Sustainable school meals invite everyone to eat and learn. School meals have long been regarded as a key arena for promoting a sustainable way of living and learning about wellbeing. The meals have been designed to guide food choices and are a tool for learning about eating. When pupils have their meals together, they learn together – also to be sustainable!
Lunch break
Photo: Niina Rodionoff

Author: Marjaana Manninen, Counsellor of Education, Finnish National Agency for Education

Traditionally, health, finances and efficiency have been emphasised in the organisation of school meals. They are all important areas from the point of view of sustainability. However, in terms of sustainability as a whole, the framework for organising school meals comprises all the four dimensions of sustainability: economic, cultural, social and ecological sustainability. The latest food recommendations for meals at schools and educational institutions guide the institutions towards a comprehensive sustainably functioning system of school meal.

Vihreäsävyinen kuva kasvisruokalautasesta

The themes of sustainable development play a part in organising the meal, for example, through the recommendation to provide alternatives for the main meal. There should always be a second, vegetarian alternative and the health, climate and environmental effects of the meals should be considered when selecting the ingredients. When planning and organising meals, attention is also paid to preventing food waste. The use of vegetables has increased and diversified in the food selection for both health and environmental reasons.

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The shared pedagogical mealtimes that structure the schoolwork of the entire school community are emphasised in the modern daily school meals. The repeating everyday routines and the choices related to them have a high impact value. Mealtimes that have been integrated into the school’s curriculum and the daily work plan are one of the factors contributing to the success of our learning outcomes. The success is based on our strengths, which are characteristic to us and unique on a global scale. Our success is a result of implementing the many forms of learning in the different activities of the school environment. Over the decades, school meals have had great potential and impact. They implement both informal and formal learning, supported by modelling and conscious, goal-oriented guidance.

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Sinisävyinen haarukka, jonka päässä on spagettia ja kantarellia

Although we can predict the future, we do not know how accurate the predictions are. It is obvious that this poses challenges to the range everyday measures required for a sustainable way of living, to new operating methods and to the long-term education and training that supports competence.  Systematic experiments and co-creation are needed. The development of school meals can for its part respond to the need to make societal changes and the need to take action because of environmental changes. For example, the goals set for the mealtimes in comprehensive school includes not only increasing the cultural competence but also the promotion of a sustainable way of living that slows down climate change. The importance of school meals lies in their holistic nature as a learning environment and their impact on learners’ learning outcomes and wellbeing.  Experimenting with and testing different, alternative solutions to available problems is therefore particularly appropriate. Participation is an important part of learning, which is why it is essential in the school culture of schools and educational institutions that children and young people become active agents.

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Purppurainen omena

In basic education and general upper secondary education, a sustainable way of living forms as transversal competence. In addition to learning the knowledge and skills of the individual fields of science, the aim of basic education and general upper secondary education is also to create transversal competence. This means the knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and will acquired in connection with the different subjects and required for growing as a person, studying, working and acting as a citizen today and in the future. Competence also means an ability to apply knowledge and skills in a given situation. How learners use these knowledge and skills that they have depends on the values and attitudes they have adopted and their will and ability to take action. A sustainable way of living is largely management of everyday matters, such as choices related specifically to food. In their daily work, schools and educational institutions ensure that the development of the abilities and self-efficacy required for everyday life management is supported.

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Sininen pihlajanoksa

The national mindset has been sealed with legislation, and it provides everyone with an equal opportunity to have a free and guided meal at school. Certain practices can also be expected of school meals implemented with public funds. The support for food knowledge that the National core curriculum for basic education requires school meals to provide calls for an increasingly strong food education approach in the entire school community. In addition to their diverse task of supporting learning and wellbeing, school meals must also support pupils’ growth as human beings. The values visible in the daily school meals must correspond to the general values of education and make certain choices visible to the pupils and the school staff having the meal.​​​​​​​

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