Education

Animals can experience pleasure, pain and suffering. When humans interact with animals we have a responsibility and often a legal duty to safeguard their welfare.

These messages are at the heart of WSPA’s educational aims – to develop compassion, a sense of justice and respect for animals and people. Education also reveals how animal welfare is crucial to people and the environment.

With an understanding of key animal welfare principles, people come to understand and appreciate the role that we can all play in improving the lives of the world’s animals.

Education for positive change: our programmes

Animal welfare education in action
© WSPA

WSPA’s worldwide animal welfare education team works on programmes designed for teachers, students and professionals, ultimately reaching many thousands of children and adults with a message of compassion.

Running in Central and South America, Africa and Asia, our educational programmes take three main forms:

1. First Concepts in Animal Welfare

This introductory-level education programme looks at animals, people and the environment. It includes:

training, support and materials for teachers working with 5–16 year olds in Costa Rica, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Kenya and Thailand
integrating animal welfare education into school curricula, by working with governments, organising teacher training and providing materials
developing educational resources and activities for other WSPA work areas, including materials for adults with lower literacy levels or who are being taught the basic needs of animals in their care.

Our training for teachers working with 5–16 year olds (previously known as International Animal Welfare Education) has been endorsed by the UNESCO regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean in both Chile and Peru, and by the International Association of Human–Animal Interaction Organisations (IAHAIO).

To find out more, download a brochure (PDF 451KB) or visit our website for educators >>

2. Advanced Concepts in Animal Welfare

This area of our work is home to all educational activity on more complex animal welfare concepts and has two main programmes:

Tertiary animal welfare education. This programme targets university veterinary faculties and agriculture and livestock training institutes worldwide – vets can play a major role in improving animal welfare, and their actions influence others.

The CD ROM syllabus was developed with the University of Bristol’s School of Clinical Veterinary Science, and has been requested by over 850 universities worldwide. Download more information >> (PDF 282.48 KB)

Agricultural vocational training. We support training in Africa that integrates an animal welfare perspective.

We also advise colleagues across WSPA’s work areas on incorporating sound educational aspects to their programmes, for both professionals and wider audiences.

3. Member society support

As well as assisting with the educational aspects of all our work areas, WSPA’s education team also supports education initiatives by member societies.

By providing educational expertise, feedback, funding grants and advice on monitoring and effectiveness, we enhance education work across the world, from small scale projects to national programmes.

United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD)

In December 2002, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted resolution 57/254 to put in place a United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), spanning from 2005 to 2014, and designated UNESCO to lead the Decade.

The United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development seeks to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning, in order to address the social, economic, cultural and environmental problems we face in the 21st century.

During this decade, education for sustainable development will contribute to preparing citizens better prepared to face the challenges of the present and the future, and decision-makers who will act responsibly to create a viable world. ESD supports five fundamental types of learning to provide quality education and foster sustainable human development – learning to know, learning to be, learning to live together, learning to do and learning to transform oneself and society.

For more visit www.unesco.org/education/desd or contact esddecade@unesco.org