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Chapter Five Survey of Schoolchildren and their Parents
Survey Approach
5.1 Questionnaires for parents and children in relation to their opinion of school dinners and the effort to source local food were distributed at random amongst parents and children at 11 primary schools in East Ayrshire. 100 questionnaires were handed out at each school.
5.2 The total of 389 responses received from the 1100 questionnaires distributed, represents a very good response rate for this type of survey.
5.3 Response rates varied between schools. The rate was as high as 63% at one school, and at only two schools were fewer than 30% of the questionnaires completed.
Parents' Survey Results
5.4 Parents were first asked to state how many days a week their children have school dinners, bringing the response shown in Figure 5.1
5.5 As can be seen, the majority of children taking school dinners do so 5 days a week, though 28% of the total do so on only 1 or 2 days
Figure 5.1: How many days per week do children have school dinners?
5.6 Parents were also asked whether they were aware of the scheme to increase the use of local suppliers to supply ingredients for school meals. Just 38% claimed to be aware of the local aspect of the scheme, but this varied greatly between schools.
- Awareness of the local aspect was highest at Hurlford (81% of parents) though this is of course the school where the local food initiative has been in place longest, enthusiastically supported by the catering manager and head teacher. Lowest awareness at a school was 18%.
- Awareness of the scheme was no higher amongst those who sent their children for meals 5 days a week than it was amongst other parents
5.7 77% of parents believe that the scheme is a good use of the Council's money, though 15% are not sure
- Approval varied from 95% down to 60% (though even in the latter case only 12% do not consider the scheme to be a good use of money)
5.8 60% of all parents questioned said that they had not yet had the opportunity to try the healthier school dinners but they would like to do so (see Figure 5.2). 15% have however taken the chance to do so already, and a further 18% have had the chance but have not done so.
Figure 5.2: Have you had the chance to taste the 'Healthier' school dinners?
- At 3 of the 11 schools, the majority of parents had had the chance to try meals (compared with 33% overall)
5.9 Only a small percentage of parents think that school dinners are not healthy, as shown in Figure 5.3
Figure 5.3: Does your child's school use healthy food for their dinners?
- Those who send their children for meals 5 days a week are marginally more likely than others (58% vs 53% overall) to strongly agree that their child's school uses healthy food
5.10 When asked to comment further on specific aspects of local supply, as summarised in Figure 5.4, parents demonstrated that they agree with the principles behind sourcing local food and that it will bring jobs and money to the local communities and help the environment.
Figure 5.4: Parents' opinions on whether Local Food brings certain benefits
- The statements regarding money and jobs in the local economy drew particularly high levels of strong agreement
5.11 Parents agreed that food for their child will be fresher if sourced locally (69% agreed strongly with this notion), but the effect on willingness to take up school dinners was not so pronounced. These results are summarised in Figure 5.5 below.
- 72% agreed that sourcing local food will encourage them to send their child for school dinners - 43% agreed strongly with this statement
- Despite already sending their children for meals 5 days a week, it was this group who were slightly more likely than others to strongly agree that local and organic food would make them more likely to send their children for school dinners
Figure 5.5: Parents' views on the importance of Local Food and Organic Food
- There may well be other reasons why more parents still do not send their children for school dinners. East Ayrshire Council's efforts to ensure that all parents and children are aware of the importance of healthy eating and local foods have been commended as leading the way in Scotland by both the Scottish Executive and the Consumer Council.
- One possible reason that was not explored during this survey, but mentioned in the interviews with catering managers and head teachers, may simply be the cost of school dinners when parents have more then one child. At £1.48 per meal, East Ayrshire Council's school meals are, however, in the lowest quartile within Scotland.
Children's Survey Results
5.12 Each parent's questionnaire included questions to be asked of one of their children on the reverse of the form. Hence, 389 responses were again accumulated.
5.13 Children were asked to give their gender and age, and these are commented on where relevant in the following discussion of results.
5.14 In an attempt to capture children's views on recent menu changes, all were asked whether school dinners taste better now than when they first started at their school. The majority claimed to have seen an improvement.
- 67% of children think that school dinners now taste better compared to when they first started, and only 10% of children feel that school dinners now taste worse. 20% felt that their school dinners tasted just the same.
- Boys were most likely to claim that they had noticed an improvement (71% vs 65% of girls) but there was no difference between age groups.
5.15 To assess the appeal of the types of food that may be on offer, children were asked to state which foods they would most like to see more of in their menus. Figure 5.6 summarises the results.
Figure 5.6: Food that children would like more of for their School Dinners
- The evidence shows that a clear net majority of children would like to see more on their menu of each item suggested. However, the key point to draw from these results is that the majority is noticeably greater for fruit (perhaps surprisingly), meat, puddings than for fish and vegetables.
- Vegetables and fish were still requested by more children then said that they didn't want to see any more on the menu, but these perhaps 'plainer' choices were certainly not as popular as fruit, meat and vegetables.
- Across the board, there was little variation in the data between girls' and boys' choices or in those of older and younger children as compared with the overall results given in the graph above
5.16 Children were next asked, simply, whether they like processed food and fresh food. Fresh food emerged as very popular amongst those responding to the survey. Figure 5.7 overleaf summarises the results.
- It has to be seen as encouraging for East Ayrshire Council's local food initiative that so many more children agreed that they like fresh food than liked processed food (88% vs 27%). Only 5% disliked fresh food.
- The high figure of 45% disliking processed food is also relatively high, suggesting that children may have interpreted the term 'processed food' as representing something more unpleasant than it actually does.
- Again, there was little variation in the figures between girls and boys and older and younger children.
Figure 5.7: Processed or fresh food
5.17 When asked their views on a number of statements related to the provenance and sustainability of the food they ate for school dinners, children gave some interesting responses, as shown in Figure 5.8 below.
Figure 5.8: Children's views on the provenance of school dinners
- Provenance of meals is not an important factor to most children. Only a minority agreed that they do mind where their school dinners come from, though many others were not sure.
- However, when asked if the food should be sourced locally ("from nearby places"), the responses were much more positive; 67% of children said that their school dinners should come from nearby places.
- Overall the responses suggest some confusion. 69% of children wish to know more about where their food has come from, 32% of children do not mind where their food has come from, and 47% of the children are not sure whether their school dinners are good for the environment. All of this suggests that children need, and would actually like, more education in terms of the benefits to the environment, to their region, and to their health, of sourcing food locally.
5.18 74% of all children surveyed felt that school dinners are healthy in their school; only 4% of children thought that they were not healthy (as shown in Figure 5.9)
5.19 The data also show that 67% of children think about the sort of food they eat
- The difference between girls and boys on this measure was slight; 70% and 64% respectively. There was no difference observed between age groups
Figure 5.9: Children's opinions of school dinners
Summary
5.20 Good communication is an important factor in making parents in East Ayrshire more aware of the use of local food within school meals, including providing more information on the Hungry for Success Scheme and East Ayrshire Council's local food initiative
5.21 Parents need to be given more opportunity to sample the new school dinners; this may also help to encourage up take amongst children
5.22 Children possibly require more education in terms of the benefits to the environment in sourcing food locally. They also wish to know more about where their food comes from.
5.23 Awareness of diets and food intake is high amongst the children surveyed
- 67% of the children think about the sort of food they eat, and the majority of children would like to see more fresh fruit, vegetables, and fish on the menu
5.24 The majority of parents and children agree that school dinners are healthier
5.25 The majority of parents and children believe that ingredients for school dinners should be sourced locally
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