Achieving, sustaining and expanding COMPETENCE

It should also be mentioned that courses in experimental animal science are only intended as initial training or education, enabling participants to acquire the necessary basic knowledge.

However, this is only the first step in a complex learning process. This initial part of a comprehensive learning program includes specific, defined learning objectives that impart basic knowledge and skills relevant to the roles to be performed in the future (competence acquisition).

After successful completion of the initial training, the first step should be supervised work with animals. This step is considered the second stage of the learning program and imparts deeper expertise. Thus, the scientist has acquired in vivo competence and works according to the 3Rs principle. This expertise can then be further developed in a CPD (Continuous Professional Development) program.

It should also be emphasized that the EU Expert Working Group recommends that experimenters conducting animal experiments (activities involving pain, suffering, or harm) must have completed the relevant training before they are allowed to work under supervision. In all other cases (activities that do not involve pain, suffering, or damage), the experimenter can work under supervision even before all relevant learning modules have been successfully completed.