Session Information
08 SES 09, Health Education, School Meals and Pupil Participation: Challenges and Dilemmas
Paper Session
Contribution
The presentation explores the findings of an extensive action research process with 2nd and 8th grade pupils[1]in a Danish public school, with the aim of positioning pupils as co-constructors of school meals. The research strongly indicates the necessity of mutual learning processes for pupils and teachers, if pupil participation is to become empowering.
School mealshave become a primary focus area in several European countries as an effort to promote healthy eating and reduce child obesity. However, it appears to be difficult to make the new school meal systems appealing to pupils and subsequently pupils are not making use of the offers. This indicates a need to adjust school meals to meet pupils’ interest and the hypothesis of this research is that pupils should be granted a role as agents in the making of the meals.
The objective of the presented research was:
To examine pupils visions for good school meals and prevailing possibilities for these visions to become evident in the everyday production of school meals.
In contemporary childhood sociology the dominant theme has been to articulate children as competent agents in the making of their everyday life (James 1999). To study how children act as agents and how spaces for childhood can become inclusive to children’s agency (Tisdall 2006). As modern childhoods are increasingly lived in institutions, childcare centres and school spaces have become central in these studies (Fielding 2001). School meals constitute spaces in school that are both formed by official school and societal politics (Gordon 2000) and by children’s informal everyday interests (Bruselius-Jensen 2011). Drawing on theories of empowerment in health education (Jensen & Simovska 2005) and critical social theory (Honneth 1995) children’s agency are perceived as constructed through interactions. Children’s perspectives are primarily every day life perspectives as opposed to abstract understandings (Lefebvre 2002). Finally children’s agency is perceived as particularly powerful when built upon an individual or common vision for every day life (Honneth 1995).
[1] Corresponding to the age groups 7-9 (primary school) and 13-15 (lower secondary school).
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bruselius-Jensen, Maria (2011): Poetiske perspektiver på gode skolemåltider (Translates to: Poetic perspectives on good school meals), PhD dissertation from the Research School in Life Long learning, Roskilde University. Fielding, Michael (2001): Students as radical agents of change, Journal of Educational Change, vol 2, 123-141, Kluwer Academic Publishers Gordon, Tuula, Holland, Janet & Lahelma, Elina (2000): Making spaces: Citizenship and difference in schools, MacMillain Press. Honneth, Axel(1995): The struggle for recognition – the moral grammar of social conflicts, Policy Press Jensen, BJ & Simovska, V (2005): Involving students in learning and health promotion processes – clartifying why? What? And How? Journal of Promotion and Education, 12:150 Lefebvre, Henri (2002): Critique of everyday life: volume II, Verso, London. Nielsen, Birger Steen & Nielsen, Kurt Aagaard (2006): Methodologies in action research. I: Nielsen, Kurt Aagaard & Svensson, Lennart (2006): Action research and interactive research – beyond practice and theory, Shaker Publishing. Thompson, Pat (ed)(2008): Doing visual research – with children and young people, Routledge. Tisdall, Kay M., John, Davies M., Prout, Alan & Hill, Malcolm (ed.) (2006): Children, young People and social inclusion – participation for what? Policy Press, UK
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