Consultation launched on new guidelines to promote food education

The farming industry wants to ensure that teachers have access to high quality, factual resources which support their pupils' learning
The farming industry wants to ensure that teachers have access to high quality, factual resources which support their pupils' learning

Producers of school resources are urged to have their say on new voluntary guidelines which aim to promote food and farming resources in schools.

AHDB and the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) have launched the consultation, with help from LEAF Education and the NFU.

The aim is to encourage a best practice approach by those who develop and produce food education resources for schools, as well as promoting consistency of information.

It is hoped the guidelines will be used in classrooms across the UK to ensure young people have up-to-date, evidence-based resources to support their learning about food.

The aim is to adopt a collaborative approach to the subject to avoid misleading or inaccurate information.

AHDB’s Head of Education, Roz Reynolds said: “Food education in our schools continues to be of great importance but we must ensure teachers have access to high quality and accurate resources.

“There is a great deal of conflicting information about the food that we eat, so it’s our aim to adopt a collaborative approach to the subject to avoid misleading or inaccurate information.”

The guidelines cover all types of educational resources including worksheets, posters, leaflets, teacher guides, videos, presentations and many more. They are not intended to be applied to academic materials such as university text books.

The 14 guidelines are split into two areas – content and general – and include subjects such as healthy eating and nutrition, food provenance and meal choices. There are also sections on curriculum and qualifications, as well as campaigns, fundraising and marketing.

NFU Education Manager, Josh Payne said: “It's great to see professional bodies working alongside farmers and growers to ensure that teachers have access to high quality, factual resources which support their pupils' learning.”

The consultation is open until 5pm, on 15 March.