26 April 2007

Animals & Us programme launched

Humane school resource a New Zealand first

New Zealand secondary school teachers with an interest in human-animal relations will finally have comprehensive humane education resources readily at their fingertips.

A six-foot ex-battery hen' named Hetty will help deliver the first of a series of comprehensive teacher resources that are part of an exciting new humane education initiative, entitled Animals & Us. Animals & Us is a unique New Zealand programme that has taken two years of research, development and consultancy with New Zealand teachers. The programme, including a website (www.animalsandus.org.nz), has been produced by the national animal advocacy organisation SAFE.

The first educational resource takes a critical and evaluative look at New Zealand's leading animal welfare issue ‹ battery hen farming. The resource is specifically tailored to suit the needs of NCEA English levels 1-3, but can be applied to a broad range of subjects.

"The Animals & Us programme is intended to provide educators and students with high-quality, thought-provoking materials on animal issues that evoke critical thinking and advanced knowledge and understanding of the relationships between human and non-human animals," says SAFE humane education officer, Nichola Kriek.

"We have all wondered why the chicken crossed the road. Well in the case of Hetty, now we know ‹ to help deliver a message that battery hens deserve a life free ranging, not caged."

All New Zealand secondary schools will receive the Animals & Us resources at no cost.

Philip Armstrong, senior lecturer in English at Canterbury University and contributor to the resource says "The great advantage of Animals & Us is that its resources have been compiled with a close awareness of the national curriculum, the NCEA system, and the current needs of the classroom."

"Animals & Us offers students and teachers options for engaging with the curriculum by attending to issues that will seem most urgent and vital to young people now: questions of power, violence and justice," says Armstrong.

Hetty will officially launch the Animals & Us programme by Œcrossing the road' to deliver the resource to the following secondary school:

Time: 9am, Friday, 27 April School: Auckland Girls' Grammar, 16 Howe Street, Newton, Auckland.

SAFE also invites teachers and educators in Christchurch to attend a free workshop and presentation of the first issue of Animals & Us on 3 May 2007. The workshop will cover the significance of human-animal relations and how Animals & Us can be incorporated into teaching programmes. Registrations can be made by contacting nichola@safe.org.nz

ENDS

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