Home Economics Teachers’ Perceptions of Facilitating and Inhibiting Factors When Teaching Sustainable Food Consumption

Christel Larsson,Inga Wernersson,Emmalee Gisslevik

doi:10.3390/su10051463

Christel Larsson, Inga Wernersson + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051463

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: May 7, 2018
Citations: 9	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Gothenburg, University West

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to explore experienced home economics (HE) teachers’ perceptions of the influencing factors that condition their teaching opportunities regarding the revised mission to implement sustainable development (SD) in food-related education. Five purposefully selected HE teachers participated in individual, semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using qualitative thematic analysis. The results show a shared view of in the importance of educating the next generation of sustainable food consumers. Teachers returned to specific influencing factors that conditioned their opportunities to implement a perspective of SD in HE food education. This generated four themes: (1) Unscheduled foodwork in preparing sustainable food education, (2) opportunities to link everyday food choices with larger food system issues, (3) access to sustainable supportive food products and materials, and (4) a school environment in support of food-related teaching. The teachers outlined a number of local and national factors perceived to inhibit access to facilitators and expressed a concern for pupils’ opportunities for quality assurance and goal achievement. The suggested influencing factors could serve as propositions for further investigations in the continued work of both resource reinforcements as well as of developing a SD perspective in food-related HE education.

Highlights

Food is essential for life and health as one of the basic needs for all living beings
When teachers were asked to give their understanding of incorporating an sustainable development (SD) perspective in home economics (HE) education, they emphasised increasing the environmental and ethical focus and the practical application of ‘carrying out’ sustainable methods of food consumption practice
The previous syllabus term ‘household resource management’ (HRM) was expressed as being still used in class, since HRM is perceived to refer more to the practical applications of carrying out the acts and methods related to the SD perspective, whereas the term SD is used when applying the more abstract interlinkages and consequences to reflect the societal levels relevant to food

Summary

Introduction

Food is essential for life and health as one of the basic needs for all living beings. Contemporary food production and consumption contribute to a long range of unsustainable impacts on individual and public health, the economy, and the environment, threatening life and health around the world [1,2,3,4]. Such knowledge, coupled with the fact that global environmental degradation unevenly affects different human groups [5], has increased the incentives to seek ways to enable sustainable development for both regular and sustainable food consumption [6]. ‘changing consumption patterns’ has remained one of the most urgent matters advocated since the action proposals of Agenda 21, in which consumption related to food is one of the most significant areas [12]

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