Teachers support biosecurity education: a case study

Abstract

The disease COVID-19 caused by the newly discovered severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that develops into severe illness and death in some people who contract the virus has propelled terms associated with biosecurity such as vector transmission and herd immunity into the public domain. However, little is known about how young people understand these terms. Considering that maintaining biosecurity is a key concept in New Zealand society, education about it is very scant. In this paper, data collected during a biosecurity outbreak in Auckland, New Zealand, is used to argue for biosecurity education in schools for young people. The purpose of this study was to uncover perceptions of biosecurity of teachers who were affected by the regulations set in place during the fruit fly outbreak in Auckland. Data was gathered via personal interviews with teachers. The results show that teachers support the inclusion of biosecurity teaching and learning in schools. Furthermore, teachers predicted social consequences if biosecurity education was not implemented. Given the support from teachers, this paper argues that such education could provide a platform from which the next generation of young people could be better informed on how to deal with biosecurity-related pandemics at both national and global levels.