Healthy eating learning pathways in primary school

According to the Alliance for Food Education, children who eat healthily are less likely to develop chronic diseases, are absent from school less often and perform better at school. That is why the Alliance for Food Education emphasises the importance of introducing children to healthy eating habits at an early age and on a structured basis. This could include knowledge about healthy food, learning how to find reliable sources of information and skills such as cooking, eating together and tasting.

What resources are available to you as a teacher and Specialist in Sportive and Healthy Schools (SSGS’er) for lessons about healthy eating? It is important to create a clear learning pathway in the lessons offered to children in the different year groups of primary school.

Netherlands Nutrition Centre and SLO

The Netherlands Nutrition Centre and SLO have developed learning pathways and frameworks that help ensure continuity in nutrition education. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre offers a continuous learning pathway for both primary and secondary education. At each successive level, the profile of the preceding age group is taken as the starting point. In addition, SLO (the national expertise centre for the curriculum) has developed a curriculum framework entitled ‘Sport, Exercise and a Healthy Lifestyle’.

The learning pathway and curriculum framework provide you as a teacher and SSGS’er with insight into the knowledge, attitudes and skills to be developed in the area of healthy and sustainable eating. They provide the structure and building blocks needed for a primary school to make informed choices about healthy eating lessons.

Resources for nutrition lessons in primary school

There are many educational resources and lesson packages available for use in lessons about healthy eating. How do you determine which resources are suitable? As a teacher and SSGS’er, you develop your own curriculum. Use the continuous learning pathways mentioned above as a guide. In addition, for each lesson package, consider whether it matches the objectives you have in mind and your school's vision and policies.

Below, we list five lesson packages, ranging from theoretical lessons to practical experiences, such as vegetables and fruit in the classroom or tasting and cooking lessons.

  • Jong Leren Eten introduces children to knowledge and activities related to food, enabling them to make healthy and sustainable choices themselves. It is also a useful resource for creating coherence among various educational projects.
  • Smaaklessen is a lesson programme about food and taste, centred on experiencing food. Children explore their food by tasting, touching, listening, smelling and looking.
  • The EU School Fruit and Vegetable Programme encourages children to eat fruit and vegetables together in the classroom. Participating primary schools receive three portions of fruit and vegetables every week for all pupils for twenty weeks.
  • Lekker Fit! familiarises children with the benefits of a healthy lifestyle in a fun and educational way. The method includes teaching materials on nutrition, exercise and making healthy choices for all primary school year groups.
  • SuperChefs is a series of eight weekly cooking workshops for children aged 10 to 12. The programme builds on Smaaklessen, the EU School Fruit and Vegetable Programme and Lekker Fit!

Curious about more activities and teaching materials? Then visit the Healthy School search tool.

Cooperation with external partners

As an SSGS’er, it is useful to work with external partners active in the school's local area. These partners can help shape lessons about healthy eating.

For example, consider JOGG (Young People at a Healthy Weight). JOGG puts a healthy lifestyle for children and young people on the agenda and provides advice and support. On their website, you can check whether your school is part of a JOGG municipality and whether you can benefit from their experience and knowledge. If not, other partners may be more suitable, such as the municipal health service or a local organisation.

Moreover, good examples from other schools can often be inspiring. Do you know schools that are also working on healthy eating or a healthy lifestyle in general? One good example is the Drankenbord ‘How much sugar does it contain?’ This makes primary school children aware of how much sugar is in sweetened drinks. It is part of the Amsterdam Healthy Weight Approach run by the municipality of Amsterdam.

What is your role in nutrition lessons in primary school?

What themes and objectives relating to healthy eating do you want to achieve at your school? As an SSGS’er and teacher, it is important to work together with your colleagues and to support the objectives as a team. What do you want to teach the children about a healthy lifestyle? Then determine which educational projects and activities fit your objectives and vision. Finally, it is important to evaluate their impact.

When teaching lessons about healthy eating, teachers' personal principles play a role. Think, for example, of a special diet or a vegetarian lifestyle. As an SSGS’er, put these personal principles on the agenda so that it becomes possible to discuss everyone's views. It is perfectly fine for you as a teacher to be vegetarian, for example, but you should not tell children that vegetarian food is inherently healthier.

As a primary school teacher, you serve as a role model. You set the standard for your pupils. For example, children will regularly say, ‘That’s how it is because the teacher says so.’ Read our earlier article on how to use your role model status to promote healthy eating at school.

Through your contribution, you are one link in a larger whole that helps children develop a healthy lifestyle. Remember that changing behaviour is a long process that happens step by step. But don't forget to celebrate the successes of the small steps that are taken!