Abstract
There is increasing interest in the role that schools can play in promoting education for sustainable development (ESD), and evidence is emerging that schools can be influential in the emerging agenda around the ecological, ethical and social aspects of food, diet and nutrition. With regard to such food sustainability issues, this paper analyses the role of the Food for Life Partnership national programme in supporting garden and farm-based learning activities in 55 primary schools in England, UK. Using a mixed methods approach, the study examined the programme’s implementation through staff perceptions and a range of school change indicators. The study found that the programme delivery was associated with widespread institutional reforms. According to staff, implementation of the programme provided a range of opportunities for pupils to learn about food production and sustainability, but addressing these issues was challenging for teachers and raised a number of questions concerned with effective, equitable and on-going implementation. At a pedagogical level, teachers also reflected on conceptually challenging aspects of food sustainability as a topic for primary school education. The study identified ways that ESD programmes could support schools to think about and implement learning opportunities as well as identifying significant barriers related to resourcing such programmes.
Highlights
A realisation that societies need to move toward more sustainable lifestyles was first mooted on the international policy stage in the so called ―Bruntland Report‖ [1]
It is within this context that our research explored the potential of garden-based education, school-farm links and practical food education to promote education for sustainable development (ESD) within UK primary schools
It is clear from the implementation analysis that schools participating in the FFLP programme had built on the learning opportunities provided by school garden, farm visits and linked activities to explore food sustainability issues
Summary
A realisation that societies need to move toward more sustainable lifestyles was first mooted on the international policy stage in the so called ―Bruntland Report‖ [1]. Realising the importance of environmental and related social issues, schools have begun to adopt approaches to support pupil learning about environmental and sustainable development These programmes seek to combine learning that fosters participation in decision making, both at local and global level, with approaches that explore the need to improve quality of life without damaging the planet for future generations [2]. Many initiatives, both at local and national level, seek to foster ESD in primary schools, for example the Eco-Schools initiatives in the UK and USA and the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative. As such it is interesting to explore the impact and challenges of one such initiative, the Food for Life Partnership programme (see [3]) in England, UK
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