OzHarvest’s FEAST (Food Education and Sustainability Training) Program: promoting healthy eating, food waste reduction and cooking skills in Year 5 and 6 children in Australian primary-schools.

STUDY DESIGN: This study is a pragmatic, parallel, cluster non-randomized controlled trial (NRCT) involving pre-post measures, within primary schools in New South Wales, Australia. It will involve 20 schools (10 intervention vs 10 wait-list control) with children in Years 5 and 6 (aged 10-12 years). Schools will self-select to participate in the FEAST program during 2021, in the school term that best fits in with their academic schedule. The intervention will run for one school term i.e. 10 weeks. Pre- and post-intervention surveys will be issued in Weeks 1 and 10 respectively. Schools participating in the FEAST program during Term 2 will be invited to participate in the trial as the intervention schools. Schools from Terms 3 and 4, will be invited to participate in the trial and will act as the wait-list control schools. INTERVENTION: The FEAST program was designed by OzHarvest, one of Australia’s leading not-for-profit, non-governmental food rescue organizations. FEAST is a primary-school, classroom-based, curriculum-aligned program, that uses inquiry-based approaches to learning, which are student-centred and interactive. The objectives of the FEAST program are to educate children about healthy eating and reducing food waste, while teaching them to prepare and cook food. The primary aim of this trial is to assess the immediate effectiveness of the program in increasing F&V consumption among primary-school-aged children. As secondary outcomes of the trial, the study will assess F&V variety intakes and the following food literacy constructs: nutrition knowledge, food preparation and cooking skills, self-efficacy and behaviours (preparing food, following recipes, and frequency of cooking dinner); food waste knowledge and behaviours (willingness to eat ‘imperfect’ F&V, and daily food lunch box waste behaviours); as well as food production knowledge (understanding the ‘farm to plate’ concept). Furthermore, a process evaluation will be conducted to assess program: reach (students and teachers); adoption (by schools); implementation (training of teachers, adherence by students and teacher, facilitators and barriers to implementation); maintenance (intention by students and teachers); satisfaction (by students and teachers); and perceived benefits (by teachers for their students). OzHarvest provides training, structure, and support to teachers to deliver one 1.5-hour lesson/week, for a 10-week unit of inquiry (incorporating theory and practical activities). The FEAST program has been integrated with lessons mapped to the Australian Curriculum, embracing Year 5-6 key learning areas (KLAs)(English); STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics); cross-curriculum priority of Sustainability; and General Capabilities (Literacy, Numeracy, Information and Communication Technologies, Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability and Intercultural Understanding). FEAST has been aligned with the Australian Dietary Guidelines and state/territory-based healthy eating strategies, with all recipes including either fruit and/or vegetables. The program includes a range of educational resources designed to assist in the delivery of the theoretical and practical components. Access to information is available at: https://education.ozharvest.org/about-feast/ RESOURCES: (a) A Professional Learning Program - options are face-to-face or online training. (b) A Class Kitchen Kit and Apron pack. - providing food preparation and cooking utensils for 30 students to prepare and cook in the classroom setting. - provisions to purchase class kitchen kits, aprons and electric frypans. (c) Web Portal – for Teachers, providing: -Practical Guide (e.g. Risk assessment, order sheets, safety information) -Recipe Books (6 Hot and 6 Cold recipes) -Lesson Plans (aligned with the Australian Curriculum: STEM; Key Learning Areas; cross-curricular priority area of Sustainability; and General Capabilities). -Unit of Work (the essential ingredients needed to teach FEAST, such as teaching notes, information about the teaching approach, fact sheets, and curriculum descriptors) -Student worksheets -Teacher Answer Booklet -Cookbook template (for a School Family Cookbook) -Optional Learning Experiences to use extra-curricular extension activities, such as: How to promote the School Family Cookbook; Healthy Eating and Nutrition; Let’s Cook up a Healthy Snack; Promote Sustainable Ways to Reduce Your Foodprint; Traffic Light Quiz and the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating; STEM Challenges (Using up fruit in a recipe; Create your own ‘use it up’ recipe; Create a recipe with vegetables from the bottom of the fridge; What goes into the production of fruit and vegetables?) Access to an outline of teacher resources can be found at: https://feast.ozharvest.org/shop/viewitem/feast-classroom-curriculum-package (d) Web Portal – for Students, providing: -Digital resources for students to learn all about reducing food waste and healthy eating - Printable resources for students to complete activities during the program - Optional learning activities (as listed in teacher resources above) - Cookbook template (for a School Family Cookbook) - Recipe Books (6 Hot and 6 Cold recipes) - Ways to reduce their environmental footprint - OzHarvest video, describing the charity’s fight on food waste and mission to nourish the country. Access to examples of student cookbooks can be found at: https://education.ozharvest.org/schools-cookbook/ (e) FEAST at Home portal: (i) Activities and recipes for parents/caregivers to start cooking with their children at home. (ii) Activities to reduce food waste at home. (iii) Activities and games for the family to engage in, about healthy eating and food waste. Access to portal:https://education.ozharvest.org/home-resources/ PROCEDURES & ACTIVITIES: Six out of the 10 weekly FEAST sessions involve hands-on experiential food preparation and cooking activities in the classroom. To assist the teachers and children during the class practical components, teachers will be provided with instructions and resources to seek volunteers throughout the school community such as parents/caregivers, grandparents, and/or school staff etc. Trained volunteers will also be available through OzHarvest, to assist during the practical components. It is recommended that the teachers organise at least one adult per five students, for each of the practical sessions, in addition to themselves. INTERVENTION DELIVERY: The classroom teachers will be trained to deliver the FEAST program during regular class times, within the classroom setting, as the program has been integrated into the Australian curriculum. The schools that volunteer to participate in the FEAST program will have the Year 5 and 6 classroom teachers trained by OzHarvest’s FEAST manager and education team. A Professional Learning Program which has been accredited by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), will be delivered over six hours for the face-to-face training. During the training day, two FEAST Education Team members will train the teachers in food preparation and cooking skills (making the hot and cold recipes designed for the FEAST program). For teachers who live in rural and regional locations and cannot attend the face-to-face training sessions at OzHarvest training centres, an online teacher training module was developed. These teachers will also have access to the same online resources as listed above in addition to: The online FEAST program which involves: - Teacher instructions on how to use the online learning resources and adapt them to the students’ needs and to prepare students for the online program (provide access to student portal; printable worksheets; etc); - Lesson plans as outlined for the face-to-face training above; - How to create the School Family Cookbook and plan and execute the cookbook launch; - Instructional videos on how to conduct practical cooking sessions with good cooking techniques for making some of the recipes at home, which include parent roles. The teachers using online training can work through the training module at their own pace. MODE OF DELIVERY: The FEAST program was originally designed for face-to-face delivery, by the classroom teacher to their students as a group, within the classroom setting. However, to cater for COVID19 restrictions an online program was also developed. DURATION/INTENSITY OF INTERVENTION: The FEAST course is designed for ten, 1.5 hours sessions per week, during one Australian primary-school term, i.e. approximately 10 weeks. Six out of the ten FEAST classes will involve the practical component, i.e. hands-on food preparation and cooking skills. Each individual teacher will schedule the FEAST program to fit into their weekly schedule integrating the FEAST learnings within the Australian Curriculum key learning areas of Science, Technology, English, Maths, and Sustainability. LOCATION: FEAST will be delivered in the classroom setting within primary schools participating in OzHarvest’s FEAST program in NSW, Australia, in urban and/or rural settings. Schools do not require a kitchen, as all recipes and equipment have been designed to be used within the classroom setting. ADHERENCE MONITORING: To monitor adherence to the program, the post-FEAST teacher survey includes questions that ask teachers: how many of their students participated in the FEAST program; what type of training they undertook (face-to-face vs online vs no training); if they implemented the program alone or with another teacher; how many FEAST lessons were undertaken; how many cooking sessions were conducted; and if the class created a School Cookbook. Also, there is a question embedded within the student post-FEAST survey asking students whether they participated in the cooking activities.