Of all professions related to veganism, school teachers are probably not among the jobs one would think of first. Is it even possible to actively promote a lifestyle that is completely different from that of many families and not get in trouble? As a student teacher who has taught several middle and high school classes, I have found quite a few ‘loopholes’ that have enabled me to share my love for animals with my students without having to fear consequences.

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Before we move over to my list, I would like to make clear first that my experience is limited to relatively liberal German schools – I have never actually experienced what it is like to be a teacher in the USA. So before you start any of the following vegan ‘projects,’ take into consideration how liberal your school is in general (e.g. do they raise awareness for or deny climate change?), how open-minded the staff at its cafeteria is (do they try to serve healthy food or do they rely on junk food?), and how well you get on with your class parents (are there any overly protective parents or parents that tend to complain much about what you do?).

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While making a difference as a vegan biology teacher is probably very easy – they usually have many opportunities to show their pupils how beautiful nature is and that it is our duty to take responsibility for animals and the environment – this does not mean that they are the only ones that can. I, for example, ‘only’ teach English, German, and Math and it works perfectly, as you will see in the following list.

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1. Implicitly make veganism a part of your lessons In modern languages, pupils in Germany are required to talk about environment-related topics at school. As my class’ textbook (11th grade) only shortly mentioned the impact of the meat industry on the environment, I decided to dedicate a whole lesson to the topic by having a classroom discussion that was supposed to prepare the class for their upcoming oral exam. In my experience, many people become very passionate when it comes to their eating habits – and it is also a topic that literally everybody has experience with (unlike local politics, for example). This was why even those students that are usually not motivated enough to raise their hands, made some kind of contribution that day.

Before the discussion started, I divided the class into two equally large groups, based on their personal preference and my own assessment: The first group promoted meatless diets. The second one was in favor of omnivore diets. I printed out several articles for both groups which listed the advantages or disadvantages of the two lifestyles. It was up to the students to decide which articles were reliable and convincing enough to quote in the discussion as I did not only bring articles by scientists or journalists but also rather biased activist groups and climate change deniers.

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As to be expected, almost all of my students participated in the discussion and both groups came up with serious, reasonable arguments. At the end of the discussion, one of the vegetarian pupils of this class thanked me for giving her and her friends an opportunity to share their beliefs with their classmates. My meat-eating supervisor was also happy with my ideas and the lesson’s theme which enabled and encouraged everybody to participate. See The Vegetarian Resource Group Environment Page. This was one example of a way in which you could make veganism (or rather the impact of the animal industry) part of your lessons. For Math, I could also think of math text problems in which you ask students to calculate how much water it takes to produce a burger patty or how many showers equal the amount of water needed for a steak etc. as part of a group of questions related to environmental protection.

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2. Bring vegan treats for your class I have been in charge of my former school’s English Drama Groups for two years now. It has become a bit of a tradition for me to bake a cake or muffins to make dress rehearsals more enduring or to celebrate a successful performance. Some of my pupils were very skeptical when I told them that I made vegan sweets for them for the first time – apparently, the only time they had heard the word ‘vegan’ before was in a negative context – but after having a bite, they completely changed their mind; some even asked for the recipe. But this is not the only reason why I am sure that veganism is now connoted very positively with my students. As two of my student are allergic to lactose and eggs, it is usually very difficult for them to feel as part of a group during a community meal during most of which they are the only ones that cannot participate. As vegan food does not contain any animal products, however, they never had a reason to feel excluded or disadvantaged. So the next time you and your classes have a reason to celebrate, bring some vegan treats with you. You won’t even have to explain the benefits of this diet – let the food speak for itself!

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3. Support vegetarian or vegan groups Another great way of making a change at your school is encouraging students who are already vegetarian or vegan to share their passion. If you know any vegetarians or vegans in your class, talk to them after and ask them if they would be interested in starting a veggie club. If your school requires supervisors for clubs, make sure you are the first one to volunteer. Veggie clubs can work on many different projects like encouraging their school cafeterial to offer healthier, more plant-based options, raise money for a good cause by selling veggie food, organizing a school debate, etc. In this case, your students will do most of the work and you will mostly be in the background providing support. As a consequence, you will be able to indirectly reach those classmates and students that you as a teacher wouldn’t usually reach with the help of your pupils.

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