-PDF Download- Food Policy And Practice In Early Childhood Education And Care EBOOK

Food Policy and Practice in Early Childhood Education and Care

Author: Francesca Vaghi

Publisher:

Published: 2023-12

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781032286105

"This book is about food (and feeding) in early childhood education and care, offering an exploration of the intersection of children's food, education, family intervention, and public health policies. The notion of good food for children is often communicated as a matter of common sense by policymakers and public health authorities, yet the social, material, and practical aspects of feeding children are far from straightforward. Drawing on a detailed ethnographic study conducted in a London nursery and children's centre, this book provides a close examination of the practices of childcare practitioners, children, and parents, asking how the universalism of policy and bureaucracy fits with the particularism of feeding and eating in the early years. Looking at the unintended consequences that emerged in the field, such as contradictory public health messaging and arbitrary policy interventions, the book reveals the harmful assumptions about disadvantaged groups that are perpetuated in policy discourse, and challenges the constructs of individual choice and responsibility as main determinants of health. Children's food practices at the nursery are examined to explore the notion that, whilst for adults it is what children eat that often matters most, to children is it how they eat that is more important. This book contributes to a growing body of literature evidencing how children's food is a contested domain, in which power relations are continuously negotiated. This raises questions not only on how children can be included in policy beyond a tokenistic involvement, but also on what children's wellbeing might mean beyond the biomedical sphere. The book will particularly appeal to students and scholars in food and health, food policy, childhood studies and medical anthropology. Policymakers and non-governmental bodies working in the domains of children's food and early years policies will also find this book of interest"--

Food Policy and Practice in Early Childhood Education and Care

Author: Francesca Vaghi

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-11-24

Total Pages: 134

ISBN-13: 1003802249

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book is about food and feeding in early childhood education and care, offering an exploration of the intersection of children’s food, education, family intervention, and public health policies. The notion of ‘good’ food for children is often communicated as a matter of common sense by policymakers and public health authorities; yet the social, material, and practical aspects of feeding children are far from straightforward. Drawing on a detailed ethnographic study conducted in a London nursery and children’s centre, this book provides a close examination of the practices of childcare practitioners, children, and parents, asking how the universalism of policy and bureaucracy fits with the particularism of feeding and eating in the early years. Looking at the unintended consequences that emerged in the field, such as contradictory public health messaging and arbitrary policy interventions, the book reveals the harmful assumptions about disadvantaged groups that are perpetuated in policy discourse, and challenges the constructs of individual choice and responsibility as main determinants of health. Children’s food practices at the nursery are examined to explore the notion that, whilst for adults it is what children eat that often matters most, to children it is how they eat that is more important. This book contributes to a growing body of literature evidencing how children’s food is a contested domain, in which power relations are continuously negotiated. This raises questions not only on how children can be included in policy beyond a tokenistic involvement but also on what children’s well-being might mean beyond the biomedical sphere. The book will particularly appeal to students and scholars in food and health, food policy, childhood studies, and medical anthropology. Policymakers and non-governmental bodies working in the domains of children’s food and early years policies will also find this book of interest.

Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth Through Age 8, Fourth Edition (Fully Revised and Updated)

Author: Naeyc

Publisher:

Published: 2021-08

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 9781938113956

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The long-awaited new edition of NAEYC's book Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs is here, fully revised and updated! Since the first edition in 1987, it has been an essential resource for the early childhood education field. Early childhood educators have a professional responsibility to plan and implement intentional, developmentally appropriate learning experiences that promote the social and emotional development, physical development and health, cognitive development, and general learning competencies of each child served. But what is developmentally appropriate practice (DAP)? DAP is a framework designed to promote young children's optimal learning and development through a strengths-based approach to joyful, engaged learning. As educators make decisions to support each child's learning and development, they consider what they know about (1) commonality in children's development and learning, (2) each child as an individual (within the context of their family and community), and (3) everything discernible about the social and cultural contexts for each child, each educator, and the program as a whole. This latest edition of the book is fully revised to underscore the critical role social and cultural contexts play in child development and learning, including new research about implicit bias and teachers' own context and consideration of advances in neuroscience. Educators implement developmentally appropriate practice by recognizing the many assets all young children bring to the early learning program as individuals and as members of families and communities. They also develop an awareness of their own context. Building on each child's strengths, educators design and implement learning settings to help each child achieve their full potential across all domains of development and across all content areas.

Food and Health in Early Childhood

Author: Deborah Albon

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2008-03-03

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 1473902932

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

′I believe that [this book] could be of value to practitioners working with birth-five year olds, heads or managers of nurseries, health professionals or students who wish to gain an overview of this subject....I enjoyed reading this book and it literally gave me much food for thought′ - Early Years ′This book is a welcome addition and the contributors should be congratulated on the scope and depth they manage to achieve...this book is an interesting read, dealing with a topical, yet complex issue′ - Journal of Early Childhood Research ′Food plays a huge part in our lives, and this book looks holistically at its influence, including our emotional as well as physical wellbeing. It provides useful facts on diet and healthy eating guidelines for children under five, school age children, adults and pregnant mothers...There is advice on promoting positive attitudes towards food in an early years setting, along with practical advice and case studies to help practitioners promote heatlhy eating in their settings′ - Early Years Update ′This highly readable, thoroughly researched book explores food and eating in an historical, cultural and psychological context and, as public concern about children′s nutrition rises, its publication is timely. Food and Health in Early Childhood is a comprehensive, clearly written text enriched with case studies and pertinent reflective activities to consolidate learning′ - Angela Underdown, Associate Professor, Early Childhood Studies, University of Warwick The media interest surrounding children, food and nutrition continues to influence policy and practice in early years settings, and food and eating is of fundamental importance to early childhood practice. Not only does food contribute to health, in terms of nutrition it′s also a vital part of a child′s emotional and socio-cultural experience that is linked to their growing sense of well-being and identity. This book gives you a comprehensive overview of food and eating in the early years, covering the following: - nutrition - policy development - health inequalities - food, culture and identity - food and emotion - healthy eating guidelines - promoting healthy eating in the early years - multi-disciplinary working in relation to young children′s nutrition Each chapter includes case studies, links to useful websites, activities and suggestions for further reading. An interactive approach from the reader is encouraged throughout the book. Aimed at all early years practitioners, it will be of particular interest to those studying for Early Childhood Studies′ degrees and those studying for EYPS. Other professionals and students with an interest in this area (teachers, health visitors, dieticians) will also find it useful.

Adding a nutrition behavior change communication component to an early childhood development intervention in Malawi: A cluster randomized trial

Author: Gelli, Aulo

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2019-02-07

Total Pages: 27

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The Nutrition Embedded Evaluation Program Impact Evaluation (NEEP-IE) cluster randomized control trial (CRCT) aimed to assess the effectiveness of implementing an agriculture and nutritional intervention through preschools, known as community-based child care centres (CBCCs) in Malawi (6). This included; activities to promote nutritious food production and consumption, promotion of optimal feeding and caring practices and engagement with parents in pre-school meal planning and preparation. The NEEP-IE trial has demonstrated that CBCCs can be an effective platform to scale-up an integrated agriculture and nutrition intervention, and improve food production diversity, maternal knowledge, nutrition practices at household level and diets of pre-schoolers and their younger siblings, as well as improve linear growth in younger siblings aged 6-24m (7). This study presents the impact results of the NEEP-IE trial focusing on child development outcomes of pre-school children during a 12m intervention period.

Safety, Nutrition, and Health in Early Education

Author: Catherine Robertson

Publisher: Cengage Learning

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 532

ISBN-13: 9780827373297

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Safety, Nutrition and Health in Early Education will prepare child caregivers to deal with issues of children's safe environments and good nutrition and health, in a practical and realistic manner. It covers basic information, theory, and health assessment tools. In addition, the text includes practical applications, caregiving skills, cultural sensitivity and resources needed for working with children, families and staff. Organized to deliver the material so it is easy to learn and understand, it also includes color art and photographs which help to emphasize key points as well as reflect the diversity in child care.

Realising the Potential of Early Childhood Education Environments for Obesity Prevention

Author: Sarah Gerritsen

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Objectives: Young children increasingly attend out-of-home, group-based care, and early-life interventions appear to be the most efficacious and cost-effective to prevent obesity. Consequently, early childhood education (ECE) is recognized internationally as an important setting in governmental responses to obesity. This thesis evaluates the nutrition and physical activity environments for 3- and 4-year-olds in New Zealand ECE services, and determines the effect of ECE environments on the development of overweight and obesity in early childhood. Methods: An online survey in 2014 of 257 (30% of) ECE services in three regions of New Zealand collected information on nutrition and physical activity policy and practices. Features of the environment were evaluated against best practice for obesity prevention. Indicators were grouped into domains and summarized into a composite index, based on Harrison et al's Six C's ecological systems theory. Data were linked with the Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal cohort to create a subsample of ~1000 children with which to explore 1) adherence to recommended nutrition-related behaviours in the home and ECE setting, and 2) associations between the quality of ECE nutrition and activity environments and body size at 4-years of age. Descriptive statistics with tests for difference (by type of service, neighbourhood deprivation, roll size, ratio of teachers to children, percentage of fully trained teachers, proportion of Māori and Pacific students), multivariate regression and multilevel modelling were employed to build a new Six Cs model representing the relationship between ECE environments and early childhood overweight. Results: Overall, there was wide variation in nutrition and activity environments across the ECE sector in New Zealand, not always attributable to service characteristics, although some statistical differences were found in policies and practices by type of service. Services enrolled in the Heart Foundation's Healthy Heart Award performed statistically better on most indicators, including the composite index, compared to services not engaged with the programme. ECE managers reported having adequate equipment, space and time to promote physical activity in their service, however there was an absence of policy regarding active movement and few 'physical activity champions'. Over 80% of services had a written healthy food or nutrition policy, but policies were not comprehensive or strongly-worded when compared with policies in similar studies in the US and Australia. Over half of services provided food daily to children, with one-third serving lunch and at least two snacks. Of the 57 full menus analysed, only 5% met all 10 nutrition guidelines (mean score of 6.8 out of 10). Teachers talked to children about food, and baked or cooked with children, at least weekly in 60% of services. Nine out of every 10 services had an edible garden. Food or beverages were sold for fundraising in the past 12 months by 37% of services. The most commonly reported barrier to promoting nutrition was a lack of support from parents and families (19% of all services). Adherence to recommended nutrition-related behaviours by ECE services (e.g. sitting with children to eat, talking to children about food, and not hurrying meals) had no relationship with adherence to these behaviours in the home. Children from deprived communities were more likely to attend a service with high adherence to recommended nutrition-related behaviours compared to children living in the least deprived communities (20% and 12% respectively), although there were no differences in adherence at home by socioeconomic position. In the multilevel modelling, 7% of the variation in child body size at 54-months of age was attributed to the ECE setting. However, there were no associations between body size at 4 years and any of the ECE-level indicators collected in the survey. Being Pacific ethnicity, having a mother that did not attend university, and living in an area of high deprivation all independently increased the risk of overweight at 4-years of age regardless of the quality of the ECE environment. Conclusions and implications: Statistical analyses in this thesis suggest that ECE services are unlikely to affect childhood obesity in isolation. However, ECE services are an essential setting for a comprehensive approach to obesity, to inspire and support parental and community efforts to provide healthy food and activity opportunities. The thesis elucidates four areas for action within the New Zealand ECE sector: 1. staff education and professional development in nutrition and physical activity; 2. strengthening nutrition and activity policies; 3. improving the quantity of serves of 'everyday' foods in ECE services on menus, in lunchboxes, and at celebrations; and 4. eliminating discretionary foods from meals and snacks (menus and lunchboxes), and having appropriate serving sizes for discretionary foods at celebrations if served. Additionally, a baseline scorecard of NZ's implementation of recommendations from the World Health Organization's Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity highlights the inadequacy of current government policy. Policy options include changes to ECE licensing regulations, prelicensing checks, education reviews, the self-review process, and monitoring or auditing of ECE services. With some of the highest childhood obesity rates in the world, there is "an urgent need to act now" to improve ECE environments in New Zealand, ensuring that they work in collaboration with parents, family and the wider community to uphold basic rights for children to adequate nutrition and the highest attainable standard of health.

Rethinking Nutrition

Author: Susan Nitzke

Publisher: Redleaf Press

Published: 2010-06-01

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 160554194X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Rethinking Nutrition provides science- and practice-based information to meet young children's nutritional and developmental needs and establish healthy patterns with food. Each chapter includes a summary of key concepts and promising practices for early childhood settings. Aligned with MyPlate.

Early Childhood Policies and Systems in Eight Countries

Author: Tony Bertram

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-07-29

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 3319398474

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This report provides an overview of policy strategies on early childhood education settings (from birth to primary schooling) in eight countries. Data were collected using a policy questionnaire addressed to and completed by the National Research Coordinator(s) (NRC) of Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Poland, the Russian Federation and the United States. The countries that participated provide interesting illustrations of early childhood education policy in action in a range of diverse contexts. Analysis of the systemic and structural results of ECE policy at national and, where necessary, subnational levels, enables transnational comparisons in policy and systems. Key policy changes, both underway and planned, are documented. These data reveal key findings in each of the five policy areas as covered in the questionnaire and this report: public policy; delivery models and providers; participation and enrollment; quality assurance systems; and expectations for child outcomes. In particular, the study aims to provide meaningful information for countries, states and jurisdictions across the world in relation to early childhood education, mapping the systems, structures and user pathways in place, along with the perceptions of stakeholders about the system, its functioning and impact. This comprehensive assessment of the wider policy contexts and settings for early childhood education includes teacher/practitioner qualifications, pedagogy approaches, and opportunities for professional development. Such information will enable countries to review their early childhood education systems in an international context.