Nutrition in Focus: Room A104
29 October - 11:15AM-12:50PM CEST Copenhagen (Aarhus University)
“A Long Way to Get Here and a Long Way to Go”: A Case Study on Changing Lunch Meal Practices in a Norwegian Kindergarten
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Baizhen Ciren
This paper presents a case study on changing food practices from traditional cold sandwich meals to hot meals in a Norwegian kindergarten. Data were sourced from interviews, non-participatory video observation, and observational notes. Building on Fullan’s model for understanding a change process, this paper presents the initiation, implementation, continuation, and results of such a change, and identifies four factors that contribute to the successful change in practices in the case kindergarten. These factors are: 1) the headteacher’s clear vision of change; 2) the commitment to and support for change at all levels; 3) the role-specific change management; and 4) the change recipients’ (children’s) involvement and participation. The conclusion section of the paper discusses the implications of the findings for kindergartens, schools, and educational leaders in terms of how to facilitate a locally relevant and context-specific change. In addition, this paper illuminates children’s agency in the change implementation in particular, and sheds light on the importance of their involvement to increase the likelihood of a successful change.
Beyond Nutrients: An Online Education Programme on Health and Sustainability View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Laura Matias Guiu Martí
The current eating pattern and consumption model put both human health and the environment at risk. For this reason, it is necessary to development education programmes on health and sustainability. The main objective of the project is to develop a Nutrition Education Programme through an online platform that offers courses on health and sustainability. Beyond Nutrients is a Nutrition Education Intervention. Existing literature was revised in the fields of health and sustainability. A web page was developed as an online platform for the project and courses were designed for a wide profile of participants. A dissemination strategy was developed, including on-line marketing, and an evaluation plan was established to measure the adequacy, satisfaction, level of implementation and behavioural changes of its activities. Beyond Nutrients is the result of the elaboration of a Nutritional Education Programme with an innovative approach, which educates on healthy and sustainable diets, offering nutritional advice in a simple and practical way. Beyond Nutrients unifies education on health and the environment, combining different pedagogical methods in order to achieve an effective change of the participants' dietary patterns towards healthier and more sustainable diets.
Lunch Meals in Norwegian Kindergartens during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Hege Wergedahl
We have conducted a national survey among employees at kindergartens in Norway about the lunch meal in connection to the COVID-19 pandemic with about 2700 respondents. The survey consisted of both closed and open questions. In Norway, kindergartens usually serve slices of bread with different toppings for lunch most of the days and a warm meal one or two days a week. The paper presents what changes were made during the pandemic, in which many kindergartens switched from served lunches to an arrangement where the children brought a packed lunch from home. We also present the employees' experiences and thoughts about the advantages and disadvantages of the various lunch arrangements, and a majority of the employees thought that there were large differences in the quality of the packed lunch brought from home, and that served meals in the kindergarten provided the children with more nutritious and varied food. The time spent on food preparation during served lunches in the kindergartens was an issue mentioned in several of the open questions. The employees presented several learning points from their experience with the changed lunch arrangements due to the pandemic, including a higher focus on hygiene, less time-consuming ways to arrange the lunch meals, and the importance of the served lunch meal as an arena for social competence.
