A nutrition education teaching programme for primary school staff has been launched by The British Nutrition Foundation, with support from the All Saints Educational Trust.
The Teaching Primary Food and Nutrition (TPFN) programme is designed to provide teachers, trainees and teaching assistants across the UK with the necessary knowledge and skills required for teaching high quality food and nutrition lessons. The ultimate aim is to inspire a whole-school approach towards nutritious food.
Whether participants are new teachers or have prior experience, TPFN aims to build and strengthen confidence and competence in teaching food and nutrition to children. It will also support the overall professional development around teaching in the classroom.
Learning how to teach practical cooking classes
While teaching food and nutrition may take-up a relatively small part of the curriculum, it does provide an opportunity to learn and reinforce many transferrable management skills.
The programme, for example, offers support with various teaching approaches, including how to manage and teach practical cooking classes.
“Food education is an essential life skill for all”
Commenting on the launch, Sara Stanner, Science Director, British Nutrition Foundation said: “At the British Nutrition Foundation, we passionately believe that food education is an essential life skill for all,
“Whether you are a new teacher who is just starting their teaching journey or have been working with pupils for some time now, our Teaching Primary Food and Nutrition programme has something to offer to everyone as learning and refreshing skills should never stop,
“We are excited to work with the All Saints Educational Trust again and hope this programme will offer support to our hard working primary teachers and TAs, wherever they are in the UK.”
Free two-year programme for 2,000 primary school staff
The TPFN is a free two-year Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme for primary school staff. Through the programme, the British Nutrition Foundation aims to train at least 2,000 teachers and support their professional development.
The first 1,500 teachers to register for the programme will receive a free Professional Portfolio – a place to gather everything needed to plan, implement and evidence their learning journey.
Image credit: British Nutrition Foundation