Teaching empathy and compassion towards animals

The SPCA have developed an education programme to teach children empathy, compassion and responsibility towards animals. The strategy is based on empirical evidence from international research and is designed for primary and intermediate schools. The programme has been uniquely designed by New Zealand classroom teachers to integrate into the New Zealand Curriculum subjects schools teach; making animal welfare a real-life, meaningful context to apply and learn these subjects through, rather than a stand-alone, forgettable one off session. SPCA's education manager, Nicole Peddie joins Kathryn to talk about how the programme works and what the children are getting out of it.