ABSTRACT
As school farms become more prominent programs to teach food education, research is needed to support school farms' implementation and sustainability. This scoping review included 94 articles on school farms from three bibliometric databases covering broad international literature. Vocational agricultural training, animal husbandry, and crop production were common characteristics of school farms across 103 years of publications. Themes of sustainability, healthy eating, and food systems were more prominent in recent literature. Peer-reviewed studies (1985-2019) provided some empirical research showing school farms' impact on students. This review discusses school farms' structures and objectives as promising food education and production programming.
Subject(s)
Agriculture , Animal Husbandry , Animals , Farms , Agriculture/methods , Food , Crop Production , SchoolsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Activities to foster food literacy in young people are increasingly common in schools, driven both by the public health sector and by curriculum mandates from education officials in government. In Canada, both Kindergarten-Grade 12 (K-12) classroom teachers and educators from community organisations deliver food literacy education programmes in schools, often framed as partnerships working in the interests of young people. OBJECTIVE: The study examines the alignment between what both classroom teachers and community educators state are the desired outcomes for students of their food literacy education work and the topics/activities they engage in with students. DESIGN SETTING AND METHOD: We surveyed and interviewed teachers and community educators in British Columbia, Canada, and utilised participant observation and secondary data from food literacy education network activities. RESULTS: Shared food literacy education goals and topics/activities were evident in the responses of classroom teachers and community educators. Teachers framed their food literacy education programmes around the curriculum-as-plan - in this case, the provincial curriculum known as the BC Curriculum - and then enacted a lived curriculum that students experienced in the classroom. Community educators offered programmes that were initially designed to meet their organisation's focus, but which varied in terms of how much of the BC Curriculum was addressed. CONCLUSION: Our results show broad alignment between teachers and community educators in food literacy education goals and practices; however, there is potential to increase this alignment and build stronger partnerships that support teachers in enacting the BC curriculum and meeting the needs of their students.
ABSTRACT
The goal of the project was to gain an understanding of the relationships between secondary school youth experiences in school gardens and their mental well-being. Over the course of five months, sixteen youths participated in a photovoice research project in which they expressed their personal experiences about food and gardening through photography and writing. The aspects of secondary school youths' life experiences affected by exposure to school gardens and their impact upon their well-being were identified. The youth explicitly associated relaxation with the themes of love and connectedness, growing food, garden as a place, cooking, and food choices. They were able to demonstrate and develop food literacy competency because of their engagement with the gardening and cooking activities. Youth clubs or groups were identified as a key enabler for connection with other youth and adults. Youth shared their food literacy experiences, observing that their engagement improved some aspect of their mental well-being. Through the photovoice process, the youth identified how their involvement in green spaces enabled connections with others, and highlighted aspects of personal health and personal growth, all of which contribute to their mental well-being.
