To assist teachers, keep abreast of animal welfare legislation and of current evidence based information about animal welfare, the NSW Department of Education and Communities, the Catholic Education Commission and the Association of Independent Schools have developed guidelines to interpret animal welfare legislation that are published on the Animals in schools website.
This website provides a number of resources to support teachers to remain compliant in their use of animals and to be exposed to best practice, often demonstrated by practitioners who are exemplary in their field.
Teachers are powerful role models. This means that the way teachers work with animals and the attitudes that are apparent in the teachers’ care and handling of animals will strongly influence the attitudes students develop towards animals.
With up to a third of NSW government high schools offering agriculture as part of their curriculum it is extremely important that teachers in these schools maintain their currency of knowledge about livestock handling.
Through the Animal Welfare in Schools Advisor, a series of livestock handling videos have been developed to assist teachers of agriculture and Primary Industries.
These videos demonstrate livestock handling practices that reflect knowledge and understanding of the animals’ physical and behavioural characteristics.
They have been developed in line with the activities that schools are permitted to carry out using animals.
Funds from the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy have been used in the development of these videos.
The videos are housed on the NSW Department of Education and Communities YouTube channel, LearningNSWDEC. The 15 videos that have been developed are:
Cattle
- Preparation for mustering
- Mustering cattle
- Safety in the yards
- Moving cattle in the yards without noise or contact
- Weighing cattle in the crush
- Routine husbandry activities
- Access to water
- Best practice cattle handling
Sheep
