Date of Conferral

12-24-2025

Date of Award

December 2025

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Jamie Patterson

Abstract

Humane education (HE) encompasses multiple concepts, including animal ethics, ecological environment, and social justice. The problem prompting this study was that individuals who have graduated from a higher education HE program face challenges in successfully integrating HE into their K–12 classrooms. Grounded by Weil's solutionary approach to HE, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the teaching experiences of individuals who graduated from a higher education HE program and successfully integrated HE into their classrooms. Participants were purposefully sampled from a small population of educators who completed a U.S. degree or certificate program in HE and successfully implemented HE subjects into their classrooms. Semistructured interviews were conducted with six participants who met the inclusion criteria. Thematic analysis using inductive, open coding was conducted. Results revealed that participants found creative and resilient ways to integrate HE principles into their teaching practice, including using strategies aligned to solutionary processes, adapting K–12 teaching practices to include HE, emphasizing HE-oriented critical thinking, and focusing instruction on HE-related, real-world problems and topics in their classrooms. Participants reported experiencing challenges related to integrating HE topics in the classroom, including lack of stakeholder awareness, curricular rigidity or overload, financial and resource constraints, pushback over fear of controversy, and feeling isolated or being unsupported. The study may promote positive social change by highlighting the importance of empowering educators to provide HE and help students develop empathy and compassion for all living things on this planet.

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