools teach animal welfare?

Courses that directly require knowledge and understanding of animal

Examples of these courses include: Stage 4/5 Agricultural studies, HSC Agriculture and HSC Primary Industries. These courses have outcomes and content, prescribed by the Board of Studies, that require students to know and understand the physical and behavioural needs of animals and meet animal welfare standards as described in the codes.

All NSW school syllabuses, that may possibly involve the use of animals, remind teachers of their legislative requirements and refer teachers to Animals in schools: Animal welfare guidelines for teachers.

Examples of the support available to help teachers do this include:

• Animals in agriculture teaching materials available on the Animals In schools website.
• Animals and agriculture teaching professional development workshops delivered by the Schools Animal Welfare Officer to teachers. These workshops promote a range of strategies that can be used for teaching animal welfare and include a perfect match activity using information from Temple Grandin’s website, unpacking technical information from the VEIN Animal welfare essays and a round robin activity compiling information from a case study of free range pork production
  

School situations where animal welfare may be used as a vehicle for other learning opportunities

Commonly primary school teachers keep animals to help foster the values of responsibility, care and empathy in their students. These typically involve keeping a classroom pet such as a budgie, mouse, rabbit or native animals.

The website provides notes for those animal species considered suitable for use in the school setting and commonly kept by schools. These notes include advice about environment, feeding, handling, disease control and husbandry activities as well as references and contacts for each species. One of the purposes of these notes is give teachers a general summary about the species’ physical and behavioural needs so that they can make informed decisions about the choice, acquisition and care of an animal.

Schools are keeping native animals in increasing numbers, e.g. pythons, bearded dragons. The teacher responsible for the care and acquisition of the native animal must acquire a scientific licence from the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC). The acquisition process for this licence involves approval from the SACEC and the application forms are provided by the SACEC in consultation with the DECC. These application forms require teachers to provide details about housing, diet, acquisition and monitoring of stress. Applications are not approved without evidence provided of the ability of the teacher to meet the needs of the animal.

Teachers are role models an must demonstrate best practice

Agriculture teachers have opportunities to demonstrate best practice in the handling and practical care of animals on a day to day basis. Many schools keep a variety of agricultural animals and students are involved in their management and routine care with teachers demonstrating correct procedures.
Many schools participate in competitions with their poultry, sheep, cattle and goats with students also competing in junior judging competitions. These competitions provide opportunities for students to meet with industry representatives and adults who have experience and knowledge in the handling of different species.

Students may also been involved in weekend and holiday monitoring of school animals, playing a vital role in ensuring that care is provided 365 days a year.

How are schools and teachers supported in relation to animal welfare?

Schools Animal Care and Ethics Committee (SACEC) and compliance requirements

The SACEC routinely visits schools throughout NSW each year, maintaining a database of all schools visited. The purpose of these visits to allow a two-way flow of information, the SACEC ensuring that schools are compliant with all legislation and the school staff gaining advice, feedback and support about their practices and procedures.

One of the responsibilities of teachers that use animals for educational purposes is that they must maintain records documenting the care of the animals. These records must be made available during inspections by the SACEC. Advice for teachers about record keeping is provided in Managing the ag plot on the Animals in schools website. Teachers are encouraged to involve students in the record keeping process.

The most important evidence of good animal welfare practices is a school with healthy animals kept in appropriate conditions with student involvement in their care. This is usually a reflection of a knowledgeable and committed teacher and perhaps farm assistant.

Schools animal welfare officer

The NSW Department of Education and Training, Catholic Education Commission and the Association of Independent Schools of NSW jointly fund the employment of the Schools Animal Welfare Officer. This officer not only manages the work of the SACEC but works to positively promote animal welfare in NSW schools. This promotion is done through a number of channels that include:

• Animals in schools website at www.schools.nsw.edu.au/animalsinschools
• School visits
• Workshops
• Participation in activities organised by NSW Association of Agriculture Teachers.
  

Animals in schools: Animal welfare guidelines for teachers

Animals in schools: Animal welfare guidelines for teachers was originally published in 1991 and then revisions in 2001. In 2005, the guidelines became available on the Animals in schools website and since then revisions are made available through updates on the website.

These guidelines include the species notes as well as interpretation of all legislation that affects the use of animals in NSW schools. They also include four objectives that relate to the use of animals in schools and may be included in the school’s curriculum:

Objective 1: Developing students’ skills in relation to responsible animal care and management.

Objective 2: Developing students’ skills in observing animals to enhance their understanding of the behavioural characteristics of species.

Objective 3: Developing students’ skills of investigation where the purpose is to improve methods of animal management or to improve production.

Objective 4: Assisting students to develop empathy with and respect for animals.

Summary

Schools and their teachers cannot take full responsibility for teaching animal welfare to all NSW school students but they can play a vital part. By providing opportunities for students to learn about the physical and behavioural needs of animals and by having teachers informed with up-to-date evidence about the physical and behavioural needs of animals we can help our young community members make rational, intelligent and informed decisions about their relationships with animals.