Abstract
Many Japanese elementary schools keep small animals for educational purposes, and the effects and challenges have been investigated. Although goats are medium-sized animals that are familiar to Japanese, few practical studies have been conducted on keeping goats in schools. This study investigated the effects and challenges of keeping goats in elementary schools and discussed its educational possibilities. A semi-structured interview survey was conducted with 11 personnel that were responsible for keeping goats in 6 elementary schools in urban areas. They described benefits, problems, and tips related to keeping goats. Participant observation was also conducted on daily human–goat interactions in these schools. The results indicated that children in all six grades were able to care for goats. Goats were used for various school subjects and activities. As a result of keeping goats, children developed affection for them, attitude of respect for living things, greater sense of responsibility, and enhanced interpersonal interactional skills. Stronger ties between the schools and parents and community were developed through cooperation in goat-keeping. Some anxieties existed about the risk of injury to children when interacting with goats. Other challenges included the burden of taking care of the goats on holidays and insufficient knowledge about treatment in case of their illness or injury. The results suggested similarities to the benefits and challenges associated with keeping small animals in elementary schools, although the responsibility and the burden on the schools were greater for keeping goats than small animals because of their larger size and the need for children to consider the goats’ inner state and to cooperate with others when providing care. At the same time, goats greatly stimulated interest, cooperation, and empathy in children. Goats can expand educational opportunities and bring about many positive effects on child development.
Highlights
To enrich the life experiences of children in Japan, elementary schools try to provide a variety of stimuli for their pupils such as an association with nature, as stipulated in the Education’s Guidelines for the Course of Study from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology [1]
This study investigated various factors involved in keeping goats in elementary schools and compared the results with those of previous studies about keeping small animals
The teachers and staff who were responsible for keeping goats talked about the procedure that had been in place until their schools began keeping goats
Summary
To enrich the life experiences of children in Japan, elementary schools try to provide a variety of stimuli for their pupils such as an association with nature, as stipulated in the Education’s Guidelines for the Course of Study from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology [1]. Japanese elementary schools have a tradition of keeping animals for educational purposes, and animals are emphasized in environmental and science education [2]. Difficult aspects of animal-keeping in elementary schools include teachers’ insufficient knowledge about how to keep animals, the burden of animal care on holidays, treatment for illness and injury, care at the time of death, and so on [3, 4, 6]. For these reasons, handbooks for teachers have been published [e.g., Ref. Handbooks for teachers have been published [e.g., Ref. [8]], and veterinary medical association supports keeping school animals by providing teacher training and professional care in some areas [9]
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