FCAW Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean
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Our Work
In 1989, education activities were initiated by WSPA Costa Rica by developing a package of resources on animal welfare education (AWE) aimed to primary-level public schools. The initial project was later transformed into a formal programme named “Respect for all forms of life” based on a teacher-training workshop strategy. Throughout the years hundreds of teachers and thousands of students have been exposed to the programme, and the strategy has been expanded to other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Today WSPA global education initiatives constitute the basis for AWE in the region, and the teacher-training strategy has focused on Mexico, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico. The implementation process has been built in collaboration with the educational authorities of each country who have shown great enthusiasm and support for the programme.
In order to develop appropriate educational solutions based on scientific evidence and an ethical standing, an effort has been made in the region to instill understanding that the animal welfare issues are very much linked to particular values, cultural trends, and socioeconomic conditions. A pedagogical approach focused on the active role of the learning process and the development of decision-making and critical-thinking skills has been the result. Also a cross-curricular approach to AWE has been followed, by fostering the integration of animal welfare topics and values into current lesson planning of the different subject-matters taught in the schools.
The fact that most AWE resources are available only in English has motivated the development of interactive materials in Spanish, either printed, video or in digital formats. Also, when feasible, translations into Spanish have been done. All resources provided to teachers participating in the workshops have been very much appreciated. Availability of any kind of resources is a main issue for teachers in the region, and the provision of such resources significantly helps in the classroom implementation of AW lessons.
A particular emphasis has been made on evaluating the impact of the programme. Currently assessment tools are being administered following a pre- and post-test fashion, in order to build an appropriate factual body of evidence to help improve future implementation and development process.