Definitions and delimitation

An important delimitation of the research is that it will not document what students learn as a result of their farm visit. The focus is on long-term and less concrete factors such as broader citizen-based food literacy or food bildung (referring to the German roots of the Danish term maddannelse or dannelse) and action competence. The assumption is that the experiences, including farm visits and longer collaboration, can provide students with insights and experiences, which in addition to short-term academic learning and broader understanding, can give students concrete experiences and insights, which they can draw on later in their education and in life. For these reasons, the focus is rather on the intentions, i.e. primarily what the learning goals are of the teachers and farmers, the content of the teaching, how the teaching and learning process is organized including what methods are used from a didactic perspective. In addition, various external factors related to e.g. funding, transport, political support, support from interest organisations and educational materials will be investigated. The main focus of the farm-school collaboration investigated in this Ph.D. project is on kindergarten to 10^th grades.

The theoretical concepts used will be briefly defined here and further elaborated and developed in the following chapters.

Food literacy

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With limited definitions of food literacy, the starting point of looking at and further developing the term food literacy will be based on an understanding of food literacy as being a relative ability to understand the nature of food and your own impact as a consumer and citizen on health status, environment, social and economic factors. Food literacy will be further defined in chapters 6 and 7.

Food bildung

This term originates from the Danish term Maddannelse, which has its roots in the German educational tradition, where the term Bildung originates. It is a broader terms than food literacy in the sense that food bildung can refer to broader life skills, self-development and citizenship through food and farm collaboration than what is the case with the more hands-on and academic skills inherent in the term food literacy. The term ‘bildung’ has according to one school of thought to do with democratic citizenship rather than compliance and individual behaviour. It is about forming ways that stimulate and qualify students to become future citizens, who can make sound judgements, think critically and independently, and who can and will play an active role in society.

(Mogensen, Schnack 2010) This understanding of food bildung is connected to the term ‘food citizenship.’ However, bildung can also have a more individualised focus in terms of self-development, which according to Hammershøj is a more individualized process. In contrast to earlier times’ fixed ideals about what an ‘educated’ person was, in Hammershøj’s post-modern perspective it is a process and ideal, which is negotiable and defined by the individual.

(Hammershøj 2003) It is based on his/her own likes and dislikes. Both democratic/citizens-oriented bildung and individualised bildung or self-development can be mediated and developed through food. Although the focus is different, the one does not necessarily exclude the other.

Food citizenship

This is closely linked to the citizenship perspective of food literacy and bildung and relates to the definition by Wilkins, on food citizenship being about:

“Engag[ing][citizens or students] in food-related behaviours that support rather than threaten, the development of a democratic, socially and economically just, and environmentally sustainable food system” (Wilkins 2005) p. 269.

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

In short ESD has an overall ideal, which is to develop the students’ ability, motivation and desire to play an active role in finding democratic solutions to problems and issues connected to sustainable development (Mogensen, Schnack 2010).

It comprises an umbrella of programs and educational principles including future visions, critical thinking, working with conflicts of interest and empathy for current and future generations. It targets integration into all levels and areas of education and life-long learning initiatives, including primary education.

13 Sustainability and sustainable development

Linked to ESD are the underlying concepts of sustainable development and sustainability.

Sustainable development has been defined by UN’s World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) as:

“Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987)(Chapter 2).

Without going into great details, sustainable development includes an environmental, social and economic dimension and is about reconciling economic activity, social progress and environmental protection. It is about promoting equity between present and future generations, promoting empathy, responsibility and having a global perspective locally. The term sustainability is about appropriate resource use within the ecological ’carrying capacity’ of the planet and a reduction in the intensity of resource use. Recognizing the biophysical limits to growth, the sustainability and sustainable development agenda promotes a shift in production and consumption to a less resource intensive one.

Farm-to-school programs

Farm-to-school is a broad definition for school-based programs that connect schools and local farms with the objectives of serving local and healthy foods in school cafeterias or classrooms, improving student nutrition, providing health and nutrition education opportunities, and supporting small and medium-sized local and regional farmers. (Joshi, Azuma et al. 2008) In practice, most farm-to-school programs only incorporate some and not necessarily all of these components. School gardens and related educational activities are included under the umbrella of farm-to-school programs.

Although many farm-to-school programs incorporate a classroom component, the programs in the US have emerged from the alternative agriculture movement as a strategy for developing new markets for local, sustainably-grown food rather than a mechanism for educational reform (Kloppenburg, Wubben et al. 2007).

Most research and practice on farm-to-school collaboration and programs reflect this marketing emphasis and mostly concentrate on the demand for connecting farms with food services. The rationale for programs that engage students in additional educational activities such as tasting sessions, farmers and chefs in the classroom or farm visits is to increase children’s knowledge about their food and its production and students’ desire to consume diverse fresh fruits and vegetables in the cafeteria.

The focus of the farm-school collaboration in Denmark and in this dissertation is on farm-school collaboration with an educational dimension. Since Denmark does not have a strong tradition for

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school meals but rather of packed lunches, the collaboration between farms and schools does not have the food provision focus as it does in e.g. the US, Brazil and Italy.

Farm-school collaboration

Although related to farm-to-school programs, for the purpose of this dissertation, the concept of farm-school collaboration is used and defined as different models of collaboration between farmers, teachers and others related to educational dimensions of food, agriculture, environment and other topics. This includes field visits to farms, farm-stays, school gardening on farms and other types of collaboration with farmers.

Food and agriculture education

When referring to food and agricultural education it includes all aspects of educational content, including learning goals, educational materials and methods used, which relate to food and agricultural topics. Farm visits and other related activities are part of this, which includes agricultural content and educational methods. However, food and agricultural education goes beyond the content of the farm visit and related activities to also include the pre- and post-farm visit curriculum.