HABRI Central

This article analyses the educational approaches towards the animal-human relationship which have been developed during the last 20 years. The article establishes a chain of states in that relationship and presents the reasons why those states are consecutive or, occasionally, simultaneous.

Next, the different European profiles of social educators are reviewed to see which of these are more open towards educational action with animals, something which could be considered a new field for educators if they have adequate professional training.

A series of European (and some American) websites are analysed in order to determine their approach towards the human-animal relationship. Although most of them are related to animal-assisted therapy, some francophone and Italian websites show approaches that go beyond that. That could imply an extension of the social educators’ field of action. Indeed, French and Southern-European models are closer to that point than the rest of the profiles analysed, in terms of the openness and flexibility they show towards new fields.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

1. Activism
2. Animal behavior
3. Animal husbandry
4. Animal roles
5. Ecology
6. Education
7. Foreign countries
8. Interactions
9. Interpersonal relations
10. Literature reviews
11. Observation
12. open access
13. sensitivity
14. teachers
15. therapy