RESEARCH PAPER
Is nutritional education in primary schools needed in the light of teachers’ diagnosis of the state of knowledge about food and nutrition of 7–12-year-old primary school pupils? The Focus Group Interview (FGI) – Junior-Edu-Żywienie (JEŻ) Project
1
Department of Food Market and Consumer Research, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, University of Life Sciences
(SGGW-WULS), Warsaw, Poland
2
Department of Food Gastronomy and Food Hygiene, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, University of Life Sciences (SGGW-WULS), Warsaw, Poland
3
Department of Human Nutrition, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, University of Life Sciences (SGGW-WULS), Warsaw, Poland
These authors had equal contribution to this work
Corresponding author
Krystyna Gutkowska
Department of Food Market and Consumer Research, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW-WULS), Warsaw, Poland
Department of Food Market and Consumer Research, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW-WULS), Warsaw, Poland
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Introduction and objective:
School, as well family, are the most crucial institutions in creating the attitudes of children and adolescents toward food and nutrition. The coherency between impact on both of them, especially in therms of content, determines the results in improvement of these attitudes towards more prohealthy nutrition. Therefore, a nutritional education programme in primary schools, addressed to both pupils and parents, is necesary. The aim of this study is to identify the opinions of primary school teachers on nutrition education in relation to primary school pupils’ knowledge and its sources of the principles of proper nutrition.
Material and methods:
In 2022–2023, qualitative research was conducted among primary school teachers (n=112; 25 FGIs group) using the FGI method. The focus group meetings were tape-recorded and transcribed. A written report was generated based on the independent evaluation of two staff members.
Results:
Teachers mentioned several barriers to making changes in educational programmes in terms of introducing nutritional content, such as: necessity of extra time and money needed to purchase materials for practical exercises, lack of interest and skills in cooking, and insufficient knowledge about the health properties of food. Participants of group discussions shared ideas about programme content and delivery. Three teachers’ profiles were identified in their approach to nutrition education of primary school pupils: ‘engaged’, ‘skeptical’ and ‘indifferent’.
Conclusions:
On the basis of the FGIs survey, it was concluded that the level of pupils’ food and nutritional knowledge needs improvement, and that there is a need for a unified nutrition education programmeme in all schools on all educational levels, focused on the cooperation of teachers and pupils’ parents.
School, as well family, are the most crucial institutions in creating the attitudes of children and adolescents toward food and nutrition. The coherency between impact on both of them, especially in therms of content, determines the results in improvement of these attitudes towards more prohealthy nutrition. Therefore, a nutritional education programme in primary schools, addressed to both pupils and parents, is necesary. The aim of this study is to identify the opinions of primary school teachers on nutrition education in relation to primary school pupils’ knowledge and its sources of the principles of proper nutrition.
Material and methods:
In 2022–2023, qualitative research was conducted among primary school teachers (n=112; 25 FGIs group) using the FGI method. The focus group meetings were tape-recorded and transcribed. A written report was generated based on the independent evaluation of two staff members.
Results:
Teachers mentioned several barriers to making changes in educational programmes in terms of introducing nutritional content, such as: necessity of extra time and money needed to purchase materials for practical exercises, lack of interest and skills in cooking, and insufficient knowledge about the health properties of food. Participants of group discussions shared ideas about programme content and delivery. Three teachers’ profiles were identified in their approach to nutrition education of primary school pupils: ‘engaged’, ‘skeptical’ and ‘indifferent’.
Conclusions:
On the basis of the FGIs survey, it was concluded that the level of pupils’ food and nutritional knowledge needs improvement, and that there is a need for a unified nutrition education programmeme in all schools on all educational levels, focused on the cooperation of teachers and pupils’ parents.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The study was supported financially by the Polish Ministry
of Sciences and Education, Warsaw, Poland (MEiN/2022/
DPI/96, 7 March 2022). Project title: Conducting scientific
research in the field of nutrition of children and adolescents,
developing and implementing a nutritional education
programme for pupils of grades 1–6 of primary schools.
Acronym: Junior-Edu-Żywienie (JEŻ)’.
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