Classroom education can be used to teach children and young adults about the food system and compassion for animals. Our case study provides insight into the effects of a food system education program on students’ career and education paths, advocacy, and morals related to meat consumption.

Background

Education tactics, including humane education as a way to teach compassion for animals or food systems education to teach about factory farming, are commonly implemented within the animal protection movement. Educational interventions can take a variety of forms, such as school programs, lectures, workshops, webinars, and educational pamphlets.

Most previous research into the effects of education interventions have found links between education and diet change. However, education interventions often involve larger goals than diet change, including instilling values of kindness, critical thinking, teaching the impact of animal agriculture on animals, the environment, and humans, and even launching students into lifetimes of advocacy. These goals haven’t been rigorously tested, until now.

To understand the long-term effects and value of education programs for the students who partake in them and for the animal protection movement as a whole, we conducted a case study of New Roots Institute‘s (formerly Factory Farming Awareness Coalition) food system education program. Through quantitative and qualitative analyses of survey and LinkedIn data pertaining to 53 alumni of New Roots Institute’s food system education program, we shed light on how such programs influence students’ educational and professional goals and accomplishments, as well as their morals regarding meat consumption.

Key Findings

1. Participation in the food system education program significantly increased identification with animal, environmental, and social justice advocacy. Nearly all alumni who responded to our survey identified with one or more types of advocacy by the end of the program — 85% of respondents identified as animal advocates, 85% as environmentalists, and 74% as social justice advocates.
2. Most alumni displayed low levels of anti-animal beliefs, high levels of personal responsibility, high rates of veganism, and high understanding of the harms of factory farming. 55% of surveyed alumni are vegan while a further 40% reduce their animal product consumption in some ways. They also demonstrated that they are well aware of and acknowledge the moral conflicts associated with meat consumption.
3. Nearly half of surveyed alumni mentioned feeling more effective in their advocacy and became more active advocates following completion of the program. When asked about the influence that the program had on their advocacy, if any, 40% of alumni mentioned feeling more empowered by the knowledge and skills (e.g., effective communication skills) gained through the program, which allowed them to become more effective advocates.
4. Alumni were exposed to career options that they had not previously considered or even known about in animal advocacy. About one-third of surveyed alumni mentioned that the program introduced them to new career options within the animal protection movement or related to environmentalism or social justice, or solidified their interest in a particular career path.
5. Education programs could help create a more just animal protection movement. The program’s focus on teaching students about the interconnections of the animal, environmental, and social justice issues associated with factory farming resulted in significantly more students identifying as social justice advocates, the majority of whom also identify as animal advocates.

AI suggested related articles

• Citations/Planting Seeds- The Impact Of Diet & Different Animal Advocacy Tactics (Faunalytics) (0.74)
• Citations/Pathways To Impact - An International Study Of Advocates’ Strategies And Needs (Faunalytics) (0.73)
• Citations/Going Vegan Or Vegetarian- Motivations & Influences (Faunalytics) (0.72)