Should Animal Welfare be Included in Educational Programs? Attitudes of Secondary and University Students from Eight EU Countries

Animal Welfare (AW) educational programs aim to promote positive attitudes of future generations toward animal production systems. This study investigated whether secondary and university students in the majors that are not related to AW teaching believe that this concept should be included also in their educational programs. The determinant factors affecting students' attitudes toward such a decision were analyzed. This research has focused on eight European countries (Spain, the United Kingdom, Poland, Greece, Lithuania, Romania, Italy, and Sweden) targeting 3,881 respondents composed of 1,952 secondary and 1,929 university students. The results showed that female university students with a high level of subjective and objective knowledge on AW and who required more restrictive AW regulations, gave support to include the concept in their educational programs. However, Students who support medical experiments that use animals to improve human health were less likely to accept AW education. Furthermore, students in Italy compared to those in Sweden were prone to support AW educational programs. Results highlight the importance of teaching the AW concept as a comprehensive teaching tool at universities and schools' programs as it may constitute a starting point for a more sustainable society toward improving animal living conditions, mainly in the Mediterranean countries in secondary schools.

Automated summary

This study investigated the attitudes of secondary and university students in eight European countries towards including the concept of animal welfare in their educational programs. The results showed that female university students with high levels of subjective and objective knowledge on animal welfare and who supported more restrictive regulations were in favor of including the concept in their education. However, students who supported medical experiments on animals for human health improvement were less likely to accept animal welfare education. Additionally, students in Italy were more prone to supporting animal welfare educational programs compared to those in Sweden.