School Nutrition: Some European Initiatives Dr Suzanne Piscopo Home Economics Office Faculty of Educ

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School NutritionSome European
InitiativesDr Suzanne Piscopo Home Economics
Office Faculty of Education University of Malta
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Main Health Problems of Children in the European
Union

• The top health problems include
• Overweight or obesity
• Iron-deficiency anaemia
• Iodine deficiency
• Eating disorders anorexia/bulimia nervosa
• Dental health
• A healthy diet could contribute to reducing the
  risk factors for these major health problems.

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Trends in Dietary HabitsCauses for Concern
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Causes for Concern
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Causes for Concern
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Initiative 1 European Network of Health
Promoting Schools

• Set up in 1991 as a joint project of the WHO
  Regional Office for Europe, the European
  Commission and the Council of Europe.
• Forty countries in the European Region of WHO are
  involved in the Network.
• The Network has done a great deal to make schools
  healthier places in which to study and work.

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• European Network of Health Promoting Schools
• (WHO, 2003)
• http//www.who.int/school_youth_health/gshi/hps/en
  /print.html

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WHO Health Promoting School

• A health promoting school is one in which all
  members of the school community work together to
  provide children and young people with integrated
  and positive experiences and structures, that
  promote and protect their health. This includes
  both the formal and the informal curriculum in
  health, the creation of a safe and healthy school
  environment, the provision of appropriate health
  services and the involvement of the family and
  wider community in efforts to promote health.
• (WHO, 1995, Regional Guidelines - Development
  of Health-Promoting Schools, p.3)

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WHO Health Promoting School
School Health Education
School Policies
Healthy School Environment
Community Family Involvement Outreach
Nutrition Food Programmes
School Health Services
Counselling Social Support
Physical Exercise, Recreation Sport
Health Promotion for School Staff
Courtesy of WHO Global School Health Initiative
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Health Promoting SchoolsNutrition interventions

• Nutrition interventions are integrated into
  multiple aspects of the school environment.
• Two main foci
• Improve the education potential
  of all students
• Improve the health potential
  of all students

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Health Promoting SchoolsNutrition-related
Expectations

• Develop a statement of policy about nutrition
  education
• Focus on the enjoyment of food
• Be explicitly concerned that no child is hungry
  while at school and that poor nutrition does not
  affect learning
• Have nutrition teaching that is provided adequate
  resources
• Coordinate all aspects of nutrition education to
  ensure efficient use of resources and to minimise
  contradictory messages

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Health Promoting SchoolsNutrition-related
Expectations

• Enable healthy choices if food is provided at the
  school
• Promote training for staff teachers, caterers
  and cleaners in healthy eating
• Provide comfortable surroundings in which
  children and staff can enjoy eating
• Involve parents and the wider community
• Ensure that all staff are committed to the goals
  of the health-promoting school and be explicitly
  concerned about the health and wellbeing of both
  pupils and staff

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• Healthy Nutrition An Essential Element of a
  Health-Promoting School
• WHO Information Series on School Health -
  Document four (WHO/FAO). (1998). C.E.Aldinger
  J.T. Jones
• http//www.who.int/hpr

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Usefulness of the Document

• Can be used
• To argue for healthy nutrition and nutrition
  interventions in schools
• To create a strong basis for local action and for
  planning interventions that are relevant to the
  needs and circumstances of the school and
  community
• To obtain more specific details of how to
  integrate health promotion efforts into various
  components of a Health Promoting School
• To assist in evaluating efforts to make health
  promotion and healthy nutrition an essential part
  of a Health Promoting School.

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Initiative 2Nutrition Education Curriculum
Framework

• Healthy Eating For Young People In Europe A
  school-based nutrition education guide
• (Dixey et al, 1999)
• http//www.euro.who.int/document/e69846.pdf

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Curriculum Framework

• A spiral curriculum addressing 4-16-year-olds
• Comprising seven broad nutrition topics
• Presented as a set of learning outcomes
  specified according to
• the topics
• the levels of development of the age groups
• childrens questions.
• Ideas for nutrition education in the whole school
• Ideas for family and community links.

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Seven Broad Topics

• Nutrition and personal health
• Food and emotional development
• Eating habits and socio-cultural influences
• Food production, processing and distribution
• Consumer aspects of foods
• Food preservation and storage
• Food preparation

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47 years old

• Dominant themes
• Sensory awareness
• Eating and drinking together
• Preferences

• Typical childrens questions the
• curriculum aims to encourage
• What do I eat and drink?
• What do I like to eat?
• What do I feel about my eating and drinking?
• What do others in my family eat?
• How and when do I eat?
• Where does my food come from?

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810 years old

• Dominant themes
• Eating habits
• Food and food quality
• Eating and drinking at home and at school
• How food is produced.

• Typical childrens questions the
• curriculum aims to encourage
• What do I eat and why?
• Where do I eat what?
• Do I use a variety of foods?
• Do I like the food I choose?

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1113 years old

• Dominant themes
• Nutrition, nutrients and consequences for health
• Influences on eating habits
• Socio-cultural context settings and consequences
  for health
• Environmental effects of food choice.

• Typical childrens questions the
• curriculum aims to encourage
• What influences my eating habits?
• How are my eating habits influenced by my
  surroundings?
• How are my eating habits related to health?
• How are my eating habits related to the
  environment?

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1416 years old

• Dominant themes
• Value clarification
• Responsibility for oneself and others
• The responsibilities of producers, industry and
  government
• Global issues of the production, distribution and
  availability of food.

• Typical childrens questions the
• curriculum aims to encourage
• What are my key values about food, eating and
  health?
• How can I make food choices that are right for
  me?
• How do my food choices affect my surroundings?
• How do my food choices affect the global food
  system?

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Initiatives 3 and 4 Teacher Training
Professional Development (UK)

• It is a statutory requirement that Primary
  (Elementary) children in England experience work
  with food as part of the National Curriculum for
  Design Technology.
• Initiatives have been developed to begin to
  address the issues of improving teachers
• nutrition knowledge
• practical food-handling skills
• ability to plan and teach food and nutrition
  effectively.

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Food Nutrition in Primary Teacher Training

• This document provides guidance for those
  responsible for the training and development of
  Primary school teachers
• It outlines information on food and nutrition to
  be included in training courses.

• Department of Health the Ministry of
  Agriculture,
• Fisheries and Food, with the assistance of the
  British
• Nutrition Foundation. (1998)
• http//www.nutrition.org.uk/upload/G20Food20Prim
  ary.pdf

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Training Components

• Specific competences in food and nutrition.
• Presented as a series of targets related to
• Subject knowledge and understanding
• Communication skills.

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Training TargetsKnowledge and Understanding

• Help teachers to
• Develop on understanding of why education in food
  and nutrition is important
• Understand and debate relevant food and nutrition
  issues accurately and precisely and become
  enthusiastic about, and interested in, the
  knowledge and practice related to food and
  nutrition
• Evaluate information and resources and
  distinguish those which are accurate, relevant
  and at the appropriate level from those which are
  not

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Training TargetsKnowledge and Understanding

• Help teachers to
• Use investigative, experimental and practical
  skills effectively to provide evidence on which
  to base decisions and opinions relevant to food
  and nutrition
• Develop other aspects of a child's education such
  as numeracy, literacy, personal and social
  development and skills in graphical
  communication, information and communication
  technology and citizenship using the medium of
  food and nutrition
• Understand and apply the scientific principles
  underlying the study of food and nutrition in the
  curriculum.

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Training TargetsCommunication Skills

• Help teachers to
• Make the food and nutrition content of the
  curriculum and the methods used to present it
  accessible, appropriate and lively
• Identify sources of information, agencies and
  people who can support their teaching
• Measure and assess accurately what they have
  learnt and what they have taught their pupils
• Teach food and nutrition in school with a high
  degree of motivation and competence.

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Training Two-tiered Approach

• Target statements are presented in two tiers
• Tier One, covers material relevant to all primary
  teachers
• Tier Two, covers material relevant to a primary
  specialist teacher.
• Where a teachers specialism covers food and
  nutrition, the materials set out in both tiers
  could be considered.
• It is envisaged that specialist teachers will
  also be in a position to provide guidance to
  others in planning subject content.

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The effects of texture, taste, odour, appearance
on the enjoyment of food

• Tier One
• Emphasise the fact that unless food is eaten it
  is of no nutritional value, therefore it must
  look and taste good and have an appealing odour
• Know and introduce the areas of the tongue which
  detect different tastes, e.g. sweet, sour bitter
  and salty
• Encourage pupils to analyse and describe a range
  of foods for texture, taste, odour and appearance
  and draw reasoned conclusions about which foods
  they enjoyed and which they did not.

• Tier Two
• Enable pupils to appreciate various ways in which
  food is made attractive and enjoyable to eat
• Provide opportunities for pupils to taste a range
  of foods which are unfamiliar to them, and record
  and draw conclusions about findings and present
  the findings using appropriate forms of graphical
  communication.

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Food Partnerships (UK)

• A joint project between the Department of Health
  and Department for Education and Skills as part
  of the Food in School Programme.
• Brings together locally a number of Primary
  school teachers with a specially trained
  Secondary food specialist teacher (Home
  Economics, Food Technology)
• www.data.org.uk (Design and Technology
  Association)

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Partnership Goals

• Increase the primary school teachers confidence
  and competence in teaching about food and
  nutrition
• Develop a supportive network between the schools
  with regard to food issues
• Develop a coherent strategy for teaching food and
  nutrition at a local level
• Increase pupils experience of working with food
• Increase pupils knowledge of food and nutrition
• Help to raise standards of achievement in food
  education

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Implementation

• Secondary food specialist teacher
  trains Primary teachers
• Nutrition knowledge
• Food-related practical skills
• Workshops or regular sessions
• Sharing of physical resources

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Thank you!