Learning from the implementation of Universal Free School Meals in Scotland using Normalisation Process Theory: Lessons for policymakers to engage multiple stakeholders

Chambers, Stephanie; Boydell, Nicola; Ford, Allison; Eadie, Douglas

doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2020.101936

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(23 reference statements)

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“…Of municipalities with local policy documents, only 58 % had followed these up within the previous three years (25) . Poor evaluation and monitoring is a common and persistent problem in the field of school meal policy (5,7,27) and means that good practice and/or lessons learned may be missed. Evaluations of the effects of truly universal meal policies are particularly challenging and are, unsurprisingly, rare (5) .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What works to improve school lunch nutritional quality – legislation or self-audit?

Patterson

Andersson

Elinder

2022

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective Sweden updated its legislation on universal free school meals in 2011 and nutrition was explicitly mentioned. This study i) describes cross-sectional changes in school lunch nutritional quality during the following eight years, and ii) examines if repeated self-auditing, using a fully automated, online tool (School Food Sweden), based on the implementation strategy of audit and feedback, was associated with improvements. Design Both repeated cross-sectional and longitudinal design. Factors associated with meeting nutritional criteria were examined using variance weighted least squares regression and logistic regression. Setting Sweden. Participants Primary schools who self-selected to audit meal quality between March 2012 and July 2019. Results Almost half of all (ca 4800) primary schools signed up to use the tool, and 1500 audited nutritional quality at least once. Repeated cross-sectional analyses showed the proportion meeting the nutritional criteria increased significantly between 2012/13 (11%) and 2018/19 (34%). Longitudinally, each additional audit completed increased the odds of meeting the nutritional criteria by 1.30 (CI 1.20-1.41), controlling for region and time elapsed since the legislative change. In 774 schools with repeat audits, both number of audits and frequency of accessing feedback predicted meeting the nutritional criteria (OR 2.02, CI 1.23-3.31), even after adjusting for time since the legislative change and days elapsed since previous audit. Conclusions Both legislation and self-audit with automatic feedback appear effective in helping schools to improve school meal quality. Self-audit with feedback may be an effective complement to legislation, or a promising alternative in settings where regulation is not an option

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What works to improve school lunch nutritional quality – legislation or self-audit?

Patterson

Andersson

Elinder

2022

Public Health Nutr.

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“…The advancement of win-win food scenarios faces significant barriers at several levels (Shen et al 2017;Neto and Gama Caldas 2018;Bonanno and Mendis, 2021) and different time periods (Chambers et al 2020). Having more organic products in the menu clashes with a lack of information on these products (Xie et al 2015;Melovic et al 2020) in addition to higher prices (Aschemann and Zielke, 2017;Filippini et al 2018) and the fact that some consumers prioritize health benefits over environmental benefits (Jensen et al 2011;Hjelmar., 2011).…”

Section: Political Implications: Perspective Barriers and Policies To...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the diet-environment-health-cost quadrilemma in public school canteens. an LCA case study in Galicia (Spain)

Fernández

Rodríguez

Neira

2022

Environ Dev Sustain

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The role of policies and public school canteens as drivers of sustainable and healthy diets is increasingly becoming the center of attention of academics and policy-makers alike. This work therefore aims to assess the environmental, economic and nutritional quality dimensions of the menus consumed across the Local Network of School Canteens in the municipality of Ames (Galicia, Spain). It additionally performs different scenarios to evaluate the effects on the environment-cost-nutritional quality trilemma of implementing two major dietary changes in these menus: introducing more organic products, and shifting toward a more plant-based consumption pattern. To this end, this study considers the following indicators: a) those obtained from an energy and carbon life cycle assessment of the school menus (cradle-to-grave approach), mainly the cumulative energy demand (CED) and the carbon footprint (CF), complemented by some energy efficiency indicators; b) the total cost (TC) of the menus, obtained from their life cycle cost assessment (cradle-to-fork approach); and c) the nutritional quality of the menus, calculated and assessed based on the nutrient rich diet index (NRD 9.3). The CED, CF, TC, and NRD 9.3 index of a daily meal at school canteens are, respectively, estimated at 18.87 MJ, 1.30 kg CO2-eq, EUR 4.65, and 278 per meal. The consumption of animal products and labor (for food preparation) are identified, respectively, as the main environmental impact and economic cost of the menus. The results of our research show how implementing changes in consumption habits toward a more vegetarian diet in school menus makes it possible to include organic products to generate the most positive effects in terms of the environment and nutrition without incurring in cost overruns. Our work discusses the main barriers to be overcome and the political actions that must be enforced to advance the procurement of more sustainable and healthy public food. Graphical abstract

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“…These Scandinavian countries offer free school meals on a universal basis, that is, every student is eligible to receive a free lunch [ 2 ]. Estonia, South Korea, the US, England and Scotland have all introduced variations of this free and universal approach but the concept is not widespread [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]. In 2019, Aotearoa New Zealand’s government announced a two-year pilot programme to explore the delivery of a free and healthy school lunch programme in a ‘whole of school’ approach to all students in the 25% least advantaged schools within several regions around the country [ 8 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systems Mapping of the New Zealand Free and Healthy School Lunch Programme: Perspectives from Lunch Providers

et al. 2022

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As part of the COVID-19 economic recovery package, the Aotearoa New Zealand Government rolled out a universal free and healthy lunch programme to the 25% least advantaged schools nationwide. This study explored experiences of school lunch providers in the Hawke’s Bay region. The aim was to create a systems map identifying points of intervention through which the lunch programme could be improved to meet the goal of reducing child food insecurity. Twelve lunch providers were interviewed to generate casual loop diagrams which were examined and integrated to form a single systems map. Seven themes arose during analysis: teacher support, principal support, nutrition guidelines and government support, supply chain, ingredient suppliers, student feedback and food waste. Teacher support was important for getting students to try new foods and eat the nutritious lunches. Principal support was a strong theme impacting opportunities for broader student engagement. This study employed systems science to highlight the importance of support from different stakeholders within the lunch programme to achieve the goal of reduced child food insecurity. Further work is needed to ensure the programme meets the wider goals of the government and community, and to determine the potential broader benefits of the programme.

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Learning from the implementation of Universal Free School Meals in Scotland using Normalisation Process Theory: Lessons for policymakers to engage multiple stakeholders

Cited by 14 publications

References 18 publications

What works to improve school lunch nutritional quality – legislation or self-audit?

What works to improve school lunch nutritional quality – legislation or self-audit?

Assessment of the diet-environment-health-cost quadrilemma in public school canteens. an LCA case study in Galicia (Spain)

Systems Mapping of the New Zealand Free and Healthy School Lunch Programme: Perspectives from Lunch Providers

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