Request for more alignment between countries with regard to training for inspection of pig welfare
Subject
Training for inspection, alignment
In total, 13 delegates from member states Italy, France, Greece, Finland, Sweden, The Netherlands, Estonia, Spain and Denmark participated in the two-day workshop (26-27 Oct 2020). Furthermore, the meeting was attended by one delegate from DG SANTE, seven staff members of EURCAW-Pigs, and one staff member of EURCAW-Small Farmed Animals.
Activities EURCAW-Pigs on training
Hans Spoolder, director and coordinator of EURCAW-Pigs, welcomed the participants and introduced the activities of the Centre on training. The Centre provides:
- Examples of training plans and materials used in different Member States,
- Quality standards, advice, templates, and technical support. These are provided in English so that they can be used by all EU member states. Training and education suggestions may include, for example, calibration between inspectors, seminars, lectures on new legislation, lectures on the biological basis of legislation, dilemmas between legislation and practice, and communication workshops,
- Training suggestions for improvement of communication skills and ways to support inspection-driven welfare improvement.
Training examples and standards
The organizing Danish team at Aarhus University (AU) of EURCAW-Pigs, chaired by Jan Tind Sørensen, presented two examples of training courses as a sort of standard for training and education on specific welfare topics, in relation EURCAW’s reviews, dossiers and indicators. Participants were invited to discuss and evaluate these standards-under-development and to assess their relevance. Also, a discussion and open dialogue was started on how indicators can be used, by presentation of examples of indicators.
Future training activities
Following the presentations, person-to-person interviews were organized. Moreover, there was time available for the participants to watch two pre- ecorded Power Point presentations on how training is organised in Sweden and France. This was followed by a summary presentation and plenum discussion on the second day. Based on the discussion and evaluation, important points to be taken up by EURCAW-Pigs for future training activities are the language issues, alignment between Members States, expansion of sharing materials via the EURCAW website, and exchange of experience/questions by a forum/community.