Getting Nutritition onto the School Curriculum from Primary as a mandatory module

WoollyRedHat

This thought occured to me today, the lack of education and guidance on nutrition that is offered in schools, even in secondary is of a poor quality, we must be lagging behind in comparision to other countries.

Anyway,it got me thinking, besides the odd little tip that could be found buried in your homework journal, with the odds that it would be read ( skimmed over at best) being slim, and perhaps Biology and Home Economics the only other subjects which educaste people about nutrition and healthy eating albeit to a smaller scale and one which is unsatisfactory because A.) These subjects are choice ones and B.) Are only offered at secondary Level to the best of my knowledge, correct me if I'm wrong.

Surely something as important as the way we eat should be promoted in a healthy and informative way at a young age. I don't mean to say that Children should be spoon fed knowledge but rather that they be taught the basics and given a good grounding in Primary school.

There is also room to offer nutritional lessons in Fourth Year, which I always have thought to go to waste as the basic lessons, which you just simply don't have the time to learn in other years, with Transition Year being a good time to get education beyond the classroom.
My point is, I think education on Foods in Irish education is just not there for the most part.

Edit: Apologies for the spelling mistake in the title, irony I know.

Bottle_of_Smoke

I think a good spot for it would be in Junior cert science. Though not compulsory I think its uptake is extremely high.

WoollyRedHat

That wouldn't be a half bad idea, and you're right the uptake is very high, but the only problem is that it is only a tiny part of the subject as it's all general science so they have to focus on Physics and Chemistry, with Biology in itself being a very varied subject.

boomtown84

IMO it's the parents who need to be educated first.
Kids that age have little or no say in what food is bought for the household.(apart from demanding the brightest, tastiest, sugariest cereal from the tv!)
Secondary school is a different story though.I think some sort of module in 4th year should be compulsory.and maybe an option for the leaving eventually.

Sigi

Perhaps, provided it was the science being taught and from a perspective of biology.Not some nonsense about the food pyramid or such.Given the amount of mis-information even promoted by the government,it would be worrying to see it become mandatory.

WoollyRedHat

boomtown84 wrote: »

IMO it's the parents who need to be educated first.
Kids that age have little or no say in what food is bought for the household.(apart from demanding the brightest, tastiest, sugariest cereal from the tv!)
Secondary school is a different story though.I think some sort of module in 4th year should be compulsory.and maybe an option for the leaving eventually.

I agree it goes back to the Parents, but you can't really can't force the parents to learn about nutrition, although you certainly encourage it by having seminars perhaps to promote healthy eating, better than nothing after all.

Sigi wrote: »

Perhaps, provided it was the science being taught and from a perspective of biology.Not some nonsense about the food pyramid or such.Given the amount of mis-information even promoted by the government,it would be worrying to see it become mandatory.

In reguards to the way it is taught, I agree, it is essential that it is free of bias, and of Government interference per say, but rather a grounding in basic, need to know nutritional education. It can't just be rushed in, that will do, kind of approach, the content and way of teaching it needs to be carefully examined and considered before being introduced, I know, easier said than done.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Yes you're probably correct in that it would be difficult to cram into the biology part of JC science. The other option is the proposed physical education subject to incorporate PE.

I think at present JC kids get two classes of PE a week. If there was one more class allocated it could be used as a classroom subject to include nutrition, basic cooking rules(like explaination of hygiene for meat, how food spoils etc) and basic anatomy I think it would be very beneficial.

Adelie

Yeah, it was amazing to me when I went to college the amount of people who didn't realise how meat spoils (leaving it out of refrigerator, leaving it in there for too long etc). So they ended up just avoiding cooking at all. It would be really useful to teach people how to buy food, keep it, and cook basic stuff.

WoollyRedHat

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Yes you're probably correct in that it would be difficult to cram into the biology part of JC science. The other option is the proposed physical education subject to incorporate PE.

I think at present JC kids get two classes of PE a week. If there was one more class allocated it could be used as a classroom subject to include nutrition, basic cooking rules(like explaination of hygiene for meat, how food spoils etc) and basic anatomy I think it would be very beneficial.

That sounds like a good idea alright, there would defintely be room to accomadate more class time for that kind of thing as well, also cooking rules and the rest would be a good addition, give them a firm base, so when it comes to it, they know what they're eating and how to cook it properly, like you say. It doesn't surprise me that there is a big amount of people that wouldn't know this, as parents usually just don't have the time to teach kids these things, but they are both essential and fundamental life skills.

Hairspray

Guys i hate to break it to you, but a subject like that already exists that you are describing. Its called Home Economics!!

Adelie

Hairspray wrote: »

Guys i hate to break it to you, but a subject like that already exists that you are describing. Its called Home Economics!!

Home Ec isn't mandatory, and it shouldn't be because a lot of the stuff in there isn't of universal interest. However basic nutrition stuff is really important imo and should be part of a mandatory subject like PE or whatever

Lia_lia

Seriously? I think it's up to the parents tbh. Every child should be taught how to eat right and cook for themselves. I was shocked going into college to find out how many people can't cook, I thought every parent just automatically taught their kids these things!