Food education in schools - a missed opportunity

I believe that food education is essential in schools. Recently, the The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment announced some proposed changes to the primary school curriculum. The world we live in has changed immeasurably since the last review of the curriculum, 20 years ago. Childhood anxiety has risen, screens are pervasive amongst kids and childhood obesity has become an issue.

Childhood obesity in Ireland has risen from 2% in 1990 to 10% in 2016, according to The Irish Heart Foundation. The Worldwide Obesity Federation predicts that by 2025 (only 5 years away), 241,000 children in Ireland will be affected by over weight and obesity. This will impact their blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and some 27,000 will have first stage fatty liver disease. And some 85,000 children of this generation will die from over-weight and obesity on the island of Ireland.

There are many reasons for this, amongst them the prevalence of screens leading to reduced physical activity amongst children, the ubiquity of cheap, unhealthy food in our shops and supermarkets, the targeted marketing of junk food at children and the rise of women working outside the home, resulting in less time at home for cooking (that’s just the reality for lots of women).

And this last point, where there is no longer the tradition of the mammy at home, cooking and baking and sharing that knowledge with her children, means that children are missing out on essential skills and education when it comes to food. But schools are in a unique position to take over this task, educate children about food and act as part of the solution to the childhood obesity problem. (And great if there is food education going on at home too - all the better).

So when I read about the proposed changes to the primary school curriculum, announced by the NCCA recently, I was disappointed to see that food education was not given much, if any priority. What a missed opportunity.

The NCCA talk about ‘well being” as a core subject area and lists “physical activity, eating healthy food and self-care” as factors of this. If children are not eating a healthy diet, they are not supporting their well-being. From my experience with my own children, physical activity is being taken very seriously in schools with the daily mile now commonplace and calls for increased PE time for children.

But eating the wrong food is a major cause of over-weight and obesity. You can’t out-run a bad diet and leaving food education off the curriculum in schools, while increasing PE time, does not help with solving the childhood obesity epidemic. I am not talking here about the other positive benefits of PE e.g.. team work, mental health etc., simply the impact on obesity.

In my opinion, food education should have equal priority to PE in any proposed changes to the primary school curriculum. And, it should be prioritised above other subjects which are “nice to know” rather than “need to know” (eg. learning about ancient Chinese civilisation like my daughter did recently!). I teach a very easy, inexpensive, inclusive, food education program to teachers based on the Sapere method that teachers can easily incorporate into their daily lesson plans. Food education doesn’t have to be complicated.

We need to stay active and eat well all of our lives, to avoid becoming over weight and succumbing to the lifestyle illnesses that obesity and over weight bring. Learning about food is a life skill and we need to start teaching our children about food from a young age, so they can navigate the confusing and treacherous food environment that we live in.

As Nelson Mandela said :

“Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world”

And our world needs to change from a food perspective. Education is the key.

Sign my petition ……

Asking for food education to be included in the curriculum.