Browsing by Author "Manninen, Ida"

Objectives. The goal of this study was to describe, analyze and interpret the ways in which early childhood education and pre-school educators strive for good food education, how food and food education goals are achieved, and what needs to be further developed. The goals for food and food education, to which the answers of survey participants were reflected on, were taken from the curriculum for early childhood education and care and the curriculum for pre-school education. The realisation of these goals was evaluated by survey participants. The study aims at identifying methods to further improve food education in early education. Methods. The research material was gathered through an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was answered by 86 respondents who had studied either early childhood education and care or pre-school education, and who were working with children of age 3 and above. Qualitative and quantitative content analysis were used to analyse the data. Results and conclusions. Food education for children was promoted in various ways. For example, forceful feeding was avoided and children were allowed to eat at their own pace. Children were given more time to familiarize themselves with the food and were mainly allowed to leave their food on the plate when refusing to eat. The children also participated in dining arrangements, especially in setting the table and cleaning up afterwards. The standards set for self-reliance and independence were met very well. Teaching good table manners to children was seen as the most important thing and respondents felt that the standards in this regard were mostly met. The use of different senses in familiarizing with food, as well as knowledge of traditions, customs and culinary culture, must be further strengthened. Key development areas in early childhood education and care and pre-school education were tight scheduling, improving food services and further increasing the children’s participation. Survey participants also desired counselling and further training in order to improve their food education skills.