Nutrition BulletinVolume 46, Issue 4 p. 412-414 EDITORIALFree Access Food education – let’s go back to the future Roy Ballam, Corresponding Author Roy Ballam r.ballam@nutrition.org.uk British Nutrition Foundation, London, UK Correspondence Roy Ballam, British Nutrition Foundation, London, UK. Email: r.ballam@nutrition.org.ukSearch for more papers by this author Roy Ballam, Corresponding Author Roy Ballam r.ballam@nutrition.org.uk British Nutrition Foundation, London, UK Correspondence Roy Ballam, British Nutrition Foundation, London, UK. Email: r.ballam@nutrition.org.ukSearch for more papers by this author First published: 23 September 2021 https://doi.org/10.1111/nbu.12524AboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Welcome to this virtual Issue of Nutrition Bulletin, which not only celebrates the 30th anniversary of the British Nutrition Foundation's food and nutrition education programme for schools, Food – a fact of life, but also seeks to look forward to the future of food education in the UK. This issue brings together a collection of articles which give the background to the British Nutrition Foundation's longstanding interest in food and nutrition education (Ballam, 2018, 2020; Fine, 1992, 1993, 1995; Meek, 2016; Schneider & Theobald, 2016; Theobald, 2006; Theobald & Rowcliffe, 2010; Valentine, 1997; Weichselbaum & Buttriss, 2014; White, 2021). Much has changed in the three decades since its launch in 1991, including the impact of the curriculum, technology and pedagogy, from physical resource packs and VHS cassettes, to full online support and interactive features. However, what has not changed is its unwavering motivation to strengthen and support food education in schools, through a whole school approach, as part of the solution to tackle childhood obesity and provide children with food knowledge and skills for life. How did the programme evolve? While Food – a fact of life was formally launched in 1991, its origins started in 1988 when an advisory group was formed to develop a food and nutrition teaching framework for pupils aged 5 to 16 years (Fine, 1992). Funding was received from the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF) government department and supported by others, such as the All Saints Educational Trust. The first pack, called Stage 1, for pupils aged 5–7 years, was launched in 1991, and Stage 2, for pupils aged 7–11 years, in 1992. Both packs were large boxes which comprised comprehensive teacher guidance, VHS videos, activity sheets, picture workbooks, a question and answer card index, and flash cards. By 1993, software for the Archimedes computer was launched featuring interactive tools around energy balance and food labelling for children aged 7–11 years – quite forward thinking. In 1995, the first secondary school pack called Energy and nutrients (Fine, 1995) was launched, along with EatMeter software (a nutritional analysis tool for schools), followed 2 years later with the launch of Diet and Health and Food Technology packs (Valentine, 1997). All packs were piloted in schools, and pupil testing was also undertaken. After the launch of the packs in 1997, funding from MAFF ceased, as was originally agreed, and the British Nutrition Foundation decided to sustain the programme. In 2001, an interactive CD-ROM entitled Interactive Food Facts was launched. This combined all three of the secondary packs on one searchable disc and also included the nutritional analysis tool, a virtual factory tour and interactive modelling of the functions of ingredients in bakery items – all 20 years ago. With developments in technology progressing at a pace, Food – a fact of life was launched online in 2005 (Theobald, 2006), initially for primary schools, and by 2010, the website featured content for nursery, primary and secondary schools (Theobald & Rowcliffe, 2010). The website continues to develop and grow, with 500 000 users downloading 1.5 million resources in the 12 months between June 2020 and May 2021. In addition to providing resources, teacher training has continued to be an important element of the programme, ensuring that teachers are equipped with appropriate knowledge, skills and experiences. This continued commitment to training continued throughout the pandemic in 2020–2021, with all training becoming virtual – from national teacher conferences with a range of guest speakers, to cooking workshops from our kitchens focussing on food skill development and classroom management. Does Food – a fact of life have an impact? Food – a fact of life is not an intervention programme, but rather a comprehensive resource of teaching materials and teacher training support, devised by education and nutrition experts to support food and nutrition education in school. However, on its journey it has been important to ascertain its impact on teaching and learning. For example, in the early stages, pre- and post-pupil knowledge was assessed after use of the packs in schools (Fine, 1992), with promising results. More detailed impact assessment has been carried out more recently, including exploring the acceptability and feasibility of teaching kits (i.e. a series of prescribed lessons which teachers could follow) (Schneider & Theobald, 2016). This indicated that the use of the kits was positive and that teachers taught a broader range of topics to pupils around healthy eating, cooking and where food comes from. This learning has been utilised in the development of the website to date, with a range of activity packs being produced to ensure wide coverage of different topics, such as bread, harvest, the Victorians and space travel (FFL, 2021). The drive to see whether the Food – a fact of life programme is having an impact is now continual and part of the monitoring programme, from evaluating professional development using immediate and post-training feedback (Ballam, 2020), through to assessing the use and impact of using the resources with pupils in schools (White, 2021), as well as understanding why teachers use the programme. We continue to learn and, through this process, fine-tune the ‘offer’ to schools – putting food and nutrition education first, and enabling teachers to teach the curriculum, and pupils to learn skills for life. It is time to take food education seriously ‘It is time to take food education seriously’ states recommendation three in the National Food Strategy (NFS, 2021). It describes a series of initiatives to support food and nutrition education in schools, including curriculum changes, such as food education for nursery pupils and reinstating a food A-level qualification, enabling schools to join accreditation schemes, inspecting what is taught, providing ingredients and recruiting enough staff. While the British Nutrition Foundation fully supports the sentiment to start to take food education seriously, I would argue that we always have. But how have we arrived at these recommendations when food is part of the curriculum? The most recent review was the Food Education Learning Landscape in 2017 (JOFF, 2017). It reported that there were limited opportunities for pupils to developing cooking and healthy eating skills; food education was not meeting pupil aspirations for their learning; teachers reported they were heavily constrained in their delivery by lack of training, time, budget and facilities; and food education had a low status in schools. More recently, research was undertaken with teachers to review the impact of the removal of A-levels in food which indicated that, as a consequence, there is less teaching of food and nutrition overall in the curriculum (from 11 to 16 years); less funding to support the subject; and, the status of food education is in decline (Ballam & Davies, 2021). We also need to ensure that all academies and free schools in England follow the ‘food’ curriculum, as currently, they do not need to follow the National Curriculum – worrying, when 50% of primary and secondary schools are academies or free schools (DfE, 2019). We simply cannot continue with food education in its current state – pupil experience will suffer. The next 2 years will be important in seeing recommendations from the National Food Strategy taken forward and implemented as policy over a substantial, not just a minimal, period of time. In addition to these recommendations, there is also a need to focus on primary school education, as well as nursery and secondary, to ensure consistency and progression in experience, skills and knowledge. Primary school teacher training needs to include food education, and time needs to be secured within the curriculum to teach it. While it may appear that food education is already taught in primary schools, as it is part of the formal curriculum, the evidence suggests that this is not the case in all schools. In around 50% of primary schools, children receive less than 10 hours a year of food education (JOFF, 2017). We need minimum standards throughout children's formal education, covering time and content, as well as facilities and resources (Ballam, 2018). If food education is to be taken seriously, it needs funding and championing over decades, separated from changes in government and initiatives that ‘come and go’. Long-term investment is required – ensuring we have the staff, resources and infrastructure in place. However, that is only part of the solution. We need to ensure that an appropriate and modern food curriculum is in place and taught by trained teachers, using resources that engage and motivate children and young people to make positive changes that improve healthier and more sustainable diet choices and lives. What we taught 20–30 years ago needs to be reviewed and updated, our society continually evolves and we need to reflect the modern UK food culture, which is diverse and inclusive of many the different cultures and many traditions within our communities. Food lessons should intrinsically teach about health, as well as link to being more sustainable, all while instilling a love of food for all. The British Nutrition Foundation has started to play its part in ensuring that food education reflects the needs of the modern UK society and has developed good practice guidance for primary, secondary and special schools (BNF, 2019, 2020, 2021) to support the teaching community, and will, this year, start a new project to look at what makes a purposeful modern food education experience for young people, focussing on diversity and inclusivity. Change is required, and this will need a sustained focus to truly make a meaningful difference in schools. It needs to be coordinated and addresses the issues and barriers that we know are preventing young people to learn about food, such as cost of ingredients, teacher numbers and capacity, lack of facilities and limited time. We must ensure that all children and young people have the opportunity to learn about food, not only cooking, but also where food comes from and how it is produced, and how to apply healthy eating in a meaningful way. All of this must be taught via a modern food context that speaks to them, supporting all pupils on their learning journey with engaging and actionable resources, so that they have experiences that are life-changing and life-long. We all have a role in making this work – let's work together to ensure this vision – food, it's a fact of life. REFERENCES Ballam, R. (2018) Where next for food education? Nutrition Bulletin, 43, 7– 9. Wiley Online LibraryWeb of Science®Google Scholar Ballam, R. (2020) Who’s teaching our teachers? Nutrition Bulletin, 45, 2– 4. Wiley Online LibraryWeb of Science®Google Scholar Ballam, R. & Davies, L.T. (2021) What’s happened in schools since the removal of food A-level? 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