School Gardens: Cultivating Food Security in Nova Scotia Public Schools?

Conceptualising sustainability in Canadian dietetic practice: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

Dietitians (RDs) are well-positioned to promote sustainable food systems and diets. This research aims to review the literature for how RDs in Canada define sustainability and determine the types of relevant activities that exist in practice as described in published literature.

METHODS

Using standardised scoping review methods, researchers searched CINAHL, ACASP, PubMed and ENVCOM databases to identify peer-reviewed articles and conducted a grey literature search to locate other publications related to sustainability in Canadian dietetic practice. Qualitative, thematic coding methods were used to examine definitions and existing practice. The PRISMA extension for scoping reviews guided reporting.

RESULTS

The search resulted in 1059 documents and, after screening, 11 peer-reviewed and 16 grey literature documents remained. Ten unique definitions were used, the most common being Sustainable Diets. Definitions were multidimensional, including environmental, social, economic and health dimensions, and 31 unique subtopics. However, existing practice activities appear to reduce actions to one to two dimensions. Existing practice areas well-reflected include Food and Nutrition Expertise, Management and Leadership, Food Provision and Population Health Promotion. Notable gaps include action in Professionalism and Ethics and Nutrition Care.

CONCLUSIONS

No single definition supports all professional contexts, and agency in choice of language to define the work is helpful for contextual clarity. Strengthening practitioners' ability to analyse issues using systems thinking and applying this in practice will help to address challenges and reduce risks of trade-offs. Updates to competency standards that reflect the breadth of existing activities, as well as curricular supports or practice standards, are needed.

Enhancing Food Literacy and Food Security through School Gardening in Rural and Regional Communities

A qualitative case study approach with in-depth, semi-structured interviews of key school staff, and student feedback was used to assess a school kitchen and garden program in the regional area of North-West Tasmania, Australia. A detailed program description was produced to conduct a realist evaluation with a Context-Mechanism-Outcome configuration, followed by a program theory evaluation through the construction of a retrospective program logic model. Dedicated kitchen and garden spaces, knowledgeable teachers committed to the program, provision of sufficient materials and consumables, and support from the school and community were found to be the basic requirements to establish a program. Additionally, it is essential to integrate both the kitchen and garden teaching components into the school curriculum. The positive outcomes (e.g., engagement, participation, knowledge, skills, behavioral change) of the program were dependent on the underlying factors, including dedicated support of school leadership, teaching staff, and the parent body for effective student engagement in the teaching spaces and for wider engagement from families and the community. The students' feedback provided supporting evidence of increased food literacy with improvements in their understanding, abilities, and attitudes towards gardening, producing healthy food, and preparing food. This may further lead to enhanced food security for students' families and the broader community.

Introducing Food Sustainability in Formal Education: A Teaching-Learning Sequence Contextualized in the Garden for Secondary School Students

The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of a garden-based teaching unit about “Food and Nutrition” on students’ knowledge and habits of sustainable healthy diets, and to compare it with that of a more traditional unit from a textbook. This communication is framed in a research project (EDUCYL2020-01 “Sembrando interés, cosechando competencia”, financed by the Consejería de Educación de la Junta de Castilla y León through the Dirección General de Innovación y Formación del Profesorado (ORDEN EDU/262/2020, de 9 de marzo, por la que se convoca la selección de proyectos de investigación educativa a desarrollar por equipos de profesores y equipos de inspectores que presten servicios educativos de la Comunidad de Castilla y León durante los cursos 2020/2122)) whose aim is to improve science education by approaching scientific topics of the official curriculum from a context-based strategy. The authors first designed a teaching-learning sequence, using an organic learning garden as a context, including real-life activities to promote reflection and debate among students. Such a sequence was implemented in a group of 40 students at the third course of Spanish compulsory secondary education, whose results were compared with those of a group of 15 students who followed the textbook. The impact was assessed by posing four open questions to students from the two groups, both at the beginning and the end of the instruction, whose answers were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Results show that implementing the sequence constituted an educational improvement with respect to traditional teaching, since students’ answers on the topic were overall more comprehensive and evidenced better preparation for making real-life decisions. Students from the experimental group became more aware of the environmental impacts of human nutrition, and of sustainable healthy diets. It was also indicated that the health and nutrition-centered approach that still predominates in education needs to be overcome, and a sustainable approach needs to be taken. This is a novel study that leads a new line of research devoted to addressing education about sustainable food, which arises from the demands of raising awareness among citizens toward changing diets within the transition toward sustainable food systems.

Characteristics of successful primary school-based experiential nutrition programmes: a systematic literature review

OBJECTIVE

Diet and nutrition in childhood has been associated with the risk of chronic disease later in life. The aim of this review was to identify key characteristics of successful experiential nutrition interventions aimed to change nutrition-related cognitive and behavioural outcomes in primary schoolchildren.

DESIGN

A systematic literature review was undertaken using search terms ('food security', 'school', 'nutrition' and 'program') applied to five scientific databases (CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, Medline and Academic Search complete), with outcomes defined as nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes and/or dietary behaviours.

PARTICIPANTS

Primary school-aged children exposed to interventions conducted, at least partially, on school grounds.

RESULTS

A total of 3800 articles were identified from the initial search and manual searching, of which sixty-seven articles were eligible for inclusion. Forty-two articles met the criteria of being successful, defined as achieving significant differences in outcomes of interest, accompanied by a demonstrated reach. Interventions included school gardens (n 9), food provision (n 5), taste testing (n 8), cooking classes (n 10) and multicomponent programmes (n 10). Nutrition education (when combined with taste testing), cooking-related activities and gardening interventions increased children's willingness to taste unfamiliar foods including new fruits and vegetables, improved their cooking and food preparation skills and increased nutritional knowledge.

CONCLUSIONS

This review provides evidence that nutrition education programmes in primary schoolchildren that are experiential in nature are most likely to be successful if they include multiple strategies, have parental involvement and focus specifically on vegetable intake.

How Can Dietitians Leverage Change for Sustainable Food Systems in Canada?

Purpose: In this paper, we begin to set out language defining sustainable food systems (SFS) in Canada, through the voices of dietitians, and identify leverage points where dietitians can affect change. Methods: Dietitians of Canada members were invited to a Delphi Inquiry process; questions explored a vision of SFS in Canada, barriers to that vision, and actions. Results were independently analysed by 2 members of the research team who used the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development to structure the data. Results: Fifty-eight members participated. The resultant vision describes a future food system in 15 thematic areas of the social and ecological systems. Barriers are described according to how they undermine sustainability. High-leverage actions areas included: (i) facilitating knowledge development within the profession and public, (ii) influencing organizational policy to support SFS, and (iii) and influencing public policy. Approaches to such action included: (i) facilitating cross-sectoral collaboration and (ii) applying reflexive approaches. Conclusions: This research suggests a multidimensional understanding of food systems sustainability among dietitians. The vision provides some language to describe what dietitians mean by SFS and can be used as a compass point to orient action. Action areas and approaches have the potential to drive systemic change while avoiding unintended consequences.