Communication about Animal Welfare in Danish Agricultural Education

Transcriptie

1 Communication about Animal Welfare in Danish Agricultural Education Inger Anneberg, anthropologist, post doc, Aarhus University, Department of Animal Science Jesper Lassen, sociologist, professor, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food & Resource Economics præsen TATION 1 Background Aims Methodology Focus in the analysis 2 1

2 Background A widespread public concern about the level of animal welfare in Danish agriculture An important task for the agricultural colleges: To prepare and train coming farmers to handle the expectations from the surrounding society Technical and practical knowledge is not enough Moral and ethical issues related to animal welfare an increasingly important subject 3 Facts about agricultural colleges in Denmark Part of vocational educations Alternate between periods at school and periods of apprenticeship Farmer assistant after 2 years of education specialised farmer (plants or livestock) after 3,5 year Animal welfare - part of curriculum but not a subject on its own 4 2

3 Aim of the project To study how students at Danish agricultural colleges understand animal welfare To study to what extend animal welfare is prioritized at the colleges and how the students are introduced to the subject 5 Methodology Ethnographic field observations Qualitative interviews with A) New students, individually B) Older students focus groups C) Teachers (in livestock) Analysis 6 3

4 Analytical possibilities The tension between the public concern about animal welfare and the way the students understand animal welfare The combination of class-room and learning during practical work, different ways of handling this. The impact of practical work related to animal welfare Students background (city/countryside, gender) and how it influence their view on animal welfare Teachers knowledge and priorities about animal welfare in the classroom and how they are updated on the subject. 7 Observation from lecture about animals and pain All students deny having heard about this before (during their work on the farms) Theory versus work experience Student tells how she saw signals of pain but the farmer did not accept it Students learn about the need for analgesic and to recognise pain Student mixes antibiotic with analgesic -leading to a discussion whether antibiotic prevents pain Student claims that imposing pain on production-animals are different than doing it towards pets 8 4

5 I feel we have to talk about that there is a difference between production-animals and pets. I have done things to pigs that I would not do to my cat. We make 8000 pigs a year, it s animals yes but it s also food, it s a production-animal. I( ) If I have a stubborn sow in the corner not wanting to move, I would poke my finger in her eye, but I would never do this to a cat. We are not allowed to beat them, I know, but sometimes you just lose your head - but we just don t talk about it. 9 Observation from lecture about animals and pain All students deny having heard about this before (during their work on the farms) Theory versus work experience Student tells how she saw signals of pain but the farmer did not accept it Students learn about the need for analgesic and to recognise pain Student mixes antibiotic with analgesic -leading to a discussion whether antibiotic prevents pain Student claims that imposing pain on production-animals are different than doing it towards pets 10 5

6 Thank you for listening! 11 6