Children's involvement in the setup of primary school canteens

City council members of the Socialist Party of Iceland (Sósíalistaflokkur Íslands) have put together a proposal for children's involvement in the setup of primary school canteens.

Various factors influence children's experience of school meals and canteens, and it is important to consider their voices when planning the service. It is proposed that a one-year pilot project be undertaken where children in Reykjavík primary schools participate in shaping their school menus. It is also proposed that children be allowed to influence the setup of their canteens if they believe a change is needed. The setup should focus on factors such as space organization and the length of meal times, for example. It is important to seek children's experiences and opinions on school meals when planning menus and canteens. Children have called for more diverse food in canteens, and therefore it is proposed that they be consulted to a greater extent when planning primary school menus. Work will continue based on healthy food guidelines, but the children's input will be allowed to leave its mark on the menus.

For example, a random selection of children from all grades could be used to form groups by age group to plan menus and receive staff support as appropriate. The Department of Education and Leisure will be tasked with implementing the proposal with school councils, student associations, and the school community so that children's voices shape menus and canteen setups. The department will also be tasked with working with the school community to determine which schools should start, whether all schools participate in the project simultaneously, or one school in each district to begin with. Before the pilot project begins, the amount of food waste in the school and the number of children subscribed to meals will be recorded. After the pilot project, a comparison will be made to see if any changes have occurred in these factors. These factors will also be monitored regularly during the pilot project. The goal of this is to monitor whether changes affect food waste and the number of meal subscriptions.

More diverse and better food was one of the things that child parliamentarians called for at the Children's Parliament held in 2019. Participants in the parliament were randomly selected from the National Registry of Iceland to get a diverse group of children to participate. In addition, children belonging to minority groups were specifically invited to participate so that this method reflected the diversity of children in the country.

About 84% of primary school children in Reykjavík are subscribed to school meals, according to a response letter to an inquiry from the Socialist Party of Iceland (Sósíalistaflokkur Íslands) dated February 15, 2021. The subscription varies by city district. Most children were subscribed to meals in the Háaleiti and Bústaðir district, or 90%, followed by 89% of children subscribed in Grafarholt-Úlfarsárdalur and the same proportion in Laugardalur. The fewest children were subscribed to school meals in Miðborg, or 76% of the children, followed by Breiðholt where 78% of the children were subscribed to meals.

A flat fee of 10,290 ISK per month is paid for meal subscriptions, and various reasons can lie behind a child not being subscribed to meals, including economic status. A socialist representative has submitted proposals to make food free so that all children have access to food at school. Those proposals have not been successful. It is also important to ensure that children get to influence what is for dinner, as what is offered does not necessarily always appeal to them. A proposal from a representative on the Vesturbær Youth Council for increased variety in primary school canteens was submitted on February 28, 2017, and concerned primary school canteens increasing the selection of vegetarian and vegan options and ensuring that food ingredient descriptions are accessible to students and parents. The proposal was referred for consideration to a working group on food policy, which discusses increased choice in canteens.

Reykjavík City's Food Policy for the years 2018-2022 includes five overarching goals, each with its sub-goals. The item on increased consumption of plant-based food in the city's canteens and training in cooking vegetarian dishes is an important point here. If children and young people are calling for increased choice in vegetarian dishes, it is important to offer such options. The Food Policy of Reykjavík City also discusses measures against food waste, and as children get to choose what is for dinner and are more connected to the process, this must reduce food waste. Here it is also important to examine whether children serve themselves or not and its connection to food waste.

Sixth-grade students at Háteigsskóli worked on an interesting project in February 2018 where they monitored food waste and weighed food scraps from 2nd-7th grade in the dining hall for a whole week and found that students threw away a lot of food. Over the entire week, 28.7 kg of food ended up in the trash. They calculated what that food cost for the week, which was 42,000 ISK for that one week, equivalent to 1,512,000 ISK in one school year. See morehere:

It is estimated that nationally, about 1.5 billion ISK worth of school food is thrown away. This was stated by a representative of Máltíð who reviewed Statistics Iceland data on food portions in preschools and primary schools. By better organizing meals, food waste can be prevented. The socialist representative therefore believes it is important that those who eat the food have more say in what they should eat.

Reykjavík City's Democracy Policy was recently introduced, and the current proposal for children's involvement in the setup of menus and canteens in primary schools aligns well with action number 16 in the democracy policy's plan, which deals with democracy in school and leisure activities. It states, among other things, that a plan will be put together for projects that increase democratic activity, strengthen democratic awareness, and critical thinking of children and young people in school and leisure activities.

Eating can be a social activity, and space organization plays a large role in the experience. It is therefore important to have a child-centered approach as a guiding principle when designing canteens. Children have pointed out various factors that affect mealtime, including noise pollution, the length of mealtime, and whether they get to choose where they sit during mealtime. It is also important to consider where children who are not subscribed to meals sit, whether it is within the canteen or not. When implementing this proposal, careful consideration must be given to reaching the voices of children who are not subscribed to meals without them feeling left out, as difficult circumstances often lie behind a child not being able to eat, e.g., poverty.