Food and nutrition at school
- 21.04.2020
- English Articles
- Catherina Jansen
- Anette Buyken
- Julia Depa
- Anja Kroke
Peer-reviewed / Manuscript (original) received: October 07, 2019 / Revision accepted: December 11, 2019
Administrative framework, roles and responsibilitie
Background Time and again, scientific recommendations and guidebooks on “food and nutrition at school” have pointed out that acceptance and success of nutritional concepts in schools depends largely on the commitment of the people involved [1, 2]. So far, however, academic discourse has paid little attention to what room for maneuver individual stakeholders have within the school system and what administrative responsibilities (what powers and areas of responsibility), they have in general.
If “food and nutrition at school” is to be integrated into holistic approaches as demanded by society and the scientific community alike [3], then these contextual conditions must be taken into account. Starting from a public health nutrition perspective, this article assumes that taking account of educational policy structures and the structures surrounding the laws governing schools is essential for both status analyses and effective development and improvement of concepts and measures aimed at establishing health-promoting, sustainable eating as part of everyday life in schools.
Abstract
Scientific discussion about “food and nutrition at school” is typically very results-oriented. Studies tend to focus on the quality of the food and drink provided or on how often nutrition education measures are put in place and the extent of these measures. By contrast, there is rarely a focus on contextual framework conditions in terms of education policy and the legislation governing schools—the very conditions that make the implementation of nutrition concepts in schools possible. If research is to yield insights from which concrete recommendations for action and effective interventional measures that go beyond descriptions of the situation can be derived, there will need to be a much stronger focus on precisely these framework conditions than there has been in the past. The structural model presented in this article is intended to clarify which stakeholders (including those beyond the local school setting) are involved in the development of nutritional concepts and to show the powers and responsibilities that they have.
Keywords: Food and nutrition at school, school catering, nutrition education, structural model
