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Humane education (HE), and, more specifically, animal welfare education (AWEd) is crucial to animals, people and to the environment. Education is one of the pillars of the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA). Hundreds of WSPA's Kindness Clubs for children are active in Africa and Bali (Indonesia), and other WSPA Humane Education programmes run successfully in South America. Although many good initiatives, resources and programmes exist both within WSPA and in other organisations for school-based education about animal welfare, a coherent, integrated programme or curriculum seems to be lacking. The inclusion of animal welfare-based HE programmes in schools frequently depends upon willing, enthusiastic individual educators. The continuity of HE programmes might be jeopardised by staff changes and lack of commitment through lack of understanding by curriculum decision-makers. Therefore, WSPA is developing a Global Strategy for Animal Welfare Education in schools (ages 5-16), which will hopefully be endorsed by international organisations and adopted by governments with a focus on the professional development of teachers enabling them to deliver HE. The curriculum to be designed by WSPA and consultants will comprise a flexible animal welfare-based Humane Education programme that can be tailored to suit local or regional needs.

Stream: Curriculum and Pedagogy

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

Jasmijn de Boo, BSc (Hon), MSc, DipEd is the Education and Training Co-ordinator at the World Society for the Protection for Animals (WSPA, HQ, London). She has worked for four years at Utrecht University (the Netherlands) for the European Resource Centre for Alternatives in higher education (EURCA). She has designed an Animal Care course at vocational level and taught for three years. She also developed a module on literature searching strategies on alternatives for higher education, and is a tutor for an animal welfare online course.

John Callaghan, BA, C Biol, M Biol is the Development Director at the World Society for the Protection for Animals (WSPA, HQ, London). He has spent 26 years in animal welfare specialising in humane education. He spent 14 years in the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Education Department, nearly 10 years at Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) and joined WSPA as Education and Training Director in 2001. His experience includes working with schools, teachers and other animal welfare organisations. Most recently he has been responsible for the development of WSPA's veterinary education programme.

David F Coggan, TCert, LCP(DipSMS), CBiol, MIBiol, ACMI is co-partner in Humanebeing Education and Training Consultancy. He specialises in animal welfare education and related teacher training and has designed and delivered courses internationally. He previously worked as Education Advisor with Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) for 17 years and before that spent 15 years teaching biology/life sciences in secondary schools.