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Creating a Health and Sustainability Nexus in Food Education: Designing Third Spaces in Teacher Education
Abstract
There is growing pressure from the public health sector, government, environmental, medical and scientific fields to teach young people about food. However, little is known about pre-service teachers’ preparation in this area. This article addresses this gap by providing a case study of one approach to food education, which was purposefully designed to bring together two fields — health education and education for sustainability (EfS) — in teacher education in Victoria, Australia. This article outlines the ways in which this approach has the potential to challenge the conventions of both fields and ‘spaces’ of health (first space) and sustainability (second space), and gave rise to a possible ‘third space’ (Soja, 1996). This article uses data collected from Promoting Health Education, a 10-week course designed for generalist primary school pre-service teachers. It also utilises reflections from pre-service teachers and teacher educators (also the authors) to explore how they navigated first, second and third spaces. In doing so, the authors examine some of the learning potentials and difficulties within third spaces, including: designing third spaces; wrestling with the dominance of first space; complexities of second space; and questioning what might be lost and gained through the design of third spaces.
... After attending the workshop, the participants demonstrated an increase in their skills regarding how to prepare, cook, store, and serve healthy food appropriately (51). Other studies have explained that school teachers with insufficient food-related training might be one of the main reasons why insufficient nutrition and FSE has been conducted among school-aged students in Australia (52). ...
... School teachers play important roles in implementing FSE for elementary school students; however, insufficient food safety training, lack of self-efficacy, limited skills and knowledge in the nutrition and food curriculum, and time limitations are the main barriers for teaching nutrition and food subjects at school (22,52,67,77). Ovca and colleagues concluded that in addition to a quality food safety curriculum, having qualified teachers who have sufficient knowledge of food safety is the key factor to determine if the educational objectives of FSE programs would be achieved or not for students aged 6-18 years (78). ...
... To effectively implement FSE, school teachers must initially receive sufficient support and professional development. Hence, there is an urgent need to improve the knowledge and self-efficacy of school teachers by providing proper nutrition and foodrelated training in order to enhance their confidence to help elementary school students improve food safetyassociated knowledge and behaviors (22,52,78). ...
Context: Foodborne disease is one of the leading causes of early childhood death and childhood diarrhea worldwide. Providing food safety education is believed to be of necessity to prevent foodborne diseases among school-aged students; however, limited studies have addressed food safety education worldwide, particularly for elementary school students. Hence, we conducted this comprehensive review to examine the availability and impact of food safety education for elementary school students worldwide and identify areas that are still needed for future research.
Evidence Acquisition: Our inclusion criteria comprised all the studies on elementary school students (aged 5-12) and food safety components that have been published in English between 2010 and 2020, without geographic restriction. In this review project, we utilized nine major data sources, including PubMed, Science Direct, MEDLINE, and CINAHL.
Results: Food safety guidelines and educational resources have been established worldwide; however, limited food safety education has been targeted to elementary school students, particularly in developing countries. There is a lack of additional findings concerning food safety behaviors among elementary school students, and insufficient food safety training for teachers.
Conclusion: There is an urgent need to provide effective food safety education to elementary school students, which specifically focuses on improving their behaviors. Furthermore, sufficient food safety training and professional development needs to be provided for school teachers.
... Unfortunately, pre-service teachers' understanding of FL is currently underexplored. There is some research, especially in Australia, that considers food education as part of preservice education, however, like Canada, there have been no large-scale studies to investigate FL in this area (Elsden-Clifton & Futter-Puati, 2015). A study of 126 pre-service student teachers considered knowledge of food in relation to spaces: health, sustainability, and a combined health/food education. ...
... A study of 126 pre-service student teachers considered knowledge of food in relation to spaces: health, sustainability, and a combined health/food education. Despite making the connection between food and sustainability clear in the health curriculum, pre-service teachers continued to focus on health-only aspects of food, such as obesity, and rhetoric of good and bad food choices and struggled to expand their reflections to link sustainable practices and well-being (i.e., recycling, cleaner air), and cultural practices of food within families (Elsden-Clifton & Futter-Puati, 2015). In a classroom, teachers can help create a positive food environment through cooking and gardening, which often improves fruit and vegetable consumption, and food knowledge (Brown & Hermann, 2005;Cutter & Smith, 2001;Gray, & Goodell, 2015;Meehan et al., 2008;Mita et al.). ...
Policy documents implore Ontario teachers to integrate environmental education (EE) in the curriculum. Evidence of significant barriers such as lack of time, resources and knowledge, and lack of preparation at the Bachelor of Education level to teaching EE is well documented (Barrett, 2007, 2013; Stevenson, 2007; Thompson, 2004). Food literacy (FL) is often considered a framework from which to understand environmental issues, thus the authors sought to consider its’ usefulness in aiding integration of EE curricula. Using a ‘theory into practice’ approach we asked: Can food literacy be used to make environmental issues more relevant and accessible, thus diminishing the barriers to teaching EE? How do pre-service teachers define FL and do they know enough to use this framework? Qualitative interviews were conducted with thirteen Ontario pre-service teachers to determine their understanding of FL. Findings included a lack of exposure to FL concepts, however, there was an interest to using FL to help teach EE. Some suggestions to improve food pedagogy in the pre-service program and placements included: curriculum changes that made explicit connection to food; clear linkages between environmental issues and food; empowering students to do projects, debates and assignments on food, and experiential learning. Ultimately, there was interest and promise of utilizing FL to integrate EE, but a change of culture at the pre-service level is needed for it to be supported.
... The specific term "nutrition education" is used specifically when diet quality, nutrient intake and other goals related to health are emphasised (Lakka et al., 2019;HLPE, 2018), and the ultimate goal is to improve health and well-being (Contento and Koch, 2020b). Also, some definitions of food education emphasise the promotion of health and well-being alongside knowledge about culture, sustainable lifestyles and food systems (Elsden-Clifton and Futter-Puati, 2015;Sutter et al., 2019). The aim of food education can also be awakening pupils to notice and reflect on food-related phenomena and information from different angles (Contento et al., 1995). ...
... It has been suggested that cross-curricular and experiential learning approaches are the most effective strategies for implementing food education in primary schools (Peralta et al., 2016;Jones et al., 2012). Therefore, we chose a holistic and multidisciplinary perspective instead of considering food education exclusively Food education in Finnish primary education through one perspective À such as health or the environment (Elsden-Clifton and Futter-Puati, 2015;Nordin et al., 2020;Smetana et al., 2019). ...
Purpose
The importance of food education in primary schools has been globally recognised. However, more detailed definitions of its learning objectives are rarely found. The study aimed to define multisectoral themes and learning objectives for food education in primary education in Finland.
Design/methodology/approach
A descriptive three-round Delphi study was conducted with experts in food education in various organisations. In the first questionnaire, the participants were asked to define possible objectives for food education related to general objectives for basic education. Respondents of the first questionnaire formed a research panel ( n = 22). These panellists were then invited to complete the second ( n = 16) and third questionnaires ( n = 12), where the objectives were further modified. Qualitative content analysis and Bloom's taxonomy were applied in the process of creating the learning objectives.
Findings
In the iterative process, 42 learning objectives for food education in primary schools were defined. Further, “Sustainability and ethics of food systems” was defined as the cross-cutting theme of food education. In addition, 13 subthemes were defined, which fell into three thematic categories: personal (e.g. feelings), practical (e.g. eating) and intangible (e.g. culture) issues.
Originality/value
The defined learning objectives for a holistic food education may be used in advancing primary school curriculum in Finland and perhaps other countries.
... Estudios en países desarrollados también destacan la necesidad de implementar métodos de enseñanza que apoyen a los jóvenes para que puedan mantener estilos de vida saludable (11). Los análisis de intervenciones nutricionales en las escuelas indican que es posible cambiar los hábitos alimenticios de los jóvenes, sin embargo, la investigación realizada hasta ahora revela que el paradigma educativo predominante en la educación alimentaria es dar conocimiento sobre nutrición y supervisar las elecciones de alimentos de los estudiantes (12,13). ...
... A partir de estos conceptos centrales, la TMP sugiere que además de proporcionar una base cognitiva, se apoye a los individuos a n de que mejoren sus habilidades para elegir qué comer (autoecacia) y valorar el cambio que representa su conducta alimentaria en términos de prevenir futuros riesgos o mantener su estado de salud actual (21). Estudios en adolescentes (11,12,23) reportan intervenciones efectivas orientadas hacia la salud, que además de información incluyen discusiones, tareas y actividades en grupo, experiencias de casos que motivan la conducta adaptativa al remarcar los riesgos para la salud y la vulnerabilidad; asimismo, enfatizan la toma de decisiones y el desarrollo de habilidades para la selección de alternativas. ...
El objetivo de esta investigación fue evaluar la efectividad de una intervención educativa para promover prácticas de alimentación saludable en adolescentes entre 11 y 12 años, bajo un enfoque de aprendizaje activo. En esta intervención participaron adolescentes que cursaban el primer año en una escuela secundaria pública de nivel socioeconómico medio; la efectividad de la intervención se evaluó en términos de la modificación favorable de sus actitudes hacia la comida saludable, su autoeficacia para elegir y balancear alimentos y el incremento del riesgo a la salud que implica una alimentación no saludable. El análisis estadístico de los datos indicó una modificación significativa en la actitud y el riesgo percibido después de la intervención; respecto de la autoeficacia, a partir de la aplicación de un modelo markoviano se estimó cuánto debería durar la intervención para lograr que un mayor porcentaje de adolescentes se percibiera como autoeficaz para seleccionar su alimentación. Estos hallazgos apoyan la propuesta de una modificación a los programas gubernamentales, para la creación de un ambiente saludable en las escuelas de nivel elemental y mejorar las competencias de los estudiantes para seguir una dieta balanceada, sin romper con los patrones socioculturales y los hábitos alimenticios de las familias.
... School teachers play an essential role to educate and create awareness of food safety among school students. Insufficient food safety knowledge, lack of self-efficacy and training, limited skills in nutrition and food safety curriculum are the main limitations of school teachers for teaching food safety subjects at school level (Stage et al., 2018;Elsden-Clifton and Futter-Puati, 2015;Lecky, 2014;Ballam, 2018). So that having qualified teachers with professional development and sufficient knowledge of food safety is the most important key factor to achieve the awareness of food safety among the target audience of school going children and adolescent population. ...
Covid-19 pandemic that emerged a global threat on public health in 2019, continue to affect common people in many aspects of their life. National and international organizations are focusing on preventive measures of Covid-19 includes personal hygiene and healthy life style with standard food safety behaviours. Since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, teachers, and students health aspects are most considerable in the schools in Worldwide. As considering this aspect, study aimed to assess the knowledge of food safety among teachers working in private schools. The study was conducted in private schools of Etawah district, U.P., India. The sample consisted of 100 school teachers from four private schools in difference zones of Etawah. World Health Organization's food safety questionnaire was used to assess the food safety knowledge level with survey method. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21. The result revealed that 58% of the subjects had average knowledge of food safety on the other hand 41% of subjects had good knowledge of food safety. However there was no co-relation found between demographic variables and the total knowledge of food safety. Study concluded that more than half of the subjects having average knowledge of food safety during Covid-19 pandemic. Intervention should be given to enhance the knowledge of food safety among school teachers through whom can create best knowledge among children and adolescents populations.
... The results of our study indicated that teachers are likely to find themselves in a position to intervene in children's eating practices due to the supervision requests from parents. They are expected to have an active and multifaceted role in food and nutrition in primary schools; however, Australian teachers' training for this role is insufficient [61,62]. Therefore, this may have counterproductive consequences if teachers are not educated on proper feeding practices, nutritional needs, and requirements. ...
Parents and teachers have a major influence in the formation of primary school children’s eating behaviours. Although the cooperation of parents and teachers has frequently been recommended in the promotion of healthy eating habits among primary school children, little is known about the communication between these two groups regarding food- and nutrition-related issues. This paper reports findings from semi-structured interviews with primary school parents (n = 19) and primary teachers (n = 17), as well as findings from a survey of 787 parents in Australia. Audio-recorded interviews were analysed using NVivo and descriptive statistics were calculated for the survey questions. The results indicated that their communications involved various topics, including allergies, lunchbox content, and supervision requests, through diverse communication channels. The risk of offending each other and time scarcity were reported as communication barriers. Parents mainly expected teachers to ensure that their children were given enough time to eat their lunch, teach healthy eating, and be good role models of healthy eating. This study highlights the need to overcome communication barriers between parents and teachers and support teachers in their multifaceted professional roles.
... This view has been echoed by members of the public (Pendergast et al., 2011), food professionals , home economics teachers and medically oriented researchers who have advocated for the inclusion of Home Economics as a core subject for sustainable and healthpromoting curricula (Lichtenstein & Ludwig, 2010). However, curriculum overload is a major challenge for schools and teachers (Elsden-Clifton & Futter-Puati, 2015). Therefore, an area of exploration in this paper is the concept of integration of food literacy and food numeracy concepts across the entire curriculum. ...
Aim: The alarming rise of poor dietary behaviours among adolescents and the consequential health, economic and environmental concerns associated with these behaviours have been well established in the literature. Given that schools are recognised as primary centres for acquiring life skills and establishing healthful behaviours, the focus of this paper is on strengthening food literacy and food numeracy across the Australian secondary curriculum. Accordingly, this paper aims to: a) provide an overview of the definition, application and contribution of food literacy to adolescents' healthful behaviours b) introduce food numeracy and its anticipated contribution to adolescents' healthful behaviours c) introduce the term 'integration capacity of curriculum' d) identify the barriers and enablers to incorporating food literacy and food numeracy into Australian secondary schools, and categorise these into the three components of a Health Promoting School Framework e) discuss the possibilities for integration of food literacy and food numeracy across the entire secondary-school curriculum. Methods: Methodologically, all relevant primary and grey literature sourced from digital databases and based on selected key terms has been studied. Results: The scope and potential contributions of food literacy and food numeracy to adolescents' dietary behaviours have been described; the integration capacity of a range of subjects in the Australian curriculum has been tabulated; and enablers and barriers to the integration of food literacy and food numeracy into the curriculum have been elaborated on. Conclusions: If food literacy and food numeracy are to be an integral part of the secondary-school curriculum with a goal of improving both adolescent and planetary food-related health, then an effective model for food literacy and food numeracy that is supported by the education sector at all levels of decision-making is required.
... Yet, the limited available evidence suggests adolescents may not be aware of the impact that their eating behaviors have on the environment [17]. Researchers in the United Kingdom [18], Canada [19], and Australia [20] have demonstrated the intersection between food systems and health in the public school setting, and in the United States, food systems education is considered a form of farm-to-school programs [21,22]. A recent systematic literature review of farm-to-school programs questioned the feasibility of incorporating these interventions into classroom curricula and identified the failure to quantify intervention fidelity as one of the major limitations of existing research on these programs [23]. ...
Emerging evidence suggests a link between young people’s interest in alternative food production practices and dietary quality. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a student-driven sustainable food systems education and promotion intervention on adolescent school lunch selection, consumption, and waste behaviors. Sixth grade science teachers at two middle schools (n = 268 students) implemented a standards-based curriculum on sustainable food systems, addressing the environmental impacts of food choices and food waste. The cumulating curriculum activity required the 6th grade students to share their food systems knowledge with their 7th and 8th grade counterparts (n = 426) through a cafeteria promotional campaign to discourage food waste. School-wide monthly plate waste assessments were used to evaluate changes in vegetable consumption and overall plate waste using a previously validated digital photography method. At baseline, the intervention students consumed significantly less vegetables relative to the control group (47.1% and 71.8% of vegetables selected, respectively (p = 0.006). This disparity was eliminated after the intervention with the intervention group consuming 69.4% and the control consuming 68.1% of selected vegetables (p = 0.848). At five months follow up, the intervention group wasted significantly less salad bar vegetables compared to the control group (24.2 g and 50.1 g respectively (p = 0.029). These findings suggest that food systems education can be used to promote improved dietary behaviors among adolescent youth.
... School gardens have also helped high school students with science education (Fusco, 2001) and to learn skills needed for understanding and cooking food (Lautenschlager & Smith, 2007). Cross-curriculum approaches (Green & Duhn, 2015), such as those between health and sustainability, have been found to encourage the development of these capabilities (Elsden-Clifton & Futter-Puati, 2015). School Educator 3, who is active in school sustainability initiatives, advised that "ideally, a school garden program would have a formal structure, where students actually learn about food growing in connection with other subjects." ...
Environmental education enables students to critically analyze their impact on the world while producing environmentally knowledgeable and engaged global citizens with the skills and motivation necessary to participate in developing and implementing solutions to societal and environmental challenges. Beyond facilitating student learning, experiential learning opportunities that allow students to interact with the natural environment can also help facilitate students’ overall well-being and resilience. Although the nature of the COVID-19 crisis acts as a barrier to hands-on learning, during this unprecedented time, the benefits of experiential environmental education are more needed than ever. Lessons learned from creative adaptations to COVID-19 highlight the value and resilience of experiential and interdisciplinary learning models. As the pandemic continues, it is increasingly important to share these lessons learned from efforts to safely provide hands-on experiential education opportunities. This paper shares the experience of the Oregon Extension, an undergraduate study away program based out of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Southern Oregon that successfully adapted field-based environmental education programming during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper describes the Oregon Extension Program and adaptations made during COVID-19. It then provides a set of reflections and lessons learned regarding adaptations to COVID-19 and implications for environmental education beyond COVID-19.
Developing healthy eating behaviours is important to assist children in maintaining good health and decrease the risk of chronic health conditions. Recent nutrition promotion efforts in Australian primary schools have mainly focused on canteen guideline compliance and obesity prevention interventions. The aim of this study was to investigate the primary school food environment, specifically, allocated lunch eating duration and the governance of children's lunch breaks. Parents (n = 402) and teachers (n = 123) were asked via an online survey, about school allocated lunch eating duration and its adequacy. Respondents were asked about the supervision, monitoring and feedback of children's lunches, as well as how they felt about these practices. Parents (n = 308) and teachers (n = 102) also responded to the open-ended question “What could be done to improve the school food environment at your school?“.
Ten minutes was the allocated lunch eating duration reported by most parents and teachers and 54% of those parents and 30% of those teachers rated this as inadequate. Increasing the allocated lunch eating duration was frequently cited as a way to improve the school food environment. A similar proportion of parents and teachers agreed with teachers monitoring food intake, not providing feedback on food brought to school, and that parents should decide what children eat. More parents (44%) than teachers (23%) believed that teachers should eat their own lunch with the children. These findings provide an insight into the primary school lunch environment and the views of two key stakeholder groups. School food policies should consider these findings in future revisions, particularly with regards to eating times.
There have been unresolved calls for educators to connect and translate environmental links within health and physical education given the enduring absence, yet overlapping citizen priorities of health. In this Introductory paper to the Special Issue of environmental attunement in the health and/or physical education canon, we question if and how notions of nature and the environment might paradigmatically belong more centrally to the discipline. After some author positioning and situating this work, we draw on theories of attunement to consider what our use of the term ‘environmental attunement’ offers for shaping epistemological habits and ontological work across health studies and physical education. As part of this, we explore the possibilities and challenges for expanding embodied connections to place, space and ‘nature’. We highlight the omnipresence of eco-health, environmentalism, ‘nature’ and Indigenous ways of knowing as central to a pressing socio-cultural context and politics, yet the absence of epistemological habits in health and physical education responding to this need. To conclude we map links and possibilities from the literature to argue for the necessity of ‘environmental attunement’ to more centrally underpin teachers’ ecological identities in learning about health and human movement.
This scoping review collates empirical and gray literature that examines how schools are acting to nurture healthier and more environmentally aware young people through integrated approaches. Over the last twenty years, integration has been increasing within school contexts. Approaches include teaching and learning, physical environmental adaptations, developing ecologically focused policy, and reorienting wider school culture. We noted a developing discourse around what constitutes evidence in this emerging interdisciplinary field. Developing a better understanding of integrated approaches and an evidence base of what works and how could inform interdisciplinary collaboration and enable a clearer message to be communicated to stakeholders about how the school context can nurture healthier and more environmentally aware young people.
Objective:
To explore Australian experts' views regarding strengths and gaps in school-leavers' knowledge of nutrition and food systems ( N&FS) and factors that influence that knowledge.
Method:
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 highly experienced food-related experts in Australia. Qualitative data were analysed thematically using Attride-Stirling's thematic network framework.
Results:
Two global themes and several organising themes were identified. The first global theme, 'structural curriculum-based problems', emerged from three organising themes of: inconsistencies in provided food education programs at schools in Australia; insufficient coverage of food-related skills and food systems topics in school curricula; and the lack of trained school teachers. The second global theme, 'insufficient levels of school-leavers knowledge of N&FS ', was generated from four organising themes, which together described Australian school-leavers' poor knowledge of N&FS more broadly and knowledge translation problem for everyday practices.
Conclusion:
Study findings identified key problems relating to current school-based N&FS education programs in Australia and reported knowledge gaps in relation to N&FS among Australian school-leavers.
Implications:
These findings provide important guidance for N&FS curriculum development, to clearly articulate broadly-based N&FS knowledge acquisition in curriculum policy and education documents for Australian schools.
Environmental education is one site of many that reinforces dominant obesity discourses and weight-based oppression through privileging fit, able bodies. Using personal narratives and insights from the nascent field of fat studies, we offer a critical analysis of obesity discourse in environmental writing in general and environmental education in particular. We argue that intersectional analyses of embodiment, abjection, and crisis rhetoric could be generative for both environmental education and fat studies.
Like many educational institutions, Deakin University has embraced the challenge of developing curricula to ensure that graduates are environmentally literate and competent to address sustainability in professional practice. Despite an abundance of literature pertaining to the link between human health and environmental degradation, the development of health-related education for sustainability curriculum has been slow. Health promotion, an integral aspect of health professional training in Australia, is considered an area of practice well suited to the action of sustainability. This article highlights the findings of a pilot project that explored which graduate-level health promotion competencies and principles for practice can be transferred to action on sustainability. Methodologically, this study offers a participatory action research process enhanced with case study design principles. Findings from the four case studies highlight that health promotion competencies are compatible with action on sustainability. The article also illuminates the themes in the literature about the value of mutually reinforcing pedagogies associated with education for sustainability and work-integrated learning. The article contributes to discussion in an emerging area of health curriculum, namely, health-related education for sustainability. It posits that health promotion is an area of the health curriculum that can support the development of competencies at the nexus between health and sustainability.
Childhood obesity is a highly complex issue with serious health and environmental implications. It has been postulated that young children (preschool-aged in particular) are able to internalise positive environmental beliefs. Applying a socioecological theoretical perspective, in this discussion paper we argue that although children may internalise such beliefs, they commonly behave in ways that contradict these beliefs as demonstrated by their consumer choices. The media directly influences these consumer choices and growing evidence suggests that media exposure (particularly commercial television viewing) may be a significant "player" in the prediction of childhood obesity. However, there is still debate as to whether childhood obesity is caused by digital media use per se or whether other factors mediate this relationship. Growing evidence suggests that researchers should examine whether different types of content have conflicting influences on a child's consumer choices and, by extension, obesity. The extent to which young children connect their consumer choices and the sustainability of the product/s they consume with their overall health and wellbeing has not previously been researched. To these ends, we call for further research on this socioecological phenomenon among young children, particularly with respect to the influence of digital media use on a child's consumer behaviours.
This paper reviews Australian Government actions related to environmental education, particularly in the past decade, and examines the actions forthcoming from two national action plans (Environment Australia, 2000 and DEWHA, 2009), the implementation strategy for the Decade of ESD (DEWHA, 2006) and developments related to the Australian Curriculum. This analysis is inspired by the Australian-ness of the metaphor of the curriculum as a jigsaw puzzle suggested by Robottom (1987), the seemingly constant battle for survival in the formal curriculum that environmental education has faced since the 1970s (Fensham, 1990; Gough, 1997), and the ongoing tensions between science education and environmental education in Australia's formal school curriculum.
Adrienne Rich's phrase ‘the personal is the political’ is well-worn in feminist literature. In a context where health imperatives are deeply embedded in school cultures and programming, we suggest the phrase has renewed purchase. Drawing on the testimonies of three New Zealand teachers, we explore the ways in which personal health dispositions and practices contour what and how physical and health education is envisaged in diverse school contexts and who is regarded as particularly ‘at risk’ of poor health outcomes. Teacher' perceptions of their students' health needs, their understanding of the role of schools in ameliorating children's health problems and the pedagogical choices made are each, we suggest, intimately linked to their lived histories of ‘health’, their understandings of their own and others' bodies and their personal convictions about what, for them, constitutes a ‘good’ and/or ‘healthy’ life. While the ubiquitous nature of health discourses, particularly those linked to obesity reduction, might at first blush, invoke notions of a shared agenda and a uniform commitment to improving children and young people's health, our analysis points to the diverse ways in which teachers constitute their role as health and physical educators, ‘care’ about students and teach health and physical education curricula.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss a curriculum change in the provision of health promotion in pre‐service teacher education in a one‐year postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) secondary course in one Higher Education Institution (HEI) in England.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper describes the iterative development process, from an initial survey and mapping of the existing pre‐service teacher training programme, which provided an evidence base for the piloting of a new health promotion component in the curriculum, and its subsequent evaluation. Changes to the health promotion element of the curriculum reflect the programme philosophy which balances the requirements of a competency based curriculum with a more liberal approach to education and training in which pre‐service teachers are expected to critically reflect on, and evaluate their practice. This work adopts a socio‐constructivist approach to teacher education, in which teachers develop their knowledge, skills and attitudes by interacting with others through dialogue, and learning from more knowledgeable others in a cooperative and scaffolded manner.
Findings
The paper presents the results of these changes and discusses implications for their sustainability. The changes made to the health promotion component of the programme and their implementation would not have been possible without the inter‐professional collaboration that took place over three years.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge similar work involving a multi‐disciplinary collaborative approach to the development of a health education component of a pre‐service teacher education curriculum has not been employed or reported.
This paper discusses the history of the relationship between science education and environmental education in Australian and international contexts and argues that - given the on-going resistances to environmental education in schools, the static nature of science education practices, and declining student interest in studying traditional science subject - it is time to reconsider the relationship. If we are to achieve sustainable development, then science education must have a role in encouraging ecological thinking. However, the science education that can be an appropriate 'host' for environmental education is not necessarily that currently practised, but a reconceptualized form could well be what is needed. From a historical perspective this paper suggests that it might be time to reconsider science education's function as a 'host' for environmental education and try to imagine a more mutualistic relationship.
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Discusses language and literacy learning, and some current language arts practices that warrant reconsideration. Describes and offers examples of the move away from oppositional discourses (set up by pedagogical debates) and to the "radical middle." Notes a move toward a third place where two normative patterns of interaction intersect, creating the potential for authentic interaction and learning to occur. (SR)
This paper presents the findings of a small-scale research project about student teachers' perceptions and experiences of environmental education. The context of this study is a pre-service teacher education faculty in rural New South Wales, Australia. A combined methods approach was applied, with a survey designed from rich data elicited through focus group interviews. The focus of this paper is on the findings of the survey, revealing that prospective teachers' preparedness in environmental education is diluted by their teacher education experience and that such experiences are not providing a stimulus for novice teachers to practice environmental education. (Contains 3 tables, 3 figures and 3 endnotes.)
"Food and eating in schools have most often been thought of as utilitarian parts of the day, as distractions, and, for education researchers, as lacking incentives to study or even as objects of derision rather than serious concern. Yet there are good reasons why scholars of education should consider food and food practices. These include the confounding influences of school food’s impact on health and on academics, its effects on teaching and administration, the role schools play in teaching about food, implications for the environment and for other species, the large sums of money involved, the window that food provides into identity and culture, food’s influence on educational policy and politics, and the social justice concerns around food."
Background: Self-efficacy, outcome expectations, outcome value and strong intentions to teach are linked to teaching competence, curricular implementation and student outcomes. Purpose: The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of nutrition in-service professional development to increase self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, outcome values and intentions to teach nutrition education as part of a broader health education curriculum. Methods: A quasi-experimental design examined teachers' self-efficacy, outcome expectations, outcome value and intentions to teach in teachers who participated in an in-service intervention (N = 30) and controls who did not (N = 29). Results: A significant interaction between groups over time was found for self-efficacy and outcome expectations. For outcome value and intention to teach, a significant main effect for time was observed. The intervention group scored significantly higher than the control group in both self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Furthermore, scores for intention to teach and outcome values were higher post-intervention. Discussion: Results of this study indicate that in-service training combined with adequate instructional resources increased both teacher self-efficacy and the number of lessons the intervention teachers intended to teach. Translation to Health Education Practice: Because self-efficacy has been strongly linked to teacher effectiveness, efforts should be directed at providing continual training for teachers based on risk behaviors outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Contemporary notions of childhood overweight and obesity have become increasingly influential in curriculum and pedagogy in school-based Health and Physical Education (HPE). Teachers' delivery of HPE subject matter and related school practices are likely to have a considerable impact on the attitudes and beliefs of the children they teach, particularly in the primary school. It thus becomes important to consider the ways of thinking about and doing health (discourse positions on health) that teachers bring to their teaching of HPE. This paper examines pre-service teachers' positions in relation to the health discourses to better understand what teachers, in this case beginning teachers, bring to their teaching of HPE and interactions with children in primary schools. It draws on a Foucauldian approach to discourse analysis to analyse pre-service teachers' qualitative survey and interview responses to questions about meanings of health. Three key positions emerged, signifying Agreement, Disagreement and Negotiated positions in relation to the dominant discourses of health and the body.
Promising approaches to the promotion of healthier eating among children in primary school settings include the opportunity to practise practical cooking and growing, promoting the take up of healthier school meals and nutritional education. However, less is known about the potential for strategies that integrate approaches through a focus on food sustainability issues--such as the promotion of awareness about local, seasonal, organic, fair trade and higher animal welfare foods. This paper presents an evaluation of the Food for Life Partnership, a multi-component programme that sought to address both the health and sustainability aspects of food. The study consisted of a two-stage cross-sectional survey of Years 5 and 6 students (ages 9-11) in 30 primary schools at enrolment and after 18-24 months, combined with an analysis of programme delivery. Higher self-reported fruit and vegetable consumption in the second stage survey was associated with a range of indicators of school participation in the programme. These included the reform of school meal procurement and preparation; experiential food growing, cooking and farm-based education and improved opportunities for stakeholder engagement. The study therefore develops a case for multilevel programmes that incorporate sustainability issues alongside experiential food education in primary school settings.
On 16 January 2002, the United Kingdom House of Commons Select Committee published a report entitled Tackling Obesity in England. Drawing on insights from the work of Bernstein, Bourdieu and Foucault, this article will suggest that the report provides an example par excellence of the way in which 'the body' (our bodies) are being constructed, defined, regulated and pathologised by contemporary health discourse. Furthermore, the article illustrates empirically how themes dominant in this report, grounded within wider regimes of health science 'truth', are reflected and reproduced in the curriculum and pedagogy of teachers (health experts), ironically in ways that potentially severely damage the health and identity of young people. To sharpen the focus of the analysis, the discussion centres attention on the relationships between formal education and eating disorders, specifically anorexia nervosa, in order to consider whether the 'discourse of obesity' potentially empowers or damages young people's identity and health
Initial teacher education provides a strategic opportunity for ensuring that all teachers are ready and able to teach for sustainability when they begin their teaching careers. However, it is also widely recognised that this strategy has not been used to its full potential. Efforts in education for sustainable development (ESD) at this level have tended to engage with prospective teachers and teacher educators already interested in this area of learning – preaching mostly to the converted. This paper reports on a study undertaken by the Australian Research Institute of Education for Sustainability (ARIES) for the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage, which sought to appraise the models of professional development underpinning a range of initial teacher education initiatives. Its intention was to learn from these experiences and identify effective models for mainstreaming ESD in pre-service teacher education.
Schools are considered to be settings for both health education and health promotion. But the core business of schools is actually focused on educational outcomes, not reducing health problems. In most countries, schools give low priority to health promotion, and school staffs, mainly teachers, are not aware of their role in health promotion. Studies show that teachers who have received health promotion training tend to be involved more frequently in health promotion projects and have a more comprehensive approach to health education. Pre-service and in-service staff training is then a main challenge. This is the reason why we have launched an initiative to join international forces to strengthen and advocate for teacher training in health promotion. The main goals are to develop research, affirm and reinforce the work done in teacher training in health promotion, support the institutes/colleges/universities in the provision of pre-service and in-service teacher training and stimulate international partnership work.
There are thousands of school gardens in the United States, and there is anecdotal evidence that school garden programs can enhance students' learning in academic, social, and health-related domains. There has been little rigorous research, however, on the effects of school gardens or on the factors that promote the sustainability of these programs. This review draws on ecological theory to conceptualize school gardens as systemic interventions with the potential for promoting the health and well-being of individual students in multiple interdependent domains and for strengthening the school environment as a setting for positive youth development. This review (a) summarizes the small literature regarding the impact of school garden curricula on student or school functioning, (b) provides a conceptual framework to guide future inquiry, (c) discusses implications of this conceptualization for practice, and (d) suggests further research needed to better inform practice.
'The School Food Revolution is an important book that deserves success.' Journal of Organic Systems 'A great new book that describes how 'the humble school meal' can be considered as 'a litmus test of… government's political commitment to sustainable development.' Peter Riggs, Director, Forum on Democracy & Trade 'The School Food Revolution should be an inspiration for policy makers and for school heads and school canteen operators.' Tom Vaclavik, President, Organic Retailers Association School food suddenly finds itself at the forefront of contemporary debates about healthy eating, social inclusion, ecological sustainability and local economic development. All around the world it is becoming clear - to experts, parents, educators, practitioners and policy-makers - that the school food service has the potential to deliver multiple dividends that would significantly advance the sustainable development agenda at global, national and local levels. Drawing on new empirical data collected in urban and rural areas of Europe, North America and Africa, this book offers a timely and original contribution to the school food debate by highlighting the potential of creative public procurement - the power of purchase. The book takes a critical look at the alleged benefits of school food reform, such as lower food miles, the creation of markets for local producers and new food education initiatives that empower consumers by nurturing their capacity to eat healthily. To assess the potential of these claims, the book compares a variety of sites involved in the school food revolution - from rural communities committed to the values of 'the local' to global cities such as London, New York and Rome that feed millions of ethnically diverse young people daily. The book also examines the UN's new school feeding programme - the Home Grown Programme - which sees nutritious food as an end in itself as well as a means to meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Overall, the book examines the theory, policy and practice of public food provisioning, offering a comparative perspective on the design and delivery of sustainable school food systems. The cover illustration is by a Roman child. The authors would like to thank the City of Rome (Department for School and Educational Policies) for permission to reproduce it.
Over the past decade the issue of food and in particular, food consumed within schools has come to encapsulate a broad range of concerns regarding children and young people's health and wellbeing. In Australia, the UK and more recently the USA, attempts to ameliorate a range of public health concerns have provided the impetus for an unprecedented proliferation of school food initiatives and legislative reforms governing the types of foods that may or may not be provided within schools. While academic enquiry in this area has largely focussed upon attempts to govern children, recent initiatives in the UK and Australia have begun to target parents in their attempts to promote healthy food practices. In this paper we interrogate the ways in which parents, or more specifically, mothers are positioned in relation to school food discourses in Australia and in the UK and suggest that school food has become a site through which an array of pedagogical opportunities are opened up to invoke particular subject positions premised on normative views of affective middle class motherhood. In short, we seek to explore the means through which mothers come to be regarded as legitimate targets of school food pedagogy. The paper draws on empirical data from Australia and the UK to compare a range of pedagogic techniques employed in the two countries. Drawing on governmentality studies we explore how school food pedagogies seek to regulate mothers and their children's food related choices. We consider school lunches and the various techniques that have been deployed in both countries to consider the moralising work that takes place around food and motherhood.
Purpose ‐ School health promotion is said to be most effective when implemented through a comprehensive, settings-based, whole-school approach. The purpose of this paper is to address the current lack of knowledge about the current state of teacher education for health promotion and its potential to further the development of settings-based approaches. Design/methodology/approach ‐ This paper focuses on an analysis of initial teacher education for school health promotion in Austria by studying the curricula of the Universities of Teacher Education, as well as interviewing representatives from these institutions. A content analysis of the identified modules and a thematic analysis of the interview transcripts were conducted. Findings ‐ While there is more behaviour orientation than setting orientation identified in the curricula, the interviewees showed a broad understanding of health promotion that encompasses a settings view. The situation at the Universities of Teacher Education mirrors the situation in schools: there are similar supporting and hindering factors for the implementation of healthy settings. Practical implications ‐ A greater degree of focus in teacher education on the settings approach and the promotion of the skills required to implement it is needed, as well as the creation of health-promoting Universities of Teacher Education. Originality/value ‐ The study makes recommendations about how to prepare future teachers to support the development of more effective approaches of school health promotion.
The growing emphasis on sustainability in school curricula in Australia reflects international trends in education. Teacher education is a vital strategy for the incorporation of Education for Sustainability (EfS) in school curricula. Research to identify drivers and barriers to embedding EfS across a primary teacher education program in an Australian university is the focus of this article. Using a mixed methods approach, data were gathered through document and unit outline audits, a self-efficacy pre-service teacher (PST) survey, and staff and PST focus group interviews. The audits identified a foundation of EfS principles and content across units. Lecturers identified societal and personal drivers and blockers to embedding EfS across the course, with lack of time considered the biggest blocker, which is also consistent with existing school-based research on the nature of teachers' work. PST responses described successful learning outcomes; however, confidence towards teaching sustainability varied. PST reported that the incorporation of community networks in their course provided enriching experiences. Embedding EfS involves values, sustainability concerns and appropriate knowledge and skills. Successful implementation will depend on the development of appropriate understandings of teacher educators.
ABSTRACTS
In this article we analyze the intersections and disjunctures between everyday (home, community, peer group) and school funds of knowledge and Discourse (Gee, 1996) that frame the school‐based, content area literacy practices of middle school‐aged youth in a predominantly Latino/a, urban community of Detroit, Michigan, in the United States. Using data collected across five years of an on‐going community ethnography, we present findings on the strength of various funds that shape the texts available to a sample of 30 young people in the community and school we studied. We then present the patterns that we analyzed across each of the different documented funds. We use our findings on the funds that youth have available to them outside of school to suggest possibilities for working toward third space (Bhabha, 1994; Gutiérrez, Baquedano‐López, Alvarez, & Chiu, 1999; Soja, 1996) around literacy and content learning in the seventh‐ and eighth‐grade, public school science classrooms of these youth, and we draw implications for literacy teaching and research in other content areas.
EN ESTE artículo analizamos las intersecciones y fracturas entre las fuentes cotidianas (hogar, comunidad, grupo de pares) y escolares de conocimientos y tipos discursivos (Gee, 1996). Estas constituyen el marco de las prácticas escolares de alfabetización en las áreas de contenido para jóvenes de escuela media en una comunidad urbana predominantemente latina de Detroit, Michigan, USA. Utilizando datos recogidos durante cinco años en un estudio etnográfico en curso, presentamos hallazgos acerca de la fuerza de varias fuentes que conforman los textos de los que disponen 30 jóvenes de la comunidad y la escuela estudiadas. Usamos los hallazgos sobre los recursos a los que los jóvenes tienen acceso fuera de la escuela para sugerir posibilidades de trabajo sobre el tercer espacio (Bhabha, 1994; Gutiérrez, Baquedano‐López, Alvarez, & Chiu, 1999; Soja, 1996) en alfabetización y aprendizaje de contenidos para aulas de ciencia de séptimo y octavo grado en escuelas públicas. Asimismo formulamos implicancias para la enseñanza y la investigación en otras áreas de contenido.
IN DIESEM Artikel analysieren wir Verbindungen und Trennungen zwischen dem Alltag (dem Zuhause, in der Gemeinschaft, bei Gleichaltrigen untereinander) und gegenüber schulischen Wissensgrundlagen und Diskurs (Gee, 1996), welche die schulfächer‐basierenden Schreib‐ und Lesepraktiken von jugendlichen Mitschülern in einer überwiegend latein‐amerikanischen Stadtgemeinde in Detroit, Michigan, in den Vereinigten Staaten einrahmen. Unter Benutzung von über fünf Jahren gesammelter Daten einer fortlaufenden ethnischen Gemeinschaftserhebung präsentieren wir Ermittlungen aufgrund der Überzeugungskraft verschiedener Grundlagen, welche die vorhandenen Texte gestalten, die wir anhand einer Auswahl von 30 Jugendlichen in der Gemeinde und Schule studierten. Danach präsentieren wir Musterbeispiele, die wir quer durch die unterschiedlich dokumentierten Grundlagen weiter analysierten. Wir wandten unsere Erkenntnisse auf jene Grundlagen an, die den Jugendlichen außerhalb der Schule zur Verfügung stehen, um Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten des Einwirkens zum dritten Raum (Bhabha, 1994; Gutiérrez, Baquedano‐López, Alvarez, & Chiu, 1999; Soja, 1996) im Schreib‐ und Leseumfeld und fächerbezogenen Lernen dieser jugendlichen Schüler aus den siebten und achten wissenschaftlichen Fachklassen (Science) in öffentlichen Schulen aufzuzeigen, und wir ziehen daraus Implikationen zum Unterrichten im Schreiben und Lesen und der Erforschung in anderen Fachunterrichtsbereichen.
Much attention is currently being paid to rising rates of obesity, especially among youth. In this context, garden-based education can have a role in improving public health. A qualitative study conducted at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) Children's Garden provides supporting evidence for the claim that growing vegetables can improve the nutrition behavior of young gardeners. It finds that positive social interaction during gardening, harvesting, sharing, preparing, and eating produce may influence young people's food consciousness and eating habits. Recommendations are made for using the social interaction in garden-based learning settings to positively influence youth's food consciousness and nutrition.
We suggest that recent concerns about young people's excess body weight have generally been treated quite separately to longer standing concerns about young people (particularly, young women) and eating disorders. The few papers that have addressed this connection directly have focused on how practices motivated by the obesity discourse have had damaging consequences for the ways young women have come to understand and act on their bodies. The research described in this paper, however, makes a different point. It demonstrates how one teacher struggles to negotiate the different and often contradictory meanings about the body and young women's health, in a context where explicit teaching about eating disorders and body image is formally endorsed and legislated through the State health and physical education (HPE) syllabus. The interview material and classroom exchanges described in the paper are from a project that examined the implementation of a sociocultural perspective as a curriculum change in HPE. The case presented here took place in a girls' private school, where an accomplished female HPE head teacher developed and taught a unit of work focused on food and nutrition to a class of 15- and 16-year-old female students. Our analysis suggests that, within this particular gendered and classed setting, the teacher understood the students in her class as being at greater risk of developing eating disorders than of becoming obese. However, despite the apparent ‘risk’ presented by eating disorders, the investments both students and the teacher had in their own bodies as the slim ideal, meant that learning and teaching about how to avoid being fat continued to be paramount. We suggest further research is required to understand how teachers negotiate the intersection of obesity and eating disorders in the formal curriculum and across different social and cultural contexts, and to draw on this in advising teachers in relation to future practice.
Solutions to the pressing environmental problems of our time include a shift towards more sustainable ways of living, and in this, education is recognised as having an important role. It is expected that if sustainability is addressed in teacher education, its prevalence in schools will also increase. However little has been reported regarding how education for sustainability (EfS) has been incorporated in pre-service teacher education and how early career teachers respond to this once in the workplace. This study reports on the reflections of five early career primary school teachers who experienced EfS during pre-service education at an Australian university. The study concludes that teachers valued particular aspects of EfS during pre-service education and these contributed to their confidence and desire to incorporate EfS into their teaching. These included improved knowledge of content and capacity to improve content knowledge independently, a blend of theory with experience of appropriate instructional strategies, use of relevant teaching resources, practice in the skills of curriculum integration and practical teaching experience in EfS.
Objective: Evaluate achievement of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program in increasing child appreciation of diverse, healthy foods.
Design: Comparative 2-year study.
Setting: Six program and 6 comparison primary schools in rural and metropolitan Victoria, Australia, matched for socioeconomic status and size.
Participants: A total of 764 children in grades 3 to 6 (8–12 years of age) and 562 parents recruited. Retention rates at follow-up included 85% children and 75% parents.
Intervention: Each week of the school year, children spent 45 to 60 minutes in a garden class and 90 minutes in a kitchen class.
Phenomenon of interest: Program impact on children's willingness to try new foods, capacity to describe foods, and healthy eating.
Analysis: Qualitative data analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Quantitative data analyzed using random-effects linear regressions adjusted for school clustering.
Results: Child and parent qualitative and quantitative measures (if never tried before, odds ratio 2.0; confidence interval, 1.06–3.58) showed increases in children's reported willingness to try new foods. No differences in articulation of food descriptions (program vs comparison groups). Qualitative evidence showed that the program extended its influence to healthy eating, but this was not reflected in the quantitative evidence.
Conclusions and Implications: Findings indicate program success in achieving its primary objective, meriting further program research.
The aim of this phenomenographic study was to identify student teachers’ ways of experiencing the teaching of health education, and to determine the aspects that are educationally critical in gaining a deeper understanding of the teaching. Qualitative data (written essays, semi‐structured interviews) were gathered twice during health education teacher training. Teaching was seen as transferring knowledge and skills, supporting the active processing of knowledge, supporting transformation of conceptions, supporting holistic personal growth and building a learning community with the students. The teaching was reflected through five themes: the nature of the knowledge, the source of the knowledge, the teacher’s role, the pupil’s role and the direction of the interaction. The findings support earlier studies but also bring new perspectives to discussions of teaching conceptions. The study also confirms that, although some conceptions seem to be parallel across different educational settings, other conceptions appear to vary over different contexts.
In this study we interrogate the ways nutrition and health have become increasingly influential to children's everyday life practices and conceptualisations of food. We challenge the orthodoxy of meanings afforded to food that draw a distinct binary between ‘good’/‘bad’ or ‘healthy’/‘unhealthy’; ideas widely promulgated in health texts, popular culture and pedagogical practice. Whilst these dominant medico-scientific discourses are pervasive in accounts of food, they are not the only meanings that permeate the popular cultural and pedagogical landscape; for instance, there has been a burgeoning interest in culinary cooking programmes and food sustainability in recent years. In this study, we use Foucault's notion of biopower to trace the various ways food is governed through interventions; pedagogised by popular culture; and, taken up in school policies and practices. We draw on interviews with 32 Year five students from Australian public and private primary schools. Not surprisingly, the analysis demonstrates how students reiterated food as a practice of ‘temptation’ and ‘risk’, similar to nutrition-based knowledge of food circulated in popular culture and health programmes. This suggests that other meanings of food are often socially and pedagogically marginalised. We argue that because of the perceived risk attached to food practices, these young people see food as an object of guilt and a reason for self-surveillance. After discussing the results we consider some of the consequences for young peoples' sense of self and their relationships with food in every day life, particularly in light of the perilous effects of deeming food as ‘good’/‘bad’ from such a young age. As a point of departure we explore some of the subjugated knowledges that can be brought to the table of food pedagogies in schools in order to bring about a broader assemblage of food ‘truths’.
The aim of this paper is to understand whether student teachers enact reflection differently as they encounter different situations within their teacher education programme. Group memory-work was used to generate and analyse five participants' memories of learning to teach. Three different discursive contexts were identified in the students' stories and each demonstrates that students reflexively enact reflection in relation to the discursive nature of the context. The analysis also reveals that critical reflection is possible, but that further attention must be paid to considering how it can be sustained in contexts outside of teacher education.
The aim was to investigate and compare body image, body dissatisfaction, dieting, disordered eating, exercise and eating disorders among trainee health education/physical education (H&PE) and non-H&PE teachers. Participants were 502 trainee teachers randomly selected from class groups at three Australian universities who completed the questionnaire. H&PE males and females had significantly poorer body image and higher levels of body dissatisfaction, dieting and disordered eating behaviors than non-H&PE participants. H&PE teachers were more likely to over-exercise and have exercise disorders, but very few self-identified problems with objectively assessed excessive exercise behaviors. Lifetime prevalence of eating disorders was 12.5% in H&PE males, 0% in non-H&PE males, 7.7% in H&PE females and 6% in non-H&PE females. Few participants had received any past or current treatment. Of particular concern is the likelihood of the teachers' inappropriate and dangerous attitudes and behaviors being intentionally or unintentionally conveyed to their school students. Those planning school health education, nutrition education and school-based obesity prevention programs should provide suitable training for the teachers involved. Screening and treatment services among teachers may also be helpful in order to detect, treat and educate young teachers about body image, dieting, disordered eating and physical activity practices.
This was a pilot study to determine the impact of the Michigan Model (MM) Nutrition Curriculum on nutrition knowledge, efficacy expectations, and eating behaviors in middle school students.
The study was conducted in a large metropolitan setting and approved by the Institutional Review Board. The participants for this study were divided into an intervention group (n = 407) and a control group (n = 169). An MM instructor trained health teachers in the use of the curriculum, and the teacher subsequently taught the curriculum to students in the intervention group. A valid and reliable questionnaire was used to determine pre-post differences. It consisted of 3 subscales assessing eating habits, nutrition knowledge, and efficacy expectations toward healthy eating. Subscale scores were analyzed using a 2 groups (intervention vs control) x 2 times (pre vs post) analysis of variance.
The intervention group increased their nutrition knowledge at post. There was also a significant main effect for groups in the subscales "Eating Behaviors" and "Efficacy Expectations Regarding Healthy Eating." Subsequent post hoc analysis revealed that the intervention group was significantly more likely to eat fruits and vegetables and less likely to eat junk food than the control group. Students in the intervention group also felt more confident that they could eat healthy.
The results of this pilot study suggest that the MM Nutrition Curriculum delivered by trained professionals resulted in significant positive changes in both nutrition knowledge and behaviors in middle school children. Further research needs to be conducted to determine the long-term impact.
Re-positioning Ecological Education in teacher education programs in Ontario
- Beckford
Not for want of trying: Strategies for re-orienting teacher education for ESD
- A Gough