School Environment as a setting for the interaction of Family And School Food Practices

Abstract

The intersection between school and home eating environments can favor the establishment of healthy eating practices in the different contexts of life where the school community is inserted. The objective was to understand how families, from their contexts related to culture and respective eating practices, interact with actions that promote adequate and healthy food developed in the school environment of a large city. Qualitative research, in the case study modality, carried out in two public elementary schools, which included food actions and the participation of families in the Political Pedagogical Project. Participant observation, field diary, semi-structured interviews and focus groups with community members were used at the schools. For the treatment of data from the interviews, transcription, categorization and thematic content analysis were performed. The results presented are related to actions to promote adequate and healthy food in the home and school environment. Contemporary demands and realities experienced by families influenced their eating habits at home and at school and were identified as obstacles to parental care for their children's diet. The failure of food actions attributed to families indicated the need for the school community to identify ways capable of involving and mobilizing them. In this sense, the garden as a collective space and for the production of knowledge around food was able to integrate the different interests and disputes, cultures, habits in the construction of shared knowledge between family and school to promote healthy eating environments.