Harnessing the untapped potential of food education in schools: Nurturing the school subject Food and Health

Abstract

Essential life skills related to food and meals have a potential triple dividend for children and adolescents, that is, short‐term, medium‐term and possible generational effects with regard to public health, sustainability and well‐being of future citizens in local communities. While parents and childhood environments are a basis for learning about food and meals, systematic food education in the setting of primary and lower secondary schools may have a significant role that should be utilized more strongly, reaching and benefitting all pupils from a life course perspective. Through this article, we explore the current state of the art of the mandatory school subject Food and Health (FH) from the Nordic perspective. Our leading questions are: (1) What potential is currently utilized and which future potential does FH education have in primary and secondary schools in terms of food education for essential life skills and competencies, and (2) How can this untapped potential be better harnessed with a goal of facilitating better learning in FH? Drawing on data from Norway as a case study, supported by Swedish and Finnish data, we discuss the status, challenges and potential reformation of food education, focusing on FH. This includes perspectives on the prioritization of the FH subject and the organization of more systematic food education in schools, which might improve FH's status and significance. Combining theory–practice, creating room for discussion and focusing less on cooking‐related activities may better facilitate learning in FH. Without proper FH, food education might be nonsystematic, thereby generating unequal outcomes for children and adolescents.

Young students' perception of the health perspective in the Norwegian school subject Food and Health

“…The lack of interconnection may be caused by the low number of teachers with formal education in FH and few teaching hours (Arnesen et al, 2023). Teachers who lack formal education in FH tend to have teaching practices that do not strongly encourage knowledge-based learning, and they may not prioritize the potential health benefits of the subject (Bjørkkjaer et al, 2023;Bottolfs, 2020). Many of the students in our study participated in discussions about healthy eating, without being able to describe in detail what this "healthy" food consisted of.…”

Nutrition in a lifecourse perspective: From molecular aspects to public health approaches

“…Since its establishment in 2018, the Priority Research Centre for Lifecourse Nutrition at the University of Agder has been committed to understand and improve diet and health relations from a lifecourse perspective. Devoting this Special Issue to current advancements in the subdiscipline of lifecourse nutrition in our Centre (Bjørkkjaer et al, 2023;Helle et al, 2023;Ostojic et al, 2023;Valen et al, 2023) but also across the global research arena (Flor-Alemany et al, 2023;Mai et al, 2023;Shinsugi & Takimoto, 2023;Thorisdottir et al, 2023) could potentially pave the path towards enhancing health outcomes for both present and future generations. This Special Issue covers a variety of topics related to nutrition from a lifecourse perspective, addressing diet in sensitive periods (preconception, pregnancy and infancy/toddlerhood), and spanning from molecular nutrition to food environments and settings and gatekeepers of diet in these sensitive periods.…”

“…Since its establishment in 2018, the Priority Research Centre for Lifecourse Nutrition at the University of Agder has been committed to understand and improve diet and health relations from a lifecourse perspective. Devoting this Special Issue to current advancements in the subdiscipline of lifecourse nutrition in our Centre (Bjørkkjaer et al, 2023 ; Helle et al, 2023 ; Ostojic et al, 2023 ; Valen et al, 2023 ) but also across the global research arena (Flor‐Alemany et al, 2023 ; Mai et al, 2023 ; Shinsugi & Takimoto, 2023 ; Thorisdottir et al, 2023 ) could potentially pave the path towards enhancing health outcomes for both present and future generations.…”

“…Bjørkkjær et al ( 2023 ) bring forward an important aspect in the aim of improving child and lifecourse diet on a structural level. They use the Norwegian Food and Health subject, which is obligatory in Norwegian schools, as a case to discuss how to use this subject to promote diet‐related life skills.…”

“…There is also a call for implementing efficacious interventions at scale, while actively seeking to include user voices and voices of those seldom heard. Interventions should take a systems approach, addressing both individual and structural levels, as highlighted in this issue where approaches to food retailers, schools and health care are presented (Bjørkkjær et al, 2023 ; Helle et al, 2023 ; Thorisdottir et al, 2023 ). As commented in the Global Nutrition Report ( 2020 ), there is also a call for nutrition equity sensitive policies.…”