Food and Nutrition Teachers Inspired by Conference and Activities at Harper Adams University
Food and nutrition teachers from across England have been welcomed to Harper Adams University for a conference aimed at inspiring their lessons and enhancing their teaching.
The Food – a fact of life interactive conference was aimed at bringing secondary school food teachers across England who teach KS3 and GSCE food and nutrition together and helping them to experience where the food we all eat comes from.
The conference, supported by Harper Adams, was led by the Food – a fact of life programme, which works to communicate up-to-date, evidence-based, consistent and accurate messages around ‘food’ to all those involved in education. The programme is managed by the British Nutrition Foundation, in partnership with the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).
Senior Lecturer in Food Safety Culture and Operations, Lucy Catley, who helmed the event for Harper Adams, said: “We were invited to host this year’s conference by FFL as they felt the theme of ‘Food and where it comes from’ would sit perfectly with what we do here at the university.”
In total, more than 80 teachers from right across the country attended – with many so impressed with Harper Adams and its facilities that they are now hoping to bring their pupils to the campus for follow-up events.
Lucy added: “This was an interactive teacher conference, so it was important to get the teachers hands-on with a range of four key activities to show the link between where our food comes from and what products are produced from this.
“This included a Farm Walk led by Dr Grace Milburn, that included understanding livestock issues and viewing the robotic dairy, and ice cream production in the Food Academy processing halls which I led and which was aimed at helping participants understand the principles of dairy technology.
“There was a sourdough demonstration, which demonstrated the principles of bakery technology, led by Professor Frank Vriesekoop and a sensory science activity led by Dr Wilatsana Posri.
“The contributions from Harper staff were finished off by a thought-provoking talk led by Alex Hardie from the School of Sustainable Food and Farming on 10 things you didn’t know agriculture was doing to save the planet.”
AHDB’s Head of Education, Roz Reynolds, said: “It was a great experience collaborating with the team at Harper Adams University to host our interactive Food – a fact of life conference, together with the British Nutrition Foundation.
“Teacher training is a key part of our overall education programme, and we were thrilled with the turnout for this hands-on and immersive conference. Teachers really enjoyed the opportunity to learn first-hand from industry experts and see sustainable farming in action through the farm tour.
“We have received hugely positive feedback from teachers that the day provided new insights and ideas to boost their classroom teaching.”
Lucy added: “This event provided a fantastic opportunity to work with secondary schools across the country to improve awareness of our food and agriculture courses and showcase our fantastic facilities for engagement with their pupils.”