Teachers support biosecurity education: a case study

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.


Introduction
The world is facing a biosecurity crisis; a newly discovered coronavirus, COVID-19, has taken the lives of over six million people world-wide (World Health Organisation, 2022) with one million sixty-two thousand five hundred sixty-four (1,062,564) deaths in the USA alone to-date (Johns Hopkins, 2022). The outbreak of COVID-19 is a pandemic (World Health Organisation, 2022), a global biosecurity crisis. The number of confirmed cases is rising by the minute. Many more are expected to die. Given the devastating effects of the coronavirus on people around the world, having a citizenry that is well informed about biosecurity through education may lead to better engagement with measures to control similar outbreaks in the future.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is responsible for maintaining biosecurity in New Zealand. Biosecurity is described as the protection of New Zealand's economy, environment, human health and a range of social and cultural values through preventing and/or managing risks from harmful pests and disease-causing organisms. The biosecurity system works by stopping pests and diseases from arriving and establishing and managing or eradicating pests and diseases that already exists in New Zealand (Ministry for Primary Industries, 2020a). Although one of the goals for biosecurity is to protect human health. In New Zealand, the Ministry of Health works across the health sector to deliver better outcomes for all New Zealand citizens (Ministry of Health, 2018).
Nevertheless, grounded in the Biosecurity Act 1993, New Zealand has the most wide-ranging biosecurity approach of any country around the world (Meyerson & Reaser, 2002). The Biosecurity Act 1993 provides the legal mandate for the MPI to enact biosecurity systems to protect the economy; environment; and people's health, social and cultural wellbeing. MPI administers over 50 different forms of legislation in areas such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food and aquaculture and is able to project authority over a further 41 public acts (MPI, 2020a). The MPI is also responsible for enforcing law relative to Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 which is designed to protect the health and safety of New Zealand's people, communities and broader environment by managing the effects of hazardous substances and new organisms (MPI, 2020b).
Given the importance of maintaining biosecurity in protecting human health and the primary produce driven economy in New Zealand, education about it in schools is scant. Calls to make biosecurity education compulsory in schools have been coming from the highest echelons of the government (Guy, 2016) but very little research or news about biosecurity education happening in schools appears to filter through. Research that exists recommends education about biosecurity. For example, Ram et al. (2016) reported that young people lacked biosecurity knowledge in New Zealand. A nationwide public survey conducted in New Zealand to gauge understanding of biosecurity revealed that the majority of people saw no connection between biosecurity and its links to protecting human health; only 2% (n = 1150) of the people surveyed perceived biosecurity as personally relevant (Ministry for Primary Industries, 2018a). Ram (2019) recommended biosecurity education for young people given its importance in maintaining physical health and sociocultural well-being of people living in New Zealand.
Considering the high costs to human health as a result of a biosecurity lapse such as the arrival and rampant spread of zoonotic diseases such as the spread of COVID-19. Or the loss to biodiversity as a result of accidental arrival of a pestilent plant or animal species. Having an informed citizenry that can come together to combat biosecurity threats to biodiversity, human lives and the economy may help the country recover more quickly from a megashock such as the one caused by the outbreak of COVID-19. Considering this risk, this paper uses data gathered from secondary and primary school teachers during the 2015 fruit fly outbreak, a biosecurity crisis in Grey Lynn, Auckland, New Zealand, to show that teachers support the inclusion of biosecurity curriculum in schools in New Zealand. Next, curriculum is discussed to show how it can support salient issues that affect communities.

Literature review
Curriculum is said to be a detailed set of instructions that guides learning in a specific area (Clements, 2007). Curriculum is a contested and complicated concept and is said to be influenced by two competing schools of thought. The first originating from educational institutions that see curriculum as a traditional body of knowledge which schools deliver. (Moore & Young, 2010). The other influence on curriculum is said to come from government, promoting learning that helps people get into jobs and ultimately boosting the economy. Arguments about curriculum from politicians are overt and appear to support a curriculum that contributes towards creating a knowledge economy (Casey, 2006). For example, the push made by New Zealand government ministers for schools to include biosecurity in their curriculum (Guy, 2016). Although government ministers overtly promote specific learning through curriculum, they are however silent on what kind of learning would contribute towards creating a knowledge economy (Casey, 2006). Similarly, politicians in New Zealand have been coy on what biosecurity knowledge schools should teach. Nevertheless, a move from using curriculum per se to using curriculum frameworks has allowed schools' and teachers' flexibility to include salient everyday issues as part of teaching and learning.
Many countries including New Zealand prefer to use the term curriculum framework rather than curriculum to refer to instructions that guide learning to move away from the rigid structures that the latter term implies (Clements, 2007). A framework offers more flexibility and moves away from the notion of prescribed learning (Steiner, 2017). Comprehensive, content-rich curriculum has been credited for students' success in developed countries such as New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands and Switzerland (Steiner, 2017). The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) framework is "designed to ensure that all young New Zealanders are equipped with the knowledge, competencies, and values they will need to be successful citizens in the twenty-first century" (Ministry of Education, 2007, p. 4). There are eight learning areas in the NZC (Ministry of Education, 2007). Secondary school students' skills and knowledge are tested against achievement standards offered at three different levels in any given learning area to see how well they have achieved against standards. When successful, students are awarded a National Certificate in Educational Achievement at the level that they were initially enrolled (New Zealand Qualifications Authority, 2020).
The NZC framework offers flexibility by giving schools the authority to plan and shape curriculum so that instruction and learning can be made relevant and meaningful to particular communities (Ministry of Education, 2007). This flexibility can be seen in how Education for Sustainability (EfS) has been included in the NZC. A concept so important that it is perceived as a critical issue for New Zealand "environmentally, economically, culturally, politically and socially" (Ministry of Education, 2007, p.39) is included throughout the eight learning areas of the NZC (Ministry of Education, 2007). This means that teachers include aspects of EfS when teaching in any of the eight learning areas. Furthermore, the links between EfS and biosecurity could allow teachers to include biosecurity content in teaching and learning because both disciplines set out to protect the economy, environment, people's health and social and cultural values. Considering this and with school support, teachers can include EfS including biosecurity to use during teaching and learning with the NZC framework.
However, although EfS is part of the eight learning areas of the NZC, evidence of learning about EfS is missing because it is generally included and at the teacher's discretion in New Zealand (Bolstad, 2005) argues, is evidence; if any of learning that happens in classrooms about EfS in New Zealand, since it is generally included and at the teacher's discretion. A similar or an even greater challenge for biosecurity education exists if such education is left at the teachers' discretion since biosecurity is not part of NZC. A quantitative study of 5000 teachers in state and private schools in Australia found that (91%) teachers had yet to integrate sustainability in their practice (Australian Education for Sustainability Alliance, 2014). A key challenge for teachers appears to be a lack of direction from the curriculum and a lack of understanding of concepts around EfS, including how to integrate EfS into everyday pedagogy (Taylor et al., 2015).
In the next section [s], examples will be presented to show how curriculum has been enacted to highlight important issues in society.

Teacher support for new learning disciplines
Teacher support for certain types of education can lead governments to officially enact such curricular in teaching and learning. For example, in New Zealand, unlike other countries, there is no requirement to include New Zealand history in history teaching in schools. This has led to history teachers predominantly including the history of sixteenth-and seventeenth-century England rather than important events that have shaped New Zealand society (Sheehan, 2010). It is posited that, in New Zealand, young people are more familiar with the reasons behind Guy Fawkes celebrations (Sheehan, 2010) than they are with New Zealand's stance on all forms of nuclear-derived energy (Satherley, 2019). In light of this and after years of protests and petitions from teachers, the wider community and students, the New Zealand Government announced that New Zealand history would become a compulsory subject in schools by the year 2022 (Ardern & Hipkins, 2019). Arden and Hipkins stated that the government is concerned with creating a progressive New Zealand society, one that recognises the contribution of all peoples that have helped towards building New Zealand as a nation.
Acknowledging the contributions of the diverse groups of peoples that have and continue to contribute towards making New Zealand a prosperous nation provides an opportunity to include biosecurity with history education. For example, in the early 1900s, technological advances such as refrigeration led to the export of primary produce as a major revenue earner for New Zealand post-European settlement (Easton, 2019). One of the first measures to maintain biosecurity was to keep out diseases harmful to farmed animals through the introduction of the Scab Ordinance in 1849 which required inspection and subsequent quarantine of sheep scab (Psoroptes ovis). Other historical measures also provide further opportunity to include biosecurity.
The Diseased Cattle Act was introduced in 1861 for the purposes of quarantining imported cattle and controlling contagious bovine pleuropneumonia and other infectious diseases of cattle (Davidson, 2002). This meant any cattle arriving on any ship or vessel had to be inspected for diseases. The cattle were only released when the inspector ascertained that they were disease free and imported from an area or district that was disease free. However, if the cattle were found to be diseased, they were stopped from landing and ordered to be destroyed or the inspector issued an order for the cattle to be quarantined if the animals originated from an area where diseases existed (Diseased Cattle Act, 1871). Animal import controls were further tightened through acts of government a decade later.
In 1876, the government took full control by enacting the Animals Importation Prohibition Act with clear goals: first, to prevent the threat from animal diseases, particularly if the disease was capable of becoming a zoonosis and infecting people, and second, to prevent cattle or any other animal from contracting diseases that frequently existed in animals from other countries (Animals Importation Prohibition, 1876). Also, in the nineteenth century, the outbreak of codling moth, which affected the fruit industry, led to the passing of the Codlin Moth Act 1884 and, from the 1890s, fruit plants were inspected at all ports to protect primary produce industries (Keyes & Walrond, 2012). It appears that the actions of pioneering settlers, particularly the passing of legislation to maintain biosecurity in attempts to secure markets for New Zealand's primary produce long term, may have been a key early contribution towards nation building. There appears to be much recorded historical content that could allow a robust discussion about biosecurity in the classroom. Nevertheless, school curriculum has been used to address all kinds of issues, some that are taboo in many cultures.
The neo-conservative stance that curricular engender values espoused in canonical texts (Moore & Young, 2010) has drawn much debate from proponents who argue for a more consistent sex education curriculum that considers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) persons rights (Fitzpatrick, 2018). Weaver et al. (2005) looked at school-based sex education policies relative to sexual health in young people, comparing policies in three countries (France, Australia, Netherlands and the USA). They report that improved sexual health outcomes for young people was not seen in abstinence-based sex education as in the USA. Furthermore, a lack of sex education was identified by the United Nations (UN) as a key contributor to unwanted pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted infections including the AIDS epidemic. The UN encourages nation states to listen to teachers and other practitioners who support sexuality education and perceive it as an integral part of a young person's schema of knowledge (United Nations AIDS, 2009). Support from teachers has made sex education an integral part of education for young people around the world in liberal societies. In New Zealand, sex education is a mandatory component of the New Zealand Curriculum and included in one of the key learning areas, health and physical education (Ministry of Education, 2007). The reality appears to be that communities are increasingly looking to curriculum and teachers to support ideas and/or motivate the next generation to find solutions to global problems. Comprehensive, content-rich curriculum such as the NZC (Steiner, 2017) provides schools and teachers the autonomy to design learning materials relevant to the needs of the community. In the next section, how curriculum was used to help a community heal during a natural disaster and implications for biosecurity education will be discussed.

Teachers as first responders
Another area where schools, curriculum and teachers' input and support are seen to be critical is in disaster preparedness and management. Disasters are challenging to define because of many different interpretations (Etkin, 2014). Some define disasters as events that cause tragedies such as wild fires and floods (Ferris et al., 2013) whereas others describe disasters as clear-cut bad events that not only cause long-term trauma but also cause immediate harm, destroy and disrupt lives and property of people in multiple ways (Bonanno et al., 2010). It appears that occurrences that harm people and communities are a common thread that unites all disaster understandings (Etkin, 2014). Research appears to show that schools and teachers can play an integral part in disaster management.
Schools act as hubs for their respective communities and should be included as part of disaster planning (Mutch, 2014). Having hazard-based curricular incorporated into school education and linking learning to relevant action at school, at home and the community can lead to immediate and long-term positive benefits for disaster management (Ronan & Johnston, 2005). The Victorian Government Royal Commission review that followed the 2009 bushfires related losses to a lack of knowledge about bushfires in the community. They recommended education, stating that "Teaching bushfire history and safety in schools is important for maintaining community memory and awareness" (Teague et al., 2010, p.6). In Japan, a defining factor in its long-term response to natural disasters includes curriculum and education about natural disasters in schools.
Japan's geographical location in the ring of fire makes it very vulnerable to disasters. Public schools in Japan are not only places for learning for young people but have also been included in disastermanagement plans (Matsuura & Shaw, 2015). Shiwaku and Fernandez (2011) saw disaster education in schools as a key factor in reducing long-term damage sustained from events deemed as disasters. Similarly, in New Zealand, calls were made after the February 22, 2011, earthquake in Canterbury to include disaster-based education in schools and to include teachers and school administrators during disaster response planning and training (Mutch, 2014). During the Christchurch earthquake, thousands of school children were in the care of teachers when disaster struck (Mutch, 2015). The role of education through enacting relevant curricular to prepare the next generation of young people to better deal with issues faced by communities around the world is invaluable.
Considering this, biosecurity education in New Zealand could prepare the next generation of young people to deal with future biosecurity disasters. Countries such as Australia appear to have enacted programmes to educate young people in schools about biosecurity (York, 2018). Similarly, in the USA, researchers have found a lack of knowledge of biosecurity and a willingness to learn about it amongst youth (Pinkerton et al., 2019). Biosecurity disaster education can lead to a more informed citizen, one that understands, for example, on the one hand, the reasons for mask mandates and, on the other, the concept of vectors. Animate including self and inanimate objects can act as vectors for transporting plant, animal and human disease from one geographical location to another, nationally and/or internationally; biosecurity education could inform the next generation on how to deal with such issues.

Methods
The purpose of this study was to uncover teacher's perceptions of biosecurity and their possible support for biosecurity education in New Zealand schools. Data was gathered during the 2015 Queensland fruit fly outbreak in Grey Lynn, Auckland.
A qualitative approach using the case study method was used in this research because case study allows a phenomenon to be studied in its own distinctive setting (Punch, 2013). Case study methods allow researchers to take advantage of "unexpected opportunities to collect data" (Yin, 2014, p.72), as in this case where data was purposefully gathered during a biosecurity crisis, an unexpected, unique opportunity.
Case study is the study of a bounded system (Kushner, 2017;Stake, 2010). A boundary might be a classroom, a school, a policy or a community. This case was about uncovering the perceptions of biosecurity in a community of school teachers and was bounded by teachers' perceptions of biosecurity during a biosecurity crisis. An interpretive mode of inquiry as recommended by Bartlett & Vavrus (2017) to be used in conjunction with case study research was used. Case study research advocates for close collaboration between the researcher and participants, allowing the participants to give accounts of their experiences (Crabtree & Miller, 1999). Through these experiences, the participants (the fruit fly affected community school teachers) were able to describe their lived experiences and realities, allowing a better understanding of their perceptions of biosecurity relative to their realities.
After, approval to collect data from human participants was granted (ethics approval no: 015310). Schools that fell within the high-risk A-Zone (MPI, 2015) of the fruit flyaffected community were purposefully approached (Punch, 2013). A total of five schools ranging from primary, intermediate and secondary were contacted via letters to the principal and the board of trustees. Following consent from the principal and board of trustees, emails were exchanged with the interested teachers to arrange for a suitable time for the interviews.
Principals from two schools (one secondary and one primary school) released teachers to take part in the study. Nine secondary and one primary school teacher agreed to be interviewed. The interviews with the teachers (four females and six males) were conducted individually in an area designated by the participant (mainly their classroom). The interviews lasted about 60 min. The interviews were audiorecorded and transcribed. To protect the identity of teachers, gender neutral pseudonyms were used.
Teachers were asked five different questions. The questions were as follows: Can you give me advice on whether biosecurity and such environmental issues in New Zealand have implications for school curriculum? Are you, as a teacher, concerned about biosecurity issues? Why? If there are educational implications what are they and how do they get addressed in schools? Does biosecurity need to be taught in schools as a science subject, should it be a discussion-based topic, should it be included on its own as a subject since it is so relevant to New Zealand? If there are no educational implications for biosecurity, then where else do we foster educational interactions about biosecurity and environmental issues?

Data analysis
Thematic analysis as advocated by Braun and Clarke (2006) postulate that an inductive approach can result in links between emerging themes and data.
Raw data from the Grey Lynn teacher interviews were transcribed and printed. Following repeated reading of transcripts, responses to questions by each teacher participant were extracted and put on an A1 sheet of paper. In this way, all teacher participants' responses to a question were grouped together in one sheet of paper. Twenty-two different categories were developed as a result of thematic analysis. This was done by collating all responses for each individual question and then identifying themes; the goal was to find views, ideas and/or terms individual participants used that were similar or showed a pattern. Following, this data was re-examined, recoded and put into allocated themed categories. Braun and Clarke (2006) state that using the inductive approach means that emerging themes are strongly linked to the data. Thematic analysis of the data showed that teacher's views about biosecurity were a result of the fruit fly outbreak in their community. In light of this, an overarching theme, fruit fly affected community teacher's awareness, emerged from the data, and captured the overall views of the teaching community that were sampled. Sub-themes that emerged from the data and placed under the overarching theme were teacher curriculum knowledge; teacher biosecurity concerns; individual teacher concerns; teacher recommendations; teaching and learning; social cost; and sources of biosecurity information.

Teacher curriculum knowledge
The New Zealand (NZC) curriculum prompts teachers to include aspects of education for sustainability (EfS), a concept linked to biosecurity in daily teaching and learning plans. The NZC promotes the concept that "sustainability" is environmentally, economically, culturally, politically and a socially critical issue for New Zealand (Ministry of Education, 2007, p.39). A key idea behind this stance is that New Zealand's economy is supported by export of primary produce (The Treasury, 2021). This means that the goals for biosecurity and sustainability are aligned, maintaining biosecurity is as critical as teaching sustainability.
The data revealed that teachers had a low level of awareness of the existence of EfS in the curriculum. For example, two teachers indicated that biosecurity issues were an existing part of their curriculum "I think it was all incorporated anyway in a general term" (Rory, secondary teacher) and "It's in our school curriculum and we are dealing with environmental issues" (Justice, secondary teacher). See Fig. 1 for a summary of results.
The interview questions were formulated to gauge teachers' support for biosecurity education. The data shows that there was some support (3/10) from teachers about including biosecurity in teaching and learning. For example, three teachers wanted biosecurity to be included in the curriculum, "When I was back at school we did not learn once about biosecurity so there is definitely a place for it in the school system".
The data also revealed half the teachers (5/10) did not fully understand the role of biosecurity in New Zealand but that the activity around the fruit fly outbreak in their local community had contributed towards a change in their attitudes towards biosecurity, from being unaware to being concerned. For example, Angel, a primary school teacher, said "I have never really touched a lot on biosecurity before. I am not sure but maybe in secondary schools they would be a bit more interested around that I am not sure…".

Teacher biosecurity concerns
The fruit fly outbreak in Grey Lynn, Auckland, was a major concern not only for the fruit and vegetable export industries but also for the government. Question two was framed to investigate the extent of teachers' concern about biosecurity and the basis for their concerns.
Teachers (9/10) appeared to be nervous about the outbreak of the fruit fly in their area. For example, nine out of ten teachers indicated that they were concerned about biosecurity. See Fig. 2 for a summary of results.
Parker (secondary teacher) mentioned "Definitely I am worried about it [sic], that's what I have been telling, we all go around, move around, we should know. Biosecurity is useful to our country because you know, agriculture industry is very important. If one is affected the whole thing is affected, that's why". Parker (secondary teacher) mentioned "Biosecurity is useful to our country because you know [the] agriculture industry is very important. We need to look after our country and our economy is based on biosecurity mostly so it's good for us".

Teacher recommendations for inclusion of biosecurity
Question three was designed to uncover teachers' views on how biosecurity could be addressed in schools. Seven teachers advocated for biosecurity being included in the curriculum. See Fig. 3 for a summary of results.
For example, Parker said: Put [biosecurity] in the posters and banners and also if you want to, put it in the curriculum, every school, every student will learn that, every person, those who go to school will learn biosecurity, what is biosecurity, how does it affect us, so it will be mandated in the curriculum.
Ellis (secondary teacher) argued "I think it's something that definitely could be seen as an actual topic particularly in junior school". Marley (secondary teacher) also saw a place for biosecurity in the curriculum and strongly advocated for its inclusion in the curriculum, "So the implications are to put this particular kind of learning area into the curriculum". It appears that this fruit fly outbreak had influenced how teachers perceived the importance of biosecurity in New Zealand.
Nonetheless, other teachers had different views, arguing that biosecurity education should only be taught when incidents such as the fruit fly outbreak occur. For example, Ali (secondary teacher) mentioned "It all goes back to incorporating the issue at the time…so if there is a specific reason

Teacher concerns for no biosecurity education
Teachers were concerned that there could be social costs to New Zealand society if biosecurity education was not addressed. For example, three teachers indicated that there would be implications for the economy, if biosecurity was not addressed with comments like, "We need to look after our country and our economy is based on biosecurity mostly" (Parker, secondary teacher). "Thinking about agriculture here in New Zealand because this one improves the economy very, very well, this is a good thing and I think this is the perspective for New Zealand" (Sawyer, secondary teacher). See Fig. 4 for a summary of results.
Environment was also a concern for teachers. For example, two teachers indicated that the environment could be harmed if biosecurity was not addressed. For example, Marley (secondary teacher) mentioned "The issues to do with the environment affect all of us and if we do not as educators acknowledge this I don't believe we are doing our jobs as educators".

Pedagogical approaches to biosecurity
Data showed that all teachers were supportive of including biosecurity in daily teaching and learning and suggested different ways it could be included. For example, Marley (secondary teacher) mentioned "It probably should [be a] stand-alone [subject]". Parker (secondary teacher) thought "it should be like a science subject" and Justice (secondary teacher) mentioned "I think science-based would be better". See Fig. 5 for a summary of results.
Rather than the stand-alone stance of the teachers above, other teachers (2/10) suggested taking a cross-curricular whole-school approach with biosecurity education. For example, Lyric (secondary teacher) mentioned "It's not a subject that should be on its own, to be honest it should be done in all lessons" and Ali mentioned "Not so much science because there is a lot of factors that come with it you know. You can talk about the economics of it. You know you can talk about the social studies of it…so it covers a lot of curriculum areas".
Active learning strategies such as group discussions prompt learners to process knowledge at different levels as they consider other peoples' perspectives and points of view (Linneman, 2019). The idea of having biosecurity as a discussion-based topic did not escape the teachers as Ellis (secondary teacher) suggested "I definitely think it should be a discussion-based topic".

Sources for biosecurity information
The New Zealand Curriculum is unique in that curriculum content is not specified; only guidelines in the form of learning objectives are given (Ministry of Education, 2007). Data showed that teachers unanimously saw schools as a key institution where biosecurity knowledge could be taught but other sources for biosecurity knowledge were also mentioned. Question five generated multiple data because teachers mentioned more than one potential institution as responsible for disseminating biosecurity knowledge. See Fig. 6 for a summary of results.
Schools were seen as the main source of information by nine teachers. For example, "With school I think is probably the main place because school is kind of that fundamental place of learning" (Marley). "Schools would definitely be the starting point you know students probably spend more time in schools" (Ellis).

Discussion
The goal for this investigation was to uncover teachers' views about biosecurity education in schools. The data revealed sub-themes and one overarching theme, fruit fly affected community teacher's awareness. Findings are discussed under the overarching theme. Data from this study appears to show that teachers support biosecurity education. The teachers who took part in the research believed that biosecurity knowledge was important for young people to acquire as part of public education in New Zealand. Biosecurity education can increase young people's knowledge and understanding about invasive species. For example, Waliczek et al.'s (2018) study conducted with 197 students showed that curriculum about invasive species positively influenced the knowledge and attitudes of (n = 147) students towards invasive species.
Teachers mentioned that not only was biosecurity knowledge important to have but also predicted social costs to the nation if biosecurity education was not implemented. These concerns were similar to that reported by other research. For example, in Florida, Huang and Lamm (2016) identified a lack of knowledge about invasive species in spite of the existential threat invasive animals posed to food security and biodiversity, amongst a cohort of 515 Floridians (18 years and older). Similarly, concern about sociocultural costs to Floridians was the basis for Pinkerton et al.'s (2019) study. They reported that despite the importance of biosecurity to Floridians, over half of the youth surveyed (n = 371-11-to 18-year-olds, middle and high school students) had minimal or no understanding of invasive species or biosecurity. Pinkerton et al. (2019) reported that post-intervention with educational material about animal and plant biosecurity resulted in the increase in young people's complete understanding of biosecurity. Nevertheless, it appears that schools can cater for biosecurity education.
Teachers stressed on the importance of schools and the role they could play in educating young people about biosecurity. Nine out of ten teachers believed that the best place to gain biosecurity knowledge was at public schools for young people. Research has shown that education in schools was one of the best means of getting young people to learn about biosecurity. For example, pre-and post-tests showed that knowledge about invasive species can be retained by 13-to 15-year-olds long term (for over 1 year) if they take part in learning opportunities related to invasive species (Reis et al., 2013). Dresner and Fischer (2013) reported that middle school students (sixth, seven and eighth graders), who were exposed to nature stewardship programmes, had higher overall scores in stewardship attitudes based on survey and interview data than the control group that did not receive any exposure. Recent research shows that one secondary school teacher in New Zealand used biosecurity content for teaching, learning and assessment purposes with senior secondary (Year 13) school students (Ram, 2022).
Teachers not only wanted to teach biosecurity to the next generation of young New Zealander's but they also suggested ways to include it in teaching and learning in schools. They suggested offering it as a stand-alone subject or offering it to the whole school in a cross-curricular initiative. Battisti et al. (2018), for example, conducted a study with 3571 6-to 13-year-old school students and concluded that teaching the history of invasive species in a given area, allowing children to view and, when possible, handle invasive species, can be used to educate children about biosecurity.
This stance shows that teachers who took part in this research not only perceived biosecurity knowledge as important to acquire but also were willing to offer ways to deliver it to young people. Education about biosecurity in public schools can have long-term positive benefits in engaging the citizenry in biosecurity initiatives. For example, terms associated with zoonoses such as droplet transmission could form the basis of biosecurity learning in schools. Also, given the current pandemic conditions, maintaining personal health and well-being such as washing hands and staying at home if unwell can play an important role in educating particularly primary age children.
Similarly, teaching and learning about the history of biosecurity legislation could help young people develop a sense of place of biosecurity in New Zealand society. However, schools have not taken up the biosecurity education initiative. The history of biosecurity plays an integral part in the development of agriculture in New Zealand. Similarly, current biosecurity legislation plays a big part in the import and export of risk goods both from a national and international perspective considering that MPI enforces legislation about Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 which protects the health and safety of all New Zealanders from the effects of hazardous substances and new organisms (MPI, 2020b). Teachers had much to say about how biosecurity education could be implemented.
Teachers suggested four different pedagogical approaches to biosecurity. For example, Ellis a biology teacher suggested that biosecurity could be a discussion-based topic. Student-centred approaches like discussion-based learning have been shown to promote young people's interest and achievement in science (Logan & Skamp, 2013;Ottander & Ekborg, 2012). Discussion-based learning can help young people come to terms with complex language associated with biosecurity such as vector transmission and herd immunity (Evagorou & Osborne, 2010). For students to be able to develop a personal understanding of complex scientific terms, teachers' understanding of the topic is essential (Ken & Keinonen, 2018;Henning, 2007). Results from this study show teachers may need to be better informed about biosecurity.
Considering this, Biosecurity 2025, a statement that provides the direction that New Zealand's biosecurity system needs to take over the next 10 years, could be used as a cudgel to lobby government. A cornerstone for its success is having a team of 5 million or in other words all New Zealanders playing their part so that the biosecurity system becomes more resilient (Biosecurity Direction Statement, 2021). The biosecurity system may be better able to protect New Zealanders if everyone including teachers and young people is educated about biosecurity so that they can play their part in maintaining biosecurity in New Zealand. The government must be held accountable for their stance in the Biosecurity 2025 statement. Schools and teachers could help by supporting or advocating for biosecurity education.
Research shows that teacher support of certain types of education can lead to it becoming official policies. For example, New Zealand history will become a compulsory subject in school by the year 2022 (Ardern & Hipkins, 2019) after petitions from teachers. This research has revealed that teachers support biosecurity education in schools. To get everybody involved in maintaining biosecurity, calls for biosecurity education to become part of learning in schools have come from high-ranking government officials (Guy, 2016). Incorporating biosecurity into school education and linking learning to relevant action at school, at home and the community can lead to immediate and long-term positive benefits for biosecurity management in New Zealand. There is an amazing opportunity to teach biosecurity in schools as a cross-curricular topic that encompasses history; agriculture; trade; disease and pest awareness; human, animal and environment health; etc. Biosecurity 2025 statement perceives everyone in New Zealand wants to support biosecurity. However, this remains to be realised. Educating all New Zealanders (starting at school) about biosecurity would recruit more people to help maintain and improve the current biosecurity systems. Teachers in this study predicted a cost to society if biosecurity education was not enacted.
Teachers predicted an economic cost to New Zealand if biosecurity was not included as part of learning in schools. The fear of an unmanageable biosecurity disaster leading to a collapse of the economy turned to reality with the outbreak of the coronavirus in New Zealand. This begs the question should biosecurity authorities in New Zealand reframe the goals for biosecurity to make it more personally relevant? Instead of maintaining the economy first, should biosecurity be about maintaining human health first? This stance could make biosecurity more personally relevant. Research commissioned by biosecurity authorities in New Zealand found that only 2% of the people surveyed in New Zealand believed that biosecurity was personally relevant (Ministry for Primary Industries, 2018a).
A biosecurity disaster such as the unfolding pandemic caused by COVID-19 revealed that saving human lives was the key goal for nation states like New Zealand. For people to be able to first understand and abide by the lockdown rules in New Zealand and around the world, they not only need to see the relevance of it but also understand biosecurity.

Conclusion
Politicians from the New Zealand government have been very overt in their support for biosecurity education in the community and have used their public profiles to make statements encouraging schools to include biosecurity curriculum in teaching and learning (Guy, 2016). On the other hand, educational institutes, mainly schools, have not taken up the initiative to include biosecurity curriculum. One reason could be because the government has not been particularly overt on what biosecurity knowledge schools should teach.
Nevertheless, this study showed that teachers want to contribute to New Zealand society by helping young people build an understanding about biosecurity. However, what needs to be taken into consideration is a lack of direction from the New Zealand Curriculum. Biosecurity does not appear as a learning objective within the NZC framework. Eames, Taylor et al. (2015) reported that a lack of direction from the curriculum and poorly understood concepts around EfS were key factors on why teachers failed to include EfS in teaching and learning. Perceptions the community has of biosecurity may also be key in how people feel about its relevance.
Perceptions of biosecurity of communities in New Zealand need to be improved (Ram, 2021). As it appears, the public perceives biosecurity to be exclusively the responsibility of the New Zealand government and other government entities including local councils. There appears to be no personal connection with biosecurity. This makes it more difficult to bring together a team of 5 million to work in unison to maintain biosecurity, as the Biosecurity 2025 Direction Statement sets out. However, biosecurity education in schools may help young people build a personal connection with the topic.
The breadth of the New Zealand biosecurity system should be explored to help develop a relevant, age appropriate and meaningful biosecurity curriculum. There is no doubt that teaching biosecurity in schools will help young generations of "Team NZ" to understand and play their part in its importance and relationship to maintaining human health, the economy, the environment and a range of social and cultural values.
With the end of the pandemic in sight after the discovery of multiple vaccines that offer protection against COVID-19 disease, the hope is that the world can get back to some normalcy or better still learn to live with COVID-19. In time, terms such as droplet transmission may stop appearing in news cycles. However, it would be wise to carry on teaching young people about biosecurity. Biosecurity is an expansive topic, and exploring the breadth of biosecurity topics that could be taught in schools that are relevant to the level of education is an important step to developing curriculum content. Increasing teachers' knowledge of biosecurity could make it easier for schools to include biosecurity in teaching and learning.
Limitations in this study arise from the sample size (ten teachers from two schools). Small samples can only provide indicative information about groups of people and any generalisations are localised to the group of people sampled. Nevertheless, this qualitative study was about sampling for understanding the nature of thought and action (Kushner, 2017) and not about making predictions about populations but about understanding the lived experience of people relative to biosecurity. The context was important as people sampled were bound by biosecurity rules. This provides valuable insight of perceptions of biosecurity on the back of strict regulations. A follow-up survey of teachers and their perceptions of biosecurity may shed more light on the discourse around the drive to include biosecurity in teaching and learning.
Funding No funding was received for this study.

Conflict of interest
The author has no conflict of interest to report.
Research involving humans Ethics approval was granted by the University of Auckland for participants to be interviewed.