Attitudes towards animal welfare in Portuguese students from the 6th and the 9th year of schooling: implications for environmental education

Abstract

This study aimed to identify attitudes towards different uses of animals in two groups of students: 264 pupils from the 6th year of schooling and 199 from the 9th, using an adaptation of the Animal Attitude Scale – 10-item version. Inferential statistics was used to check differences between groups, and in each group considering gender and mammal pet owners. The effect size (r value) was applied to identify the magnitude of the differences found. The results showed positive attitudes about animal welfare, with the exception of meat consumption. The younger group favour zoos, since they think animals are better protected; the older group favours the inevitability of the use of animals in medical research. Girls and owners of mammals as pets tended to be more concerned about the impact of the uses on animals but these differences showed low or medium magnitude. The results may help the interconnection of animal welfare issues in environmental education, reinforcing non-anthropocentric approaches in this field.

Keywords:

• Animal welfare
• attitudes towards animals
• primary and secondary students
• gender differences
• owners of mammals as pets

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Juan Antonio García Martín (University of Castilla-La Mancha) for his valuable suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

António Almeida

António Almeida is a Coordinator Professor at the Institute Polytechnic of Lisbon, and responsible for the Master Course in the 1st cycle of Primary Education and of the 2nd Cycle in Mathematics and Science. He has published several books and articles in international journals in the fields of Environmental Education, Didactic of Science and Geoscience Education.

Beatriz García Fernández

Beatriz García Fernández holds a teaching position at the Faculty of Education of Ciudad Real (University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain). Her field of teaching and research is Science Education. She has participated in several research projects through public competitive processes, and contracts with institutions and public administrations related to Science Education and the restoration of protected wetlands in the region of La Mancha. She has published a wide number of journal articles and book chapters in prestigious journals and editorials. She is a member of the Botanic, Etnobiology and Education research group at the University of Castilla-La Mancha.