school canteen research paper

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Assessment of Food Quality in School Canteens: A Comparative Quantitative Study between Primary and Secondary Schools in Malaysia

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Schools are an important food environment to cultivate and promote healthy food choices and practices among children and adolescents. The aim of the present study was to assess the type and quality of food and beverages sold in school canteens in public primary and secondary schools in Kelantan, Malaysia. Eligible schools were randomly selected from the list of all schools and detailed information of all food and beverage items sold in the school canteens were collected during school days. Food and beverages were classified based on food groups derived from the Malaysian Food Dietary Guideline and the Recommended Foods for Healthy Cafeteria Guideline. An assessment of the traffic-light nutrition food-labelling system of the total sugar content in all pre-packaged foods was also undertaken. A total of 568 food items were identified, with secondary school canteens selling a greater proportion of food items than the primary schools (55.5% vs. 44.5%). In terms of the main food groups, grains and cereal products represented the largest food group served (33–36%), followed by beverages (21–25%) and confectionary and sweet foods (12–13%). In contrast, the vegetable and fruit group represented the smallest proportion of food items sold (1–3%). Comparisons between primary and secondary schools showed a similar trend and pattern of food types and quality of foods sold, except for animal-based foods. A greater percentage of food items in this category was found among secondary schools (12.1%) versus primary schools (6.7%). When total sugar content of all pre-packaged foods was quantified based on the traffic-light nutrition-labelling system, almost one-third of foods and beverages were classified as high (29.1%). Confectionary (19.1%) and flavoured milk and fruit drinks (10.0%) both exceeded the recommended sugar levels of >22.5 g per 100 g and >11.25 mL per 100 m L, respectively. Only one of these packaged foods and beverages (0.9%) was classified as a healthy food choice. About a quarter of the food items available in school canteens were classified as prohibited based on a new revised list of prohibited food and beverage items. These findings indicate that, despite the Guidelines, a large number of unhealthy food items are being sold in school canteens. Hence, interventions such as sustainable healthy school canteen menus should be implemented to promote healthy food choices amongst school-aged children.

1. Introduction

Childhood obesity has emerged as one of the major global public health crises, including in Malaysia where the prevalence of childhood obesity has markedly increased over the years [ 1 ]. Childhood obesity causes a wide range of psychosocial and health consequences during the growing years and, if untreated, also across adulthood [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Based on the recent Malaysian nationwide survey in 2019, the prevalence of overweight and obesity increased from 15.1% in 2011 to 29.8% in 2019 among children aged 5–17 years [ 5 ]. This finding highlights the dramatic increase in the prevalence of childhood obesity in Malaysia with attendant impact on psychosocial and cardio-metabolic health later in life.

It is well-documented that a poor diet is one of the major determinants of an increased risk of malnutrition from underweight to obesity in school-aged children [ 6 , 7 ]. Considerable research to date has been undertaken to assess and identify the underlying causes and determinants of food choices and eating behaviours [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ], in which multiple factors ranging from individual biological, genetic, psychosocial and lifestyle factors, family and social influences, institutional, neighbourhood and community environments, and macro-system influences, such as marketing, culture, and values within the food systems, may directly or indirectly influence a child’s eating behaviours [ 12 ].

A growing body of evidence suggests that other factors, such as the food environment and its availability and accessibility, play an important role and is often referred to as the ecological behaviour model [ 13 , 14 , 15 ]. For example, access and availability to healthy foods at home is significantly associated with eating behaviours and better diet quality [ 14 , 16 ]. In contrast, access to unhealthy food outlets around homes and/or within the wider community, such as fast food restaurants and convenience stores, are associated with an increased risk of excessive weight gain [ 13 , 15 , 17 ]. These findings have highlighted the importance of the relationship between food choice and the environment [ 18 ].

The school food environment has a potentially significant impact on a child’s dietary practices as they spend more time in school than in any other environment away from home and consume almost half of their total daily energy in the school setting [ 19 , 20 ]. Hence, school should be considered one of the key environments where healthy eating behaviours could be established, and at the same time, childhood obesity could be tackled [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Numerous studies from the United States [ 23 ] and Australia [ 24 ] have shown that higher availability of less-healthy food and beverages, high in energy, sugar, fats, and salt, in schools was associated with poor nutritional status and higher energy intake. Despite the growing body of evidence from Western countries, school food environments are quite different across Asia in general, and particularly in Malaysia, hence results cannot be directly extrapolated. To the best of our knowledge, very limited work has been conducted in Asia to investigate food types including cooked and pre-packaged foods and their quality in school canteens. Moreover, an assessment of the school food environment would help us to understand and identify the quality of food and beverages available and their association with poor health [ 19 ]. In turn, a better understanding of the food and beverage available within schools may have a broader impact on eating behaviours and future disease risk [ 20 ]. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess the availability, type, and quality of food and beverages available in both primary and secondary school canteens in Kelantan, Malaysia. We also assessed the total sugar content of the pre-packaged food and beverages using a traffic-light nutrition classification system and assessed the proportion of these food items sold in relation to the Healthy School Canteen Management Guide, Ministry of Education Malaysia [ 25 ].

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. study design.

A list of all schools in the district was obtained from the State Department of Education, Ministry of Education, Malaysia. Only schools that met the inclusion criteria of being government-funded with non-religious and special educational needs, were eligible to be included in the study as the main national education system provided to most of the students in Malaysia. A total of 140 public schools, 97 and 43 primary and secondary schools, respectively, were eligible to be included in the study. These schools were further stratified into two main categories namely, national school (135 schools) and national-type Chinese school (vernacular school) (5 schools), as reflected by the ethnic composition of the population in Kelantan. Initially, a total of 12 public schools (6 schools for each of primary and secondary categories), were recruited with a simple random sampling ratio of national school to national-type Chinese school of 2:1 to represent the student population distribution by ethnic groups in Kelantan. However, all schools suspended operations due to the implementation of the nationwide Movement Control Order associated with the COVID-19 pandemic on 18 March 2020. Hence, a total of 10 schools, comprising three national schools and two national-type Chinese schools from both primary and secondary categories were included in the final analysis. Once all eligible schools were identified, a letter of invitation, including study information sheet such as the study purpose and procedures, was given to school principals. Informed consent was obtained from school authorities and food operators prior to data collection. Data collection, using direct observation of all foods sold in school canteens, was conducted between January 2020 and March 2020. As the present study did not include human participants; no research ethics approval was required.

2.2. Measurements

All information of foods and beverages in various preparation forms such as pre-packaged foods, ready-to-eat cooked and pre-ordered cooked meals in terms of the ingredients used and portion serving served for each meal were collected by researchers and helpers across a number of days to minimise the effect of intra-day food variation. Information was double-checked with school canteen menus provided. In addition, images of a whole plate or whole bowl or whole tray of cooked food were taken to capture the actual portion and size of the food and beverage served. For ordered cooked meals served in school canteens, images were taken after the food was cooked and served, during recess time. For pre-packaged foods, information regarding total calories, fat, sugar, and salt listed on the front-of-pack nutrition labels were also collected.

2.3. Classification of Measurement Variables

All food and beverage items sold in school canteens were classified into 10 main food groups (vegetables, fruits, grains and cereal products, eggs, nuts and legumes, animal-based foods, milk and dairy products, snack and fast foods, confectionary and sweet foods, and beverages), as most main food components were included based on the current revised Malaysian Dietary Guidelines [ 26 ].

We used the UK-based front-of-package Nutritional Traffic Light rating guidelines for total sugar content per 100g of food (or per 100 mL for beverages) ( Table 1 ), developed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), UK, in 2006 [ 27 ]. Total sugar content of all pre-packaged foods and beverages is classified as a low- (green traffic light, healthiest), medium- (amber traffic light) or high-sugar food (red traffic light, least healthy). In addition, the extent and degree to which these pre-packaged foods were further classified based on the NOVA food processing classification criteria into (i) unprocessed or minimally processed foods, (ii) processed culinary ingredients, (iii) processed foods, and (iv) ultra-processed food and drink products [ 28 ].

Classification of the total sugar content based on the UK Nutritional Traffic Light System.

Food Standards Agency, UK (2007).

The quality of foods and beverages available were further compared with the two different approaches, namely, (i) the revised list of prohibited food and beverages items sold in school canteens by the Healthy School Canteen Management Guide [ 25 ] and (ii) the highly recommended healthy food choices menu offered by the Healthy Cafeteria Initiative Program [ 29 ]. In brief, numerous food and beverages that are high in fats, sugars, and salt contents such as instant noodles, cakes and donuts, fried crackers, and processed foods, such as burgers, sausages, nuggets, sweet chocolate snacks, candy, junk foods, cream roll bread, creamy biscuits, processed pickled foods, pre-mixed cordial and syrup drinks, and carbonated flavoured drinks, have been considered prohibited food and beverage items [ 25 ]. In addition, there are several proposed food types and choices such as grains and cereal-based foods, wholemeal or wholegrain breads, vegetables, fruits, seafood, poultry and eggs, legumes, and low fat milk or skimmed milk, that are highly recommended in the Healthy Cafeteria Initiative programme conducted by the Ministry of Health Malaysia [ 29 ].

2.4. Statistical Analysis

Descriptive statistics were generated for characteristics of all food and beverage items, as expressed in mean and standard deviation for continuous variables and percentages and numbers for categorical variables. In addition, food and beverages that appeared multiple times in the same school were coded only once to prevent the over-counting of similar food. There was no formal statistical test needed, as the number of potential comparisons was very large and there was no clear mechanism by which the multiple possible dimensions of testing for differences could be represented and/or tested.

Table 2 shows the general characteristics of the types of food and beverages available in both primary and secondary schools in the study. A total of 568 food items were identified for both schools, with secondary school canteens selling a greater proportion of food items than the primary schools (55.5% vs. 45.5%). Comparisons of the food and beverage distributions between primary and secondary schools showed that there was a quite consistent trend and pattern in almost all food types, except for pre-packaged foods that were more common in the secondary school canteens than in primary school canteens (15.6% vs. 7.5%). Ready-to-eat cooked food was the most common category of food items available, followed by beverages either in pre-packaged or pre-made drinks and pre-packaged foods.

General characteristics of food and beverages available in primary and secondary school canteens.

a Food were heated before serving or sold in ready-to-eat form and these foods were usually baked, roasted, fried, broiled, or sautéed in advance.; b Foods that are sealed in a packaged form such as in box, bag, can or other container.; c Food that need to be placed an order before it is available for purchase.; d Beverages that are sealed in a box, bag, can or other container and usually sold in the grocery store in their packaged form.; e Beverages that are prepared before serving.

Table 3 presents the distribution of food items available in both school canteens based on 10 major food groups. As expected, it was a similar pattern of food groups found between primary and secondary school canteens, whereby grains and cereal-based products was the main food category available, followed by beverages, confectionary and sweet foods, fried snacks and fast foods, and animal-based food products. When these specific main food groups were re-classified as main staple food products, animal-based protein products, high fats and sweet foods, fruits and vegetables, and legume-based foods, it was found that high fats and sweet food products (23.4% and 24.1%) and sugary beverages (24.9% and 21.3%) were among the most common food products available besides the main staple products sold, in both primary or secondary school canteens. In contrast, fruit and vegetables (3.2% and 1.0 %), and legume-based products (0.8% and 1.9%) were the least common food items available. Comparisons of food-type distributions between primary and secondary school canteens showed quite a consistent pattern and trend for both school canteens, except for animal-based foods. A greater percentage of food items in this category was found in 12.1% of secondary schools vs. 6.7% of primary schools. Interestingly, there were no fruit items available in secondary school canteens, unlike in primary school canteens (2.4%).

Distribution of food and beverage types in both primary and secondary school canteens based on 10 food categories.

The healthiness of foods was determined by the total sugar content of all pre-packaged foods and beverages based on the traffic-light nutrition rating system ( Table 4 ). Out of 147 pre-packaged food items available in both school canteens, a total of 110 foods and beverages (74.8%) contained front-of-pack nutrient information on total sugar content. Overall, almost one-third of these pre-packaged food and beverage products (29.1%) received the red traffic-light rating as less healthy foods and beverages. As expected, confectionary and sweet foods (19.1%) and flavoured yogurt drink and fruit cordial drinks (10.0%) both exceeded the recommended sugar levels of >22.5 g per 100 g and >11.25 mL per 100 mL, respectively. In contrast, only one of these packaged foods (0.9%) was classified as a healthy food choice based on the total sugar content. When these pre-packaged food items were further classified based on the NOVA food processing classification criteria [ 28 ], all were classified as ultra-processed food and drink products (data not shown).

Distribution of total sugar contents based on pre-packaged food and beverage items in primary and secondary school canteens using the Traffic-Light Nutrition Rating System.

a Low in total sugar contents and is a healthier choice; b Neither high nor low in total sugar contents; c High in sugar contents and is a less healthy food.

Table 5 shows the distribution of the prohibited food items and the recommended healthy food types. In general, there was a significant amount of prohibited foods and beverages sold at both primary and secondary school canteens. About a quarter of foods and beverages (26.8%) were classified as prohibited food items based on the new revised prohibited food list based on the Healthy School Canteen Management Guide [ 25 ]. Processed foods. such as burgers, sausages, nuggets, fish balls, and related foods, were considered the most popular food items in both canteens, followed by cream rolls, bread, and creamy biscuits, and pre-mixed cordial and syrup beverages. On the contrary, when these foods in both school canteens were further compared with the proposed recommended healthy food items and/or menus based on the Healthy Cafeteria Initiative [ 29 ], only 10.2% were classified as highly recommended healthy food choices in these canteens. Comparisons of food quality distribution showed that secondary school canteens offered higher amounts of prohibited foods compared to primary schools (28.3% vs. 24.9%). A similar pattern was found for the recommended healthy food items and choices in these canteens, whereby secondary school canteens offered slightly more healthy food items than primary school canteens (11.8% vs. 8.3%). Interestingly, most prohibited food items sold in these school canteens were considered ultra-processed food products based on the NOVA food processing classification. In contrast, most recommended healthy food items were classified as unprocessed or minimally processed foods.

Classification of foods and beverages available in school canteens based on the Healthy Cafeteria Guideline and the NOVA food processing classification system.

a Classification based on the new revised list of prohibited food and beverage items in school canteens recommended in the Healthy School Canteen Management Guide (Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2017); b proposed food types based on the recommended food menu choices by the Healthy Cafeteria Initiative Program (Ministry of Health Malaysia, 2011); G 1 = unprocessed and minimally processed foods and G 4 = ultra-processed food.

4. Discussion

Schools are an important food environment to cultivate and promote healthy food choices and eating practices among children. Increasing the availability and attractiveness of a wide range of healthy food choices and, at the same time, restricting the availability of less healthy food that are relatively low in nutrients and high in sugars and fats is an important strategy [ 20 , 21 ]. Previous studies have indicated that food availability in school is one of the strongest determinants of food-eating choices among school-aged children and adolescents [ 24 , 30 , 31 ]. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to assess in detail, the distribution of foods and beverages in terms of types and quality assessed by several assessment criteria in both primary and secondary schools. The main findings of the present study indicate that despite main staple food products, high-fat and sweet food products, and sugary beverages being the most common foods and beverages stocked in these primary and secondary school canteens. In contrast, healthy food types, such as fruits and vegetables and legume-based products, were less common foods. This pattern is consistent with previous work conducted in primary school canteens [ 32 ]. Hence, the present findings reiterate the fact that the presence of more low nutrient, energy-dense foods, such as high fat and sweet foods and sugar-sweetened beverages, and fewer fruits, vegetables, and legume-based foods is still a major concern in these school canteens. This observation may be significantly associated with poor dietary eating choices [ 20 , 23 , 24 , 30 ]. For instance, students who had greater access to à la carte food products tend to consume more low-nutrient, energy-dense foods, such as sugar-sweetened beverages, and fewer fruits and vegetables [ 30 , 31 ]. If that would be the case, this could significantly influence the energy intake associated with high-calorie foods that are high in fats and sugars and consequently may lead to poor energy balance and the risk of excessive weight gain.

Most pre-packaged foods and beverages available in school canteens had considerably moderate to high content of sugars, with almost one-third of these pre-packaged food products classified as less healthy. Most were confectionary and sweet foods, flavoured yogurt drinks, and fruit cordial drinks with added sugars. Furthermore, about a quarter of the food items available in school canteens were classified as prohibited based on the new revised list of prohibited food and beverage items. This pattern of high-sugar content is consistent with previous studies in primary school canteens in Malaysia [ 32 ] and school meals reported in the United States [ 30 , 33 ]. The present findings emphasise that the dietary pattern of high sugar contents found in foods and beverages in school canteens is a major concern. The excessive consumption of sugars in children and adolescents is an emerging public health concern [ 34 , 35 , 36 ]. High intake of sugar in children and adolescents have been significantly associated with increased risk of dental caries [ 37 ], poor diet quality [ 38 ], excessive weight gain and obesity [ 34 , 36 ], and cardiometabolic disorders [ 39 ].

The consumption of ultra-processed foods has become more common worldwide, including in Malaysia [ 40 ]. A growing body of evidence has suggested that food processing levels could be used to display “very healthy” perspectives on the studied foods, whereby the pattern of ultra-processed food consumption might be a marker of a constellation of poor diet quality, in which the higher consumption of ultra-processed foods has been significantly associated with the greater intake of calories, sugars, fats, and sodium [ 41 , 42 ] and the increased risk of poor health outcomes in children and adolescents [ 43 , 44 ]. Analyses of the food quality of items available in both primary and secondary school canteens were further classified according to the NOVA food processing classification based on the extent and purpose of industrial food processing [ 28 ]. It is interestingly to note that most prohibited food items and high-sugar content pre-packaged food and beverages available in the present study were considered ultra-processed food products based on the NOVA food processing classification, whereas most recommended healthy food items were classified as unprocessed or minimally processed. Overall, the present results suggest that ultra-processed foods available in school canteens are associated with a higher proportion of unhealthy food consumption, in both primary and secondary school children, as found in previous studies in other countries [ 41 , 42 ]. This suggests that most ultra-processed food products are often high in sugar and fat content and are another important nutrition concern that needs greater attention, because unhealthy choices have become the most common food choice among school-aged children in school canteens.

Comparisons of food types and quality between primary and secondary school canteens found that the latter offered higher amounts of prohibited foods, as reflected by the fact that a higher proportion of high-fat foods such as the processed meat foods, cream rolls, bread, and creamy biscuits in the prohibited food list in secondary school canteens, which perhaps could possibly be attributed to high demand and food preference among secondary school children. Several plausible explanations could help to explain the presence of more food products that are high in calories, sugars, fats, and sodium foods in secondary school canteens. As children get older, they tend to spend large amount of time in school, and they are most likely to make more food purchases in school canteens because they are not allowed to leave the school grounds during school hours, as indicated by the total number of foods available in secondary school canteens. Secondly. they tend to have more independence and autonomy for more food choice behaviours because they might have had more disposable income (pocket money) at this age to purchase more foods compared to their younger peers. Lastly, they are also more susceptible to many influences that are beyond the family environment, such as from schools, the local community, mass media, and social media, as well as peer influence [ 16 ].

The present findings of the food availability pattern found more often in secondary school canteens than in primary school canteens are in line with a study comparing the food items offered between intermediate schools and elementary schools in the United States [ 31 ]. Moreover, the high availability of energy-dense foods tends to include foods that are also high in sugars, fats, and/or salt reported in these secondary school canteens, which could result in more frequent purchases of these foods. This could possibly be explained by the fact that adolescents tend to consume foods high in fats, sugars, and carbohydrates and low in fruits and vegetables, compared to their younger counterparts in schools [ 45 , 46 ]. Hence, food environment indeed influences student food choices and consumption [ 20 , 21 ]. These findings, together with the current study have revealed that adolescents tend to choose and consume less healthy food and an unbalanced diet when they are given more free choice. On the other hand, there were not many differences among the recommended healthy food items and choices or the healthiness of total sugar of pre-packaged foods across both primary and secondary school canteens. These findings have implications for schools and suggest actions that schools could use as “alternative” avenue to encourage healthier eating practices by providing a wide variety of healthy food choices when children get older and they are given more choices, because a healthy diet during school-age has significant implications for general health and nutritional well-being of their current life and later in life [ 2 , 3 , 7 ].

Strengths and Limitations of the Study

The strengths of the present study were that all schools were recruited using random sampling based on the two main public-school categories available in order to get a more representative sample of school-aged children in terms of age and ethnicity in Kelantan, Malaysia. Secondly, the present study was carried out using direct observation of school canteens, in which detailed information of entire foods and beverages were collected. Additionally, the data collected were objective and not subject to researcher bias. In addition, the present results provide novel information on the presence of total sugars in the school food environment, in which detailed information on the helpfulness of pre-packaged foods and beverages in school canteens, and restrictions on the access to unhealthy food items and healthy school meals at school were also assessed. Findings from this present study should be useful to the government education and health agencies to develop and formulate more specific nutrition actions such as reducing sugar consumption and also for the proper planning of new healthy nutrition standards.

Nonetheless, this study also has some limitations. First, differences between students in terms of socio-demographic background could possibly influence their purchasing, consumption, and compensatory eating behaviours. Hence, further research is needed to determine the relationships between student food-eating practices, socio-demographic factors, and interactions with food environments in schools on the risks of excessive weight gain and cardio-metabolic disorder. Secondly, due to its cross-sectional observational design, the causality of associations cannot be established. Lastly, the present work only focused on the detailed distribution in terms of types and quality of foods and beverages served in school canteens as measurement indicators of the availability and accessibility of foods and beverages in the school food environment. It has been used as “measures” of food availability and accessibility in present schools because most students purchased foods solely in their school canteen because there were no vending machines allowed in the schools and, also, students were not allowed to go outside of the school during their time at school. It is generally known that there is no standardised methods of assessment developed up to the present time to assess the school food environment [ 22 ]. It is hoped that more comparable robust methods of assessment can be developed to determine and monitor the school food environment from across different sociodemographic and geographical regions across different countries, in order to better understanding the role of the school food environment on the development of obesity and disease-related risks among school-aged children and adolescents in the near future.

5. Conclusions

These findings indicate that, despite the Guidelines, a large number of unhealthy food items are being sold in school canteens. Hence, interventions, such as sustainable healthy school canteen menus, should be implemented to promote healthy food choices amongst school-aged children. Awareness of and interventions regarding healthy eating practices among students should be implemented in schools, such as effective nutrition intervention strategies with active partnerships with all relevant stakeholders, namely, school authorities, food operators, teachers, parents, and students, to develop and strengthen the implementation of healthy school nutrition promotion-related practices and policies. These include increasing the availability of healthy food options, such as fruits and vegetables, and/or restricting the availability of low-nutrient, energy-dense food products available, such as foods and beverages high in sugars and fats, in school settings, which may positively impact students’ dietary habits and their general nutritional and health well-being.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Ke Whey Pang and Kwan Pei Lim for their help in data collection, and school principals and canteen operators who directly or indirectly, gave their full commitment and co-operation throughout the study.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, L.H.F. and Y.J.T.; Methodology, L.H.F. and Y.J.T.; Data collection, Y.J.T.; Data analysis, L.H.F. and Y.J.T.; Writing–original draft preparation, writing and editing, L.H.F. and Y.J.T. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

The authors received no external funding for this work.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The present study did not include human participants; hence, no research ethics approval was required.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from school authorities and food operators prior to data collection.

Data Availability Statement

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

• Research article
• Open access
• Published: 16 October 2018

Consumption habits of school canteen and non-canteen users among Norwegian young adolescents: a mixed method analysis

• Arthur Chortatos   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1052-329X 1 ,
• Laura Terragni 1 ,
• Sigrun Henjum 1 ,
• Marianne Gjertsen 1 ,
• Liv Elin Torheim 1 &
• Mekdes K Gebremariam 2 , 3  

BMC Pediatrics volume  18 , Article number:  328 ( 2018 ) Cite this article

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Food/drinks available to adolescents in schools can influence their dietary behaviours, which once established in adolescence, tend to remain over time. Food outlets’ influence near schools, known to provide access to unhealthy food/drinks, may also have lasting effects on consumption behaviours. This study aimed to gain a better understanding of the consumption habits of adolescents in the school arena by comparing different personal characteristics and purchasing behaviours of infrequent and regular school canteen users to those never or seldom using the canteen.

A convergent mixed methods design collected qualitative and quantitative data in parallel. A cross-sectional quantitative study including 742 adolescents was conducted, with data collected at schools via an online questionnaire. Focus group interviews with students and interviews with school administrators formed the qualitative data content. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression; thematic content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data.

Sixty-seven percent of adolescents reported never/rarely using the school canteen (NEV), whereas 13% used it ≥2 times per week (OFT). When the two groups were compared, we found a significantly higher proportion of the NEV group were female, having parents with a high education, and with a high self-efficacy, whilst a significantly higher proportion of the OFT group consumed salty snacks, baked sweets, and soft-drinks ≥3 times per week, and breakfast at home < 5 days in the school week. The OFT group had significantly higher odds of purchasing food/drink from shops near school during school breaks and before/after school compared to the NEV group (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.80, 95% CI 1.07–3.01, and aOR = 3.61, 95% CI 2.17–6.01, respectively). The interviews revealed most students ate a home packed lunch, with the remainder purchasing either at the school canteen or at local shops.

Conclusions

Students using the canteen often are frequently purchasing snacks and sugar-soft drinks from shops near school, most likely owing to availability of pocket money and an emerging independence. School authorities must focus upon satisfying canteen users by providing desirable, healthy, and affordable items in order to compete with the appeal of local shops.

Peer Review reports

The school environment is an arena where many dietary norms and habits are established which potentially affect the individual throughout their future lives [ 1 ]. Owing to the considerable amount of time adolescents spend at school during the average weekday, it has been estimated that approximately one third of their food and drink is consumed in the school environment [ 2 , 3 ].

Environments which encourage a high energy intake and sedentary behaviour amongst adolescents are termed obesogenic environments, and such environments are considered to be one of the main elements behind the rapid increase in overweight and obesity among children and adolescents [ 4 ].

In this regard, the local food environment of schools, including arenas such as supermarkets and convenience stores close to the schools, is an environmental influence potentially affecting the quality of the food intake of attending adolescents [ 5 ]. Providing healthy food and drinks to adolescents in schools via canteens or vending machines plays an important role in modelling a healthy diet, particularly for those who may not have access to healthy food outside school hours, thereby making school nutrition policies a powerful tool for improving students’ nutritional status and academic achievement [ 6 ]. Yet in the school environment, foods consumed are not always obtained from on-campus sources. Research upon supermarkets and convenience stores located in the vicinity of schools has reported that these venues provide an increased accessibility to unhealthy foods and drink for school-going adolescents [ 7 ].

The Øvre Romerike region, located in the eastern part of Norway, has a total area of 2,055,550 km 2 , and composed of 6 municipalities housing approximately 100,000 people [ 8 ]. The 2016 average net income for all households in the region was 456,667 NOK, compared to the national average of 498,000 NOK for the same period [ 9 ]. In our recent investigation upon adolescents in Øvre Romerike, we reported that 33% of participants purchased food or drink in their school canteen at least once a week [ 10 ]. In addition, 27% and 34% of participants reported purchasing food and drinks from shops around schools one or more times a week, either during school breaks or on their way to or from school, respectively [ 10 ].

Investigations on adolescent behaviour in Norway and elsewhere have reported similar results, whereby approximately 30% of school-going adolescents visit local food stores for nourishment, whilst the majority are consuming their lunches at school [ 11 , 12 ].

In Norway, the average school day includes a lunch period in the middle of the day [ 13 ], and most students travel to school with a home packed lunch, usually consisting of bread slices with various toppings [ 14 , 15 ]. School canteens are often run by catering staff, with students in need of more practical education sometimes included in food preparation and selling. It is not uncommon for the canteen to be managed on a daily or occasional basis by students together with a teacher as a part of their education. School canteens most commonly offer baguettes, waffles, milk (regular or chocolate), juice, cakes and, perhaps, fruit [ 16 , 17 ]. The Norwegian Directorate of Health regularly publishes guidelines concerning school meals and eating environments, with the most recent published in 2015 [ 18 ]. The latest guidelines offer suggestions regarding topics such as length of meal times, hygiene, fresh water accessibility, the absence of sugar-rich foods and drinks, and the reduction of saturated fats on offer. The guidelines are published as a tool to assist school administration in their management of school canteens.

Eating behaviour amongst adolescents is a complex theme often involving an interplay of multiple influences and factors such as peer influence [ 19 ] and a desire to socialise whilst eating [ 20 ], a combination which often leans toward unhealthy eating practices. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for young Norwegian teens to receive pocket money [ 21 ], and this emerging autonomy aided by pocket money increases the prospect for a disruption of dietary behaviour established in the home [ 22 ].

As the school food environment has such a significant impact on food choices [ 23 , 24 ], a better understanding of adolescent’s consumption behaviour demands further attention. In particular, understanding student’s shift away from home packed lunches and canteen foods towards the appeal of off-campus shop food is necessary for implementing the successful promotion of healthier lunch alternatives at school.

The aim of the present study was to gain a better understanding of the consumption habits of adolescents in the Norwegian school lunch arena. Unlike previous ESSENS studies, here we use quantitative data combined with qualitative interviews among adolescents and school administration, in order to explore the purchasing behaviour and lifestyle demographics of the sample grouped as frequent and infrequent school canteen users compared to those never or rarely using the canteen.

Design and sample

The participants in this study were students and staff from eleven secondary schools participating in the Environmental determinantS of dietary behaviorS among adolescENtS (ESSENS) cross-sectional study [ 10 , 25 ]. Recruitment of students and staff was initiated by our making contact with principals of the twelve secondary schools in the Øvre Romerike district, after first having received permission from district school leaders. The school principals were each sent a letter detailing key elements of the proposed intervention, as well as information regarding the ESSENS study, together with a permission form requesting their school’s participation. Of the twelve secondary schools invited to participate in the study, eleven accepted the invitation.

In this mixed method approach, our sample were grouped as being part of either a quantitative or qualitative data source.

Recruitment of sample

Quantitative recruitment.

In October 2015 we recruited 8th grade adolescents for participation in a questionnaire survey. An informative letter was sent home with all 1163 adolescents in the 8th grade (average age of 12–13 years) from the 11 participating schools, containing a consent form for signing and with additional questions relating to parental education levels. A total of 781 (67%) received parental consent for participation. As the range of ages of the sample represents the lower end of the adolescent scale (10–19 years), the use of the term ‘adolescent’ here implies ‘young adolescent’. A total of 742 adolescents (64% of those invited and 95% of those with parental consent) participated in the survey. Quantitative data collection took place between October and December 2015.

Qualitative recruitment

Recruitment of adolescents to participate in the qualitative part of the study was also facilitated by approaching principals of district schools as described above, and was completed between October 2015 and January 2016. Six of the 11 participating schools were selected for qualitative data collection based upon criteria such as location (being in one of the six municipalities of Øvre Romerike), and size (based upon number of students attending). The aim was to include schools with a varied profile, with proximity to city centers, shops, and collective transport as determining factors. Thereafter a selection process for participation in the focus groups was conducted, whereby two students per class were sought after, representing both sexes. Further inclusion criteria stipulated that the students be in the 9th grade, had attended Food and Health classes, and currently lived in the Øvre Romerike area with either one or both parents.

Data collection

Quantitative data.

A web-based questionnaire was used to collect data from the adolescents, using the LimeSurvey data collection tool. The questionnaires were answered at school, taking approximately 30–45 min to complete, and queried respondents about their nutritional intake, parental rules regarding food and drink consumption, students’ school canteen and surrounding shop use, physical activity, and sedentary behaviour habits. Research group members were present during data collection to answer questions and make sure the adolescents responded independently from each other. The questionnaire relating to food behaviours completed by the sample is available online (see Additional file 1 : Appendix 1 ESSENS questionnaire relating to food behaviours).

A pilot test of the survey was conducted parallel with this process in a neighboring municipality with similar age students from the 8th grade ( n  = 23). The students spent approximately 30–40 min to complete the survey, and then provided feedback regarding comprehension. The questionnaire was subsequently shortened and some questions rephrased for clarity. The results of the pilot test were not included in the final results.

Qualitative data

Focus group interviews were conducted over a period of 10 weeks, from November 2015 to January 2016. Focus group settings were favoured as they provide a more relaxed setting for data collection, facilitating the flow of a natural conversation amongst peers, especially when adult researchers interact with young subjects [ 26 ].

Six focus group interviews including a total of 55 students (29 girls, 26 boys) from the 9th grade with an average age of 13–14 years were conducted. Interviews had a duration of approximately 60 min. In addition, interview sessions with headmasters and teachers for the 9th grade students from the participating schools were also conducted. Interviews with 6 teachers (4 women and 2 men) and 6 headmasters (3 women and 3 men) were conducted from October 2015 to January 2016. The interviews with principals and teachers were each conducted separately.

Qualitative data collection took place at the selected schools using an audio recorder, with a semi-structured interview guide used for the interviews, partially inspired by a previous study conducted amongst 11–13 year old Norwegian adolescents [ 27 ]. The main themes explored by the focus group sessions were students’ eating habits, their definition of healthy and unhealthy food, attitudes towards and their impact upon diet and physical activity, as well as the student’s assessment of opportunities and barriers attached to health-promoting behaviour. School administration interviews probed food availability and meals served at the school, as well as physical activity options available for students at the schools. The interview guides used for the focus groups and the school administration are available online (see Additional file 2 : Appendix 2 Interview guide for focus group interviews, and Additional file 3 : Appendix 3 Interview guide for headmasters and teachers).

Interviews were transcribed verbatim, with names of the participants and of the schools anonymised. Interviews were analysed using a thematic analysis approach [ 28 ]. Codes were developed after an initial reading of all the transcripts and were based on the main interview questions, prior research, and emergent concepts from the current data. The initial codes were discussed among researchers and a codebook was developed. The codes were further refined during coding of subsequent transcripts. Codes were then successively grouped into general themes. The data analysis was supported by the use of NVivo software (version 10.0; QSR International, Cambridge, Mass).

Pilot testing of the intended focus group question guide was performed in October 2015 in a school belonging to a neighbouring district. After written consent was obtained from the principal of the school, 6 students from the 9th grade were selected by a 9th grade teacher from the school. Three girls and 3 boys were included in the focus group pilot test. A moderator conducted the focus group following an interview guide in order to test comprehension and flow of the planned themes. The pilot test proved effective and consequently no changes were made to the interview guide. Data from the pilot testing was not included in the results of the study.

Recruitment of school staff for participation in in-depth interviews was also facilitated by the agreement with administrative school leaders as described above. A written invitation was sent to principals and teachers of the 9th grade classes from the same 6 schools participating in focus group interviews. Those agreeing were later contacted by phone to arrange a place and time for the interview.

Pilot testing of school staff interviews was performed in October 2015 in a school belonging to a neighbouring district. Two interviews were conducted with one headmaster and one teacher separately in order to assess the comprehension and flow of the various themes probed, as well as the time used for the interview. Data from the pilot testing was not included in the results of the study.

The following measures obtained from the questionnaire were used in the quantitative analyses of the present study.

Sociodemographic measures

Two questions assessing parental education (guardian 1 and guardian 2) were included on the parental informed consent form for the adolescent. Parental education was categorised as low (12 years or less of education, which corresponded to secondary education or lower) or high (13 years or more of education, which corresponded to university or college attendance). The parent with longest education, or else the one available, was used in analysis. Participants were divided into either ethnic Norwegian or ethnic minority, with minorities defined as those having both parents born in a country other than Norway [ 29 ].

• Dietary behaviours

Frequency of carbonated sugar-sweetened soft-drink intake (hereafter referred to as soft-drinks) during weekdays was assessed using a frequency question with categories ranging from never/seldom to every weekday. Weekday frequency was categorised as less than three times per week and three or more times per week.

The questions assessing the intake of soft-drinks have been validated among 9- and 13-year-old Norwegians using a 4-day pre-coded food diary as the reference method, and moderate Spearman’s correlation coefficients were obtained [ 30 ].

Consumption of fruits and vegetables (raw and cooked) were assessed using frequency questions with eight response categories ranging from never/seldom to three times per day or more. These were further categorised as less than five times per week and five or more times per week. The questions assessing intake of fruits and vegetables have been validated among 11-year-olds with a 7-day food record as the reference method and were found to have a satisfactory ability to rank subjects according to their intake of fruits and vegetables [ 31 ].

The consumption of snacks [sweet snacks (chocolate/sweets), salty snacks (e.g. potato chips), and baked sweets (sweet biscuits/muffins and similar)] was assessed using three questions with seven response categories ranging from never/seldom to two times per day or more. These were further categorised as less than three times per week and three or more times per week. Acceptable to moderate test-retest reliability have been obtained for these measures of dietary behaviours in a previous Norwegian study conducted among 11-year-olds [ 27 ].

Self-efficacy related to the consumption of healthy foods was assessed using a scale with six items [e.g. Whenever I have a choice of the food I eat. .., I find it difficult to choose low-fat foods (e.g. fruit or skimmed milk rather than ‘full cream milk’)]. Responses were further categorised as those with ‘high’ self-efficacy (score of 3.5 or higher, from a scale of 1–5) or ‘low’ self-efficacy (under 3.5, from a scale of 1–5). The scale has been found to have adequate reliability and factorial validity among 13-year-olds [ 32 ].

Adolescents’ breakfast consumption was assessed using one question asking the adolescents on how many schooldays per week they normally ate breakfast. The answers were categorised as those eating breakfast 5 times per week or less than 5 times per week. This question has shown evidence of moderate test-retest reliability (percentage agreement of 83 and 81% respectively for weekday and weekend measures) and moderate construct validity (percentage agreement of 80 and 87% respectively for weekday and weekend measures) among 10–12 year old European children [ 27 ].

Food/drink purchases in school environment

The adolescents were asked how often they purchased foods or drinks from school canteens and on their way to and from school (answer categories ranging from ‘never’ to ‘every day’). The frequency of purchase of food/drinks at the school canteen were then re-categorised into ‘never/rarely’, ‘once per week’, or ‘two or more times per week’. The frequency of purchase of food/drinks at off-campus food stores were re-categorised into ‘never/rarely’, or ‘one or more times per week’. They were also asked about the presence of food sales outlets (e.g. supermarket, kiosk, or gas station) in a walking distance from their school (with answer categories ‘none’, ‘yes, one’, ‘yes, two’, and ‘yes, more than two’), with results categorised as ‘less than 3’ or ‘3 or more’.

Further details regarding data collection and methodology in the ESSENS study have been described previously [ 10 ]. Ethical clearance for the study was obtained from the Norwegian Social Science Data Service (NSD 2015/44365). Written informed consent was obtained from all parents of participating students.

Statistical analyses

The study sample was divided into three groups, those who reported ‘never or rarely’ using the school canteen (NEV), those using the canteen once per week (SEL), and those reporting use of the school canteen ‘two or more times during the week’ (OFT). Results are presented as frequencies (%), with chi-square tests performed to examine differences in sociodemographic, behavioural, and dietary characteristics between the three groups. A further logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the adjusted associations between canteen use and dietary habits (salty snacks, baked sweets, soft-drinks, and home breakfast frequency). Adjustment was made for significant sociodemographic and behavioural characteristics (gender, parental education, self-efficacy) and shop use (during school break and before/after school). Logistic regression was also used to explore the adjusted association between visiting shops during school breaks or before/after school (‘never/rarely’, ‘one or more times per week’), and use of canteen (NEV, SEL, OFT). Results are presented as crude odds ratios (cOR) and adjusted odds ratios (aOR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Cases with missing data were excluded from relevant analyses. Because schools were the unit of measurement in this study, we checked for clustering effect through the linear mixed model procedure. Only 3% of the unexplained variance in the dietary behaviours investigated was at the school level, hence adjustment for clustering effect was not done.

A significance level of 0.05 was used. All analyses were performed using SPSS 24.0 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA).

Sample demographics

The mean age of the survey sample was 13.6 years ±0.3 standard deviation, 53% of participants were females, and 60% had parents with a high level of education (≥13y, Table  1 ). The proportion of adolescents who never or rarely used the school canteen was 67.4%. When comparing demographics and behavioural characteristics for the sample grouped as those using the school canteen never/rarely (NEV), those using the canteen once a week (SEL, 19.7%), and those using the canteen two or more times a week (OFT, 12.9%), we found a significantly higher proportion of the NEV group were female, having parents with a high education, and with a high self-efficacy.

Canteen use and dietary habits

When analysing the dietary habits for the sample grouped by frequency of canteen use, a significantly higher proportion of the OFT group reported consuming salty snacks, baked sweets, and soft-drinks ≥3 times per school week, and a significantly higher proportion of the NEV group reported eating breakfast 5 days in the school week compared to the SEL and OFT groups (Table  2 ). A multiple logistic regression was conducted to assess whether these significant associations between canteen use and dietary behaviours persisted after adjustment for gender, parental education, self-efficacy, and use of shops (both during and before/after school). The difference between NEV, SEL, and OFT adolescents regarding baked sweets thereafter became non-significant. However, the difference between NEV and OFT adolescents regarding salty snacks, soft-drinks, and breakfast consumption remained significant, indicating that adolescents using the canteen ≥2 times per week had increased odds for consuming salty snacks and soft-drinks (aOR 2.05, 95% CI 1.07–3.94, p  < 0.03, and aOR 2.32, 95% CI 1.16–4.65, p  < 0.02, respectively, data not shown). Additionally, the OFT group had reduced odds of consuming breakfast at home daily (aOR 0.48, 95% CI 0.28–0.80, p  = 0.005, data not shown). No significant differences between the three groups were found for the other food items explored.

School environment

When comparing the frequency of food purchases at shops during school breaks or on the way to/from school for the NEV, SEL, and OFT groups, we found that a significantly higher proportion of OFT adolescents reported purchasing food/drink from a shop near school either during school breaks or else before or after school, one or more times during the week (Table  3 ). Logistic regression analyses revealed that the OFT group had significantly higher odds of purchasing food/drink from a shop near school, either during school breaks or else before or after school, than the NEV group (aOR = 1.80, 95% CI 1.07–3.01, and aOR = 3.61, 95% CI 2.17–6.01, respectively, Table  4 ).

Results of focus group and interview analyses

The data from the focus group interviews indicated that students were aware of issues related to food and health. A number of the relevant themes which emerged are outlined below.

Student’s lunch habits

The majority of students confirmed that most foods consumed at school were brought from home. Some students, however, stated that the other option was to purchase foods from either the canteen or local shops:

Interviewer: ….do you bring a packed lunch from home regularly? Boy2: We usually tend to buy something from the canteen. Girl5: It’s kind of both in a way. Girl5: Yes. Ehm, it is usually both, there are many who have food with them also. Also you are free to buy something. Boy1: Yes, that’s common…there are quite a few who tend to buy food at the canteen and, yes, the shop.

One teacher suggested it was the presence of pocket money that determined the source of a student’s lunch:

Teacher1: It is an incredibly large amount of money they have to buy canteen food with, especially in the 8th grade…so that means they do not have so much food with them from home, but buy it instead.

Types of foods purchased at school canteen, students’ impression of canteen

In response to the types of foods available for purchase at the canteen, student’s representing different schools reported similar food items. Overall, the students at all schools expressed a level of dissatisfaction with the healthiness of the food/drinks offered by the canteen:

Interviewer: What is the most popular items people buy [at the canteen]? Boy2: Mainly toasted sandwiches Boy2: And wraps Boy3: Eh, maybe a baguette with ham and cheese Boy1: Whole-wheat bread with cheese and ham. Capsicum maybe. Boy2: There are many different drinks one can buy, as well as yoghurt of various kinds. There is also a main thing available too, such as a baguette, pizza, or something similar. Boy2: There are many who buy toasted sandwiches and wraps. Interviewer: What can be done better in order to make other students or yourselves eat healthier from the school’s part?. Girl3: They can begin to sell more fruit and such at the canteen. Boy4: We could have healthier drink offers [from the canteen]…such as smoothies… Girl2:…and switch chocolate milk with plain milk. Boy3: [The canteen] should have healthier alternatives, not just unhealthy white-flour baguettes …with a little cheese, bit of ham and a little butter…..

Peer influence, perceived peer self-efficacy regarding healthy eating

There were questions designed to assess if students perceived other students as being more concerned with healthy eating. Those bringing food from home or considered ‘sporty’ were often perceived as eating healthy food, with the overall impression that those perceived as eating healthy tended to not purchase food at the canteen:

Interviewer: …do you think there are some in your class then, that are more concerned with eating healthy than others? Boy3: Yes, there are. Interviewer: Who are they then? Boy3: Those who ski. Interviewer: How do you know that? Or, what is it that makes them stand out? Boy2: They….don’t buy food at the canteen. Boy4: They eat healthy food Boy1: Those that eat relatively healthy food as a rule usually prepare food themselves.

A number of school staff commented upon the influence some students’ lunch habits had upon others:

Teacher6: …if there is one who begins to drop home brought food because it is boring, it become contagious over other’s behaviour I think, and then it isn’t cool to eat home packed lunches. They are at a very vulnerable age, and very affected by such things I believe. Teacher2: …(food choices are affected by) what food they have at home, how much money they have in their pocket, and what their friends eat. I think it is these three things. And I think some….won’t bring out their home packed lunch because it is not cool enough.

Prices, timing, and permission for visiting shops

In many instances, it was reported that although leaving school grounds was not allowed during school hours in individual school policy, many students frequently did so in order to visit local food shops during breaks. There were reports of shop visits outside school hours as well (before/after school). Some students also discussed the cheaper prices at the shops, as compared to the school canteen, as being an incentive to purchase from shops.

Girl2: We have some in the class that shoot off to the shops to buy some sort of fast food every day. Interviewer: So you are allowed to leave the school in your free time to buy food? Girl2: No, but after school or right before. Girl4:......They go over [to the shops] when the lunch break starts, then you see them come back when everyone has to go outside then. Boy4: Because then there are no teachers out......and then it is easy to take a trip to the shops and... Boy1: Buy cheaper things. Because they sell at a high price here.

The paradox between students visiting shops in school hours, although not allowed, was also pointed out by school staff:

Teacher1: …no, it is not allowed (to go to the shops), but there are some that do it anyway. Headmaster6: ...of course the schools must represent counterculture in some way….so our students go to the shops…and then they make use of the offers that are there…as long as they have money from home. Teacher2: …and they prefer to go (to the shops) in a group at the same time, because it is social and fun.

Types of foods purchased in shops

When questioned about the types of items purchased at the shops, the majority were in consensus that unhealthy snacks such as sweets, baked goods, and soft-drinks were mainly purchased. No participant mentioned the purchase of healthy food from the shops.

Interviewer: What do people mostly buy there then? You mentioned sweet buns..[Looks at Girl1] Boy2: Both sweet buns and doughnuts. Girl1: There are many that buy candy after school and such. Boy4: There are always some who always have money and always buy candy and such. Just like one I know who bought 1 kg of gingerbread dough here after school one day and sat down and ate it. Girl2: Mostly those….soft drinks Girl1: Soft drinks Boy1: Candy and ice-tea. Boy2: People don’t buy food at the shop…most buy themselves candy.

Adherence of school administration to guidelines for school meals

When school staff were asked about the implementation of the latest guidelines from the Norwegian Directorate of Health, most pointed out that they already offered the suggested timespan suggested for lunch, whilst others had yet to read the document.

Teacher1: We have heard there is something new that has come, but we have not spent a lot of time discussing it amongst ourselves. Teacher2: No, no relationship with them (new guidelines). I'm not sure. We do not sell sodas and juice in the cafeteria, but they [students] have it from home. Teacher3: Hehe, I don’t think I’ve seen them, no…(laughs). Headmaster1: So, what we do is to make sure that they have a good place to eat and that they have peace….we offer supervision and they do have a long enough lunch break, is it 20 minutes they should have? Headmaster2: I just have to be honest, I do not think we have come far with these.

We found the NEV group were mainly female, having a high self-efficacy regarding the consumption of healthy foods, and with parents having an education over 12 years. By contrast, the OFT adolescents had a significantly higher proportion of males consuming salty snacks, baked sweets, and soft-drinks 3 or more times a week, as well as consuming breakfast less than 5 times a week when compared to the other groups, also when controlling for gender, parental education, self-efficacy, and use of shops (both during and before/after school).

When comparing the frequency of purchasing food and drink from local shops for these groups, we found the OFT group had a significantly higher proportion purchasing food/drink from shops near the school, both during the school break as well as before or after school, one or more times per week. Logistic regression analyses revealed the OFT group had nearly twice the odds for visiting shops during the school break, and significantly higher odds for visiting shops before/after school than the NEV group of adolescents.

Of the adolescents featured in this sample, females were revealed as more likely to never or rarely use the school canteen, a finding supported by previous research amongst adolescents [ 33 , 34 ]. That females have been previously reported as having a greater self-efficacy related to healthy eating [ 35 ] may help to explain this result, although another study involving over 1200 students of comparable age found no significant difference in self-efficacy regarding gender [ 36 ]. As 67% of the sample stated that they never or rarely use the school canteen, this then begs the question of what form of lunch this group are consuming. Many of the interviews have mentioned the consumption of home packed lunches, and studies of school lunch habits amongst Norwegian adolescents have previously detailed the importance and predominance of the home packed lunch in Norwegian culture [ 37 , 38 ], with over 60% of young Norwegians reporting a packed lunch for consumption at school, a proportion similar to the results we present here. This figure is also consistent with global reports examining school lunch eating practises [ 39 ].

Our results profile the OFT group as being mostly male, skipping breakfast, with a high frequency of shop visits during and on the way to/from school, and with a higher frequency of snacks, baked sweets, and soft-drinks, elements which have featured in previous studies regarding adolescent consumer behaviour [ 12 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]. A clear association between adolescents skipping breakfast and subsequent purchases of foods from shops and fast food outlets, usually on the way to or from school [ 42 , 44 , 45 , 46 ], in addition to other health-compromising behaviours [ 47 ] have been previously reported.

Although direct questions regarding pocket money were absent from our study, its role in the behaviour of this sample is evident from statements mentioning money use in the school administration interviews as well as alluded to in focus group interviews. Additionally, it stands to reason that adolescents using the school canteen often (i.e. the OFT group) would be equipped with money in order to make such purchases, as financial purchases are the norm in Norwegian secondary schools [ 48 ]. Research directed upon adolescents and pocket money has presented a number of findings that support our results regarding the OFT group, whereby access to spending money was associated with an increase of nutritionally poor food choices by adolescents, such as the increased consumption of fast-foods, soft-drinks, and unhealthy snacks off campus [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ]. These results may also be indicative of a gender imbalance in regards to pocket money provisions, where some studies report upon more males than females receiving pocket money [ 54 , 55 ].

The mean age of this sample previously has been described as a stage in life of an emerging autonomy for young individuals, an autonomy which is exercised in terms of disposable income use and consumption of foods away from home [ 42 , 56 , 57 ]. This period of emerging autonomy may also manifest unhealthy eating behaviours as a strategy to forge identity amongst adolescents [ 58 ]. Frequent mention by students and staff in this study of themes relating to peer influence and defiance of school rules support the link between rebelliousness and unhealthy eating. Moreover, it has been reported previously that foods independently purchased by adolescents are often unhealthy, forbidden or frowned upon by parents, and express a defiant period of appearing ‘cool’ among peers, especially amongst males [ 37 , 59 , 60 , 61 ], all of which support our findings here, particularly regarding gender, self-efficacy, and peer influence.

Value for money and dissatisfaction with the school canteen were frequently mentioned in the focus group interviews, and are elements that may be affecting choices made by the groups in this study. Statements concerning student dissatisfaction with canteen prices and/or the limited healthy options available have also appeared in previous research [ 35 , 37 , 38 , 42 ]. That many of the school administrators interviewed seemed barely aware of the guidelines published by the Norwegian Directorate of Health is an alarming result, and likely adds some degree of weight upon student discontent with the school canteen. Although nearly all reports from the focus groups indicate the shops were used for unhealthy purchases, the possibility that shop purchases are a result of some adolescent’s need for healthier lunch alternatives cannot be dismissed completely.

The focus group interviews together with the quantitative data support the notion of healthy eaters avoiding the school canteen, opting instead for a home packed lunch. This view is further supported by previous reports that home prepared lunches help contribute to a healthy dietary pattern [ 39 , 62 , 63 ]. Furthermore, it has been reported that students consuming a lunch from home have significantly lower odds of consuming off-campus food during the school week [ 41 ], which further concurs with the results presented here.

By contrast, those often using the canteen – which, by all reports, could improve the healthiness of items offered – are using the off-campus shops often, purchasing mainly unhealthy snacks and drinks.

The strengths of the study include a large sample size with a high response rate at the school level, and moderate response rate at the parental level. Using a mixed method approach also provides a more comprehensive assessment of adolescent school lunch behaviours, allowing a fuller understanding of this and other adolescent food-behaviour settings by contrasting the adolescent’s own experiences with quantitative results. That the quantitative material, based on cross-sectional data, precludes any opportunity for causal inference to be made may be one of the prime weaknesses of this study. Quantitative data regarding adherence to national policy regarding school canteens, pocket money and what items it was spent upon, as well as data regarding the content and frequency of home packed lunch consumption, were also lacking from the study, where inclusion of these elements in the various analyses would have considerably strengthened the quality of results. Furthermore, reliance upon self-reported data may have led to issues regarding validity and reliability, particularly with a sample of young adolescents.

We found the majority of adolescents (67.4%) in this sample rarely or never used the school canteen. Those adolescents using the school canteen two or more times a week were also the group most likely to be purchasing food/drink from a shop near the school, either during school breaks or before/after school. This group also tended to skip breakfast and consume snacks and soft-drinks more frequently compared to the adolescents who rarely or never used the school canteen. These findings highlight a lack of satisfaction of items available for consumption at the school canteen, with adolescents intending to use the school canteen preferring instead the shops for foods that are cheaper and more desirable. Future strategies aimed at improving school food environments need to address the elements of value for money and appealing healthy food availability in the school canteen, as well as elements such as peer perception and self-identity attained from adolescent food choices, especially in contrast to the competitiveness of foods offered by nearby food outlets.

Abbreviations

Adjusted odds ratio

Confidence interval

Crude odds ratio

Environmental determinantS of dietary behaviorS among adolescENtS study

Adolescents never or rarely using the school canteen

Norwegian kroner

Adolescents using the school canteen two or more times a week

Adolescents using the school canteen once a week

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Acknowledgements

The ESSENS study is a collaborative project between OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University and the public health project Folkehelseforum Øvre Romerike (FØR). We would like to thank all the participants who took part in this study.

The study was supported by internal funds from OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University.

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Arthur Chortatos, Laura Terragni, Sigrun Henjum, Marianne Gjertsen & Liv Elin Torheim

Department of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA

Mekdes K Gebremariam

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AC conducted the data analyses and wrote the first draft of this manuscript. MKG2 designed the study, led the project planning and implementation of the intervention, and participated in data collection and analyses. LT1, SH, MG1, LET2 and MKG2 substantially contributed to the conception, design, and implementation of the study, as well as providing content to the final manuscript. MG1 recruited participants, conducted and transcribed focus group interviews, and contributed to data analyses. All authors have critically read and given final approval of the final version of the manuscript.

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Additional files

Additional file 1:.

Appendix 1. ESSENS questionnaire relating to food behaviours ESSENS Study. (DOCX 33 kb)

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Appendix 2. Interview guide for focus group interviews. (DOCX 13 kb)

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Appendix 3. Interview guide for headmasters and teachers. (DOCX 14 kb)

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Chortatos, A., Terragni, L., Henjum, S. et al. Consumption habits of school canteen and non-canteen users among Norwegian young adolescents: a mixed method analysis. BMC Pediatr 18 , 328 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-018-1299-0

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Factors that influence food choices in secondary school canteens: a qualitative study of pupil and staff perspectives.

• 1 Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health, School of Biomedical Sciences, Ulster University, Coleraine, United Kingdom
• 2 Education Authority, Armagh, United Kingdom

Background: Adolescence is recognised as a period of nutritional vulnerability, with evidence indicating that United Kingdom adolescents have suboptimal dietary intakes with many failing to meet dietary recommendations. Additionally, adolescence is a time of transition when they become more independent in their dietary choices and begin to develop their own sense of autonomy and are less reliant on their parent’s guidance, which is reported to lead to less favourable dietary behaviours. Reducing the prevalence of poor dietary intakes and the associated negative health consequences among this population is a public health priority and schools represent an important setting to promote positive dietary behaviours. The aim of this school-based study was to explore the factors and barriers which influence food choices within the school canteen and to identify feasible strategies to promote positive dietary behaviours within this setting.

Methods: Thirteen focus groups with 86 pupils in Year 8 ( n  = 37; aged 11–12 years) and Year 9 ( n  = 49; aged 12–13 years) in six secondary schools across Northern Ireland, United Kingdom were conducted. Additionally, one-to-one virtual interviews were conducted with 29 school staff [principals/vice-principals ( n  = 4); teachers ( n  = 17); and caterers ( n  = 7)] across 17 secondary schools and an Education Authority (EA) senior staff member ( n  = 1). Focus groups and interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed following an inductive thematic approach.

Results: Using the ecological framework, multiple factors were identified which influenced pupils’ selection of food in the school canteen at the individual (e.g., time/convenience), social (e.g., peer influence), physical (e.g., food/beverage placement), and macro environment (e.g., food provision) level. Suggestions for improvement of food choices were also identified at each ecological level: individual (e.g., rewards), social (e.g., pupil-led initiatives), physical (e.g., labelling), and macro environment (e.g., whole-school approaches).

Conclusion: Low-cost and non-labour intensive practical strategies could be employed, including menu and labelling strategies, placement of foods, reviewing pricing policies and whole-school initiatives in developing future dietary interventions to positively enhance adolescents’ food choices in secondary schools.

Introduction

Globally, adolescent overweight and obesity has increased significantly ( 1 ) and is now recognised as one of the most urgent public health challenges ( 2 ). This issue is particularly prevalent within the United Kingdom, with >30% of adolescents (aged 11–15 years) impacted by overweight or obesity ( 3 ). The negative physical ( 4 , 5 ) and psychological ( 4 – 6 ) health implications associated with adolescent obesity are well-documented. Additionally, challenges also exist with reversing adolescent obesity, with 80% of obese adolescents likely to remain obese in adulthood ( 7 ), increasing the risk of further poor health outcomes in later life ( 8 ). Thus, determining effective preventative measures to mitigate the risk of obesity among this population is crucial to improve current and future health and minimise long-term obesity-related medical costs ( 9 ).

Less healthful dietary behaviours during adolescence, such as the overconsumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods, can increase short ( 10 ) and long-term ( 11 ) obesity risk. United Kingdom adolescents’ dietary habits are of concern, with The National Diet and Nutrition Survey indicating suboptimal dietary behaviours among this population, including inadequate consumption of fruit and vegetables ( 12 ), low fibre intakes ( 13 ), excessive fat and sugar intakes ( 13 ) and higher energy intake also among those with overweight or obesity ( 14 ). As children transition to adolescents, they can become more susceptible to consuming an unbalanced diet ( 15 ) and dietary behaviours acquired during this period can persist into adult life ( 16 ). Therefore, dietary intervention during adolescence is essential to offset trends of declining dietary quality and establish healthy eating behaviours that can be sustained across the lifespan.

Adolescents are required to spend 190 days each year in school ( 17 ). Given the continuous contact time schools provide to this population, this setting represents a promising environment to deliver dietary interventions ( 18 ). School-based interventions are cost-effective ( 19 ) and offer the opportunity to reach the majority of adolescents, irrespective of socio-economic status or ethnical background ( 20 ). Moreover, adolescents’ consume a substantial proportion of their daily energy intakes in school (up to 1–2 meals per day) ( 21 , 22 ). However, despite consistent efforts to determine the most effective school-based interventions to improve adolescents’ dietary intakes, outcomes remain short-term ( 23 ).

In Northern Ireland (NI), records suggest that more than half of adolescents (54–63%) typically consume school meals (provided by schools) at lunchtime ( 24 ) as opposed to a packed lunch (brought from home) or sourcing items from nearby food outlets. Mandatory food-based standards ( 25 ) are in place in NI schools to ensure pupils have access to a healthy and balanced school meal ( 26 ), which is of particular benefit to those who may have limited access to nutritious food outside school. However, although secondary schools provide healthier options compliant with the school-food standards, many adolescents continue to purchase the less nutritious items from the menu on offer ( 27 ), highlighting the need to explore alternate influential factors on adolescents’ lunchtime food choices. In addition to improved food provision, nutritional education is also compulsory in NI secondary schools (post-primary) for adolescents in Key Stage 3 (aged 11–14 years) ( 28 ), albeit, adolescents’ nutritional knowledge often has minimal impact on their food choices ( 29 ). Thus, identifying additional opportunities within the school-setting to promote positive dietary change is of importance. As pupils progress from primary to secondary education, parental control over their eating behaviours lessens and their propensity towards their dietary decisions become more independent-based ( 15 ). It is therefore pertinent to gain insight into the principal factors influencing adolescents’ school-based food choices as they develop increasing nutritional autonomy during this transitional period to optimise engagement and success of future school-based dietary interventions.

Research suggests that adolescents’ food choices within the school canteen can be influenced by various food-related factors, including available items, quality, appearance, taste, cost, value for money and peer pressure to opt for specific foods and canteen-related factors such as food hygiene, school menu and price displays, queue length and seating availability ( 30 ). More recent work has revealed adolescents’ favour take away items in the school canteen and associate ‘main meals’ as food to be consumed within the home environment ( 31 ).

In order to better understand the multiple levels of influence on adolescents’ food choices, Story et al. ( 32 ) proposed an ecological framework to consider their eating behaviours under four broad levels of influence to include individual (intrapersonal), social environmental (interpersonal), physical environmental, and macro level to aid in the design of appropriate nutrition interventions targeted at this population.

The difficulties associated with changing health behaviours are well recognised ( 33 ). When designing interventions, early involvement of stakeholders and the target user is recommended ( 34 ). In addition, although often under-utilised, qualitative research methodologies may assist in informing and optimising the design of interventions ( 35 ). Gaining further understanding of NI adolescents’ perspectives on the factors influencing their food choices within school and their suggestions on how best to address these factors through school-based strategies is needed if effective interventions to enhance positive dietary behaviours in this population are to be achieved. Additionally, a paucity of information exists on United Kingdom school staff’s perspectives on adolescents’ school-based food choices and their recommendations for improvement, limiting the ability for comparisons between key stakeholder groups to be examined. Furthermore, to aid in successful intervention design, consulting with school staff may provide researchers with a better understanding of any existing implementation practicalities to consider, such as schools’ academic priorities, available resources and the need to avoid over-burdening staff ( 36 ).

The aim of this study was to explore the primary factors influencing adolescents’ food choices within the school canteen environment from the pupil and school staff perspective. Additionally, a secondary aim was to identify feasible strategies to encourage healthful food choices amongst adolescents within the school-setting.

Study design

Qualitative research methods were selected to provide insight into the complexity of individuals’ food-related behaviours ( 37 ), in addition to their interactive nature to facilitate in-depth exploration of topics raised that is less possible with quantitative surveys ( 38 , 39 ). Focus groups with pupils and one-to-one interviews with school staff were conducted to capture participants’ perspectives, attitudes, and experiences ( 40 , 41 ). The reporting of this study is aligned with the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ; Supplementary Table S1 ) ( 42 ). This study was conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki and all procedures involving human subjects were approved by Ulster University’s Research Ethics Committee (FCBMS-20-016-A; REC/20/0031). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants and their parents/ guardians.

Sample selection and recruitment

School pupils.

Year 8 (aged 11–12 years) and Year 9 (aged 12–13 years) pupils in seven purposively sampled ( 43 ) mixed-gender secondary schools in NI were invited to take part in this study. Year 8 (aged 11–12 years) and year 9 (aged 12–13 years) pupils were the focus as they had recently transitioned to secondary school and had become exposed to making independent food choices in the school canteen. Pupils who purchased food in the school canteen regularly (at least once each week) were eligible to participate. Schools were contacted via email or telephone and following agreement from the school principal, information sheets, assent and consent forms were distributed by a senior teacher to eligible pupils and asked to discuss with their parents/guardians. Participants who returned completed assent and consent forms were selected by a senior teacher to participate in the focus group.

School staff

A purposive sample ( 43 ) of school staff from a range of socio-economic (assessed using number of free school meals) and geographically diverse mixed-gender secondary schools ( n  = 17) across NI were invited to participate in this study. All grades of staff were eligible to participate including principals/vice principals and teaching staff from a range of subject disciplines. School catering staff included supervisors and caterers. Additionally, as the EA has responsibility for school meal provision in a large proportion of NI secondary schools, one senior EA staff member was invited to participate. School staff were contacted via email or telephone, and following agreement, information sheets and consent forms were distributed.

Data collection

Pupils participated in mixed-gender focus groups and staff in one-to-one interviews, which were conducted independently by a researcher trained in qualitative research (L.D.D, PhD researcher, not affiliated with schools). Similar semi-structured discussion guides were used for the focus groups and interviews ( Table 1 ) to ensure consistency and facilitate comparability between the pupils’ and staff’s perspectives. All focus groups and interview discussions were facilitated by the researcher using the topic guide to explore key issues. To enhance interaction and active listening during the discussions, notes were made directly after each session to enrich the data collected ( 40 ). Focus groups and interviews were undertaken until data saturation had been reached ( 44 ).

Table 1 . Semi-structured discussion guide for pupils focus groups and school staff interviews.

Mixed-gender focus groups of 5–8 pupils were conducted between May and June 2021 within the school (classroom or hall) and during school hours under observation from a senior teacher. All pupils were reminded prior to commencing the focus groups that the information they provided would remain anonymous and would not be shared with their parents or school staff. The topic guide ( Table 1 ) was designed and developed based on a review of the area and pilot tested on a small group of Year 8 pupils in different schools to test the questions for level of comprehension to optimise clarity of questions ( 45 ). Focus group sessions were on average 30 min duration (range 12–43 min).

One-to-one interviews were conducted remotely with school staff via Microsoft Teams or by telephone call at a suitable time for each participant between October and December 2020. Interview questions were pilot tested with one teacher in a different school to test suitability of questions. Interviews took on average 30 min (range 9–57 min).

Data analysis

Focus groups and interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were uploaded to NVivo 12 Pro Software (QSR International) for data management and analysed following the six phases of reflexive thematic analysis using an inductive approach ( 46 ). Codes were independently applied to quotes throughout each transcript by a member of the research team (L.D.D). To minimise the risk of bias and ensure correct interpretation of quotes, transcripts and codes were critically reviewed, discussed and confirmed by the research team (A.J.H and A.M.G). Quotes representing similar views were then clustered together and assigned initial sub-themes (L.D.D), which were reviewed by the research team (A.J.H and A.M.G) and refined before reaching consensus on the potential sub-themes. Each sub-theme was then mapped to each level of the ecological model, namely: individual (intrapersonal), social environment (interpersonal), physical environment, and macro environment ( 32 ). Quotes that were most reflective of the sub-themes were selected for inclusion.

Participant and school characteristics

Of the seven purposively sampled schools, six schools expressed an interest in participating and one did not respond to the study invitation. 86 pupils participated in 13 focus groups across the six schools ( n  = 4 urban; n  = 2 rural) throughout three different district council areas in NI, with six focus groups undertaken with Year 8 pupils ( n  = 24 female; n  = 13 males) and seven with Year 9 pupils ( n  = 28 female; n  = 21 males). All six schools were co-educational and mixed-gender. Free school meal entitlement across the schools ranged from 21 to 53%.

Of the 35 participants who received initial invitations, 29 participated in this study (four did not respond to the study invitation; one did not return the consent form; one was excluded as they did not have recent experience in a secondary school). The final sample of 29 (24 females, 5 males) comprised principals ( n  = 2), vice-principals ( n  = 2), teachers ( n  = 17), catering staff ( n  = 7) sampled across 17 secondary schools, and a senior staff member ( n  = 1) in the EA. The schools were in urban ( n  = 14) and rural ( n  = 3) environments located within eight of 11 district council areas in NI. 16 schools were co-educational (mixed-gender) with one school being female only. Free school meal entitlement in these schools ranged from 7 to 54%.

The key sub-themes identified from the pupils’ and staff’s responses and exemplar quotes are reported in Tables 2 , 3 using under the four levels of the ecological framework: individual (intrapersonal), social environment (interpersonal), physical environment, and macro environment ( 32 ).

Table 2 . Pupils’ and school staff’s perceptions on the influences of adolescents’ dietary choices in the school canteen.

Table 3 . Pupils’ and school staff’s views on strategies to encourage selecting healthier options in the school canteen.

Influences on pupils’ food choices in the school canteen

Individual (intrapersonal).

Exemplar quotes to illustrate the following sub-themes are shown in Table 2 .

Internal motivations

Pupils’ personal preferences, in addition to taste, appearance and habitual intakes, were important factors that influence their food choices in the school canteen. These factors often took precedence over the healthiness of the food items on offer, with many pupils commenting that options which were perceived to be less healthy were more tasteful. Pupils’ also commented that if they did not like the choices available, they may have not have lunch in the canteen that day.

‘I just pick what I like’ (P14, FG2, F)

School staff had similar perceptions regarding personal preferences and reinforced that pupils were more likely to select items which were less healthy. School staff also reported that the appearance, familiarity and taste of the food were important when selecting items in the canteen and that these factors may act as barriers to pupils choosing alternate food options.

Time and convenience

Many pupils identified time restrictions as being a major barrier when making food choices as they have limited time for lunch break and many preferred convenient, ‘grab-and-go’ options as they preferred to maximise their free time with peers and participate in lunchtime activities. Additionally, the length of queue in the canteen was also commonly cited, with pupils’ opting for meals which had shorter queues, which may influence choice and possibly discourage pupils from eating in the canteen or skipping their lunchtime meal.

‘If there’s big long queues, I just say forget it and not eat’ (P79, FG11, M)

This was similar to school staff’s views, who suggested that the queues were a factor which influenced food choices in the canteen and this issue was identified to be of greater importance for male pupils who prioritised socialising outside at lunchtime and were less likely to be waiting in queues. School staff also described how in more recent years, pupils’ choices have gradually changed over the years from selecting more traditional sit-down meals in the canteen to more convenient, portable and on-the-go options.

Financial motivations

Both pupils and staff commonly reported that price, value for money and portion size influenced food choice. For example, fruit options were reported to be of a small portion size and lower satiety value, thus, not good value for money, and therefore limited the selection of these items. Additionally, pupils reported that food items were expensive, with one pupil noting that on occasions, money allocated from ‘free school meal entitlement’ was insufficient to cover the cost of lunch. Financial motivations were identified as a key theme reported by five out of six schools regardless of whether the school was located in an area deemed to be rural or urban.

‘Not everyone can afford spending like £3 a day on lunch’ (P62, FG9, M)

School staff also commented that they believed that pupils had a budget to purchase lunch and that the cost of food items and value for money was an important factor in their choice of food. It was noted by staff that dissatisfaction with food choice for value for money was perceived to increase the number of pupils opting for a packed lunch. School staff also commented that male pupils prioritise purchasing food which seemed to have larger portion sizes.

Nutritional knowledge

Pupils’ reported different views on the importance of understanding the nutritional value and composition of foods and whether the food was a healthy choice. Some pupils stated that they were unaware of which foods and meals were healthier, whereas, others were very aware of the healthier options. Both groups stated that this would not be a primary factor to influence their food choices.

‘I do not mind if its healthy or not, it does not influence me’ (P17, FG3, M)

School staff agreed that they did not believe that nutritional knowledge was a key factor in influencing food choices of most pupils and reported that other factors, such as taste preferences, familiarity and convenience were more of a priority whilst in school. Nutrition education forms part of the curriculum for all secondary (post-primary) school pupils in NI for Year 8–10 (aged 11–14 years), however, staff reported that this knowledge was not considered to be sufficient to change their behaviour and translate into more positive health behaviours in the canteen.

Social environmental (interpersonal)

Peer influence.

Peers were consistently identified as a major influence on pupils’ food choices. Pupils reported feeling pressurised to select similar items in the canteen to those of their peer group to avoid negative comments. Both male and female pupils expressed concerns about how their peers viewed them when making their individual food choices and that selecting certain food items in the canteen may not be considered socially acceptable.

‘Like today, one person got pizza and then everyone else just got the pizza, it’s just what everyone else gets, you have to get’ (P22, FG4, F)

Peer influence was also the most dominant, reoccurring sub-theme within this level (social environmental) among school staff. School staff shared the view that pupils’ want to emulate their peers and aim to conform to what is perceived to be acceptable eating behaviours in an attempt to avoid standing out and to preserve a positive social status. In addition, catering staff reported viewing peer-induced choices in the canteen, with pupils selecting similar items to their friends.

Home influence

No pupils made reference to the influence of eating habits at home impacting on food choice in the school canteen. However, school staff expressed that eating habits established at home are reflective of pupils’ food behaviours in school and that both schools and parents need to promote positive eating behaviours to pupils simultaneously for the message to be impactful, as schools alone were considered to be insufficient to achieve sustainable positive dietary change.

Physical environmental

Placement of food and beverages.

The location and ease of access to food and beverage items in the canteen was noted as being influential on food choice. Pupils’ acknowledged that healthier options were usually in a less prominent position in the canteen and often placed out of sight, having a direct influence on their purchasing decisions.

‘The apples are sort of out of the way, so you would not pick an apple because the biscuits are there, so you would just pick a biscuit’ (P14, FG2, F)

School staff also recognised the impact of product placement on pupils’ food choice and cited that they are likely to opt for the food items which they observe first in the canteen.

Menu options and pricing information

Pupils indicated that they were often unaware of what foods were available on the menu in the canteen daily. This uncertainty of the menu was reported to impact on purchasing decisions, for example, pupils opting for a packed lunch or skipping their school meal. Pupils also noted dissatisfaction with clarity of pricing information and thus difficulties arose when choosing meals.

‘You do not really know how much something is going to cost until you go to pay for it so you do not [buy it]’ (P84, FG13, M)

The majority of school staff members did not comment on school menus and pricing information in influencing adolescents’ food choice. A few school staff reported that lunchtime menus were displayed in their schools, however, considered them to be ineffective or overlooked by pupils.

Macro environment

Exemplar quotes to illustrate the following sub-theme are provided in Table 2 .

Food provision

Pupils and school staff both cited food availability in the canteen as having a direct influence on the item’s pupils were consuming daily. Pupils also perceived there to be a lack of variety served in the canteen and that the options provided can often be repetitive. According to school staff, the canteen offered a good range of food options.

Strategies to encourage selecting healthier options in the school canteen setting

Exemplar quotes to illustrate the following sub-themes are provided in Table 3 .

Taster opportunities

To encourage the selection of healthier items in the school canteen, pupils’ and school staff recommended providing pupils with the option to sample certain food items prior to purchasing them to minimise financial risk.

Autonomy in food choice

Some pupils reported that combined food items in the canteen were off-putting, for example, mixed vegetable dishes and pre-made fruit salads. To counteract this barrier of improved food choices and to facilitate a higher uptake of these items in the canteen, pupils suggested that options be served separately to allow independent, self-selection of these items.

School staff did not directly comment on pupil’s autonomy to promote positive food decisions in the school canteen.

Rewards and incentives

The opportunity to receive rewards as a strategy to engage pupils in healthy eating practises in the canteen was a common, reoccurring sub-theme. Social rewards (e.g., trips, queue skips, extended lunchbreaks, sports activities, non-uniform day, and homework exemption pass), financial rewards (e.g., vouchers, discounted/free canteen items), and recognition rewards (e.g., certificates, awards/credit points) were reported as suitable incentives by pupils to encourage healthier choices in the school canteen. It was clear from the discussions that the concept of tracking their progress could stimulate further interaction with a reward scheme and incorporating in a competitive element at both individual and class group level.

‘A VIP pass to the front of the line’ (P32, FG5, M)

School staff’s views reflected pupils’ in that they also recommended the use of social, financial, and recognition rewards to incentivise pupils to select healthier choices and considered that this would encourage pupils, in particular younger pupils, to be more proactive in their food-based decision making.

Exemplar quotes to illustrate the following sub-theme are provided in Table 3 .

Pupil-led initiatives

Pupils did not make suggestions on how their friends (e.g., pupil-led initiatives) could be a strategy for encouraging the selection of healthier items in the school canteen.

School staff recommended utilising peer networks as an effective means of facilitating positive food choices among adolescents and felt pupils were more likely to resonate with information provided by their peers than those delivered by staff. More specifically, school staff advocated for schools to implement specific roles for senior pupils to act as healthy eating ambassadors within the school to promote healthy eating.

When pupils were asked how best to promote selecting healthier options in the canteen, displaying nutritional labels was highlighted as a means of facilitating their ability to make informed decisions about food choices. Both male and female pupils recommended visual labelling schemes, for example, symbols or icons. Pupils also suggested that schools applying the traffic-light colour-coding system to food items in the canteen and to the school menus would be useful. In addition to nutritional labelling, pupils stated the importance of general food labelling, such as the food item name and ingredients.

‘Colours would help because if you say put the unhealthy options maybe in red, it would maybe drive us towards the green’ (P59, FG9, F)

School staff also proposed labelling of foods and menus as an efficient strategy to facilitate positive food behaviours in the canteen. They suggested colour-coding and visual labelling, but urged the need for caution on calorie/energy labelling, stating concerns of the impact this may have on pupils who may already be weight conscious. School staff suggested that traffic-light labelling in particular would be applicable in the canteen setting and commented that pupils would be familiar with this scheme as it is covered early in the compulsory Home Economics Key Stage 3 (pupils aged 11–14 years) school curriculum. However, it was also noted that labelling schemes may be onerous on the canteen staff and adversely impact on their daily duties and should be considered.

Improved information accessibility

Another recommendation raised by the pupils was making menu and pricing information accessible in the canteen to enable them to make informed choices. Pupils suggested placing visual, eye-catching menu and pricing displays on the canteen walls that they could read readily whilst queueing. Additional menu and pricing information around the school, in classrooms, on school apps, websites and social media was also cited. Some pupils also advocated for healthy eating posters to be displayed in school, whilst others felt they would not be impactful. In addition, they expressed their desire to pre-order their meals, and to have knowledge in advance of what food items were going to be available daily.

School staff suggested further promotion of the school menus, for example, sending them to parents and uploading them on to the school apps, websites and social media platforms. School staff also recommended placing posters in different locations throughout the school.

Placement manipulations

Pupils and staff both commented on making improvements to where healthier food items were situated in the canteen. Pupils advocated for the healthier food items to be clearly visible in the canteen, whilst school staff advised ensuring that the healthier items were positioned more prominently and first in line in the serving area, as pupils can have their foods selected before having the opportunity to view the healthier options available.

Special offers

Applying special offers and reducing the price of the healthier items in the canteen was a view shared by both pupils and school staff. The concept of a healthy meal deal was reported amongst both pupils and school staff to allow pupils the opportunity to afford, for example, a healthy main meal, snack item and beverage.

‘If the healthy foods were just really cheap that would drive people towards them because people go for the cheap’ (P59, FG9, F)

Increasing the variety of foods on offer in the canteen was noted among pupils, with some pupils advocating for more healthy options, such as additional fruit and salad items.

School staff discussed restricting the sale of the less healthy options. However, it was also acknowledged that although the provision of healthy food items was a priority, it was important to recognise that the canteen was a business and there was a need to find a balance between serving the healthier options and those in demand by pupils in order to maintain pupil uptake and preserve the overall financial viability of the canteen.

Whole-school approach and educational practices

Pupils did not advocate for further input from school staff to encourage healthy eating or their nutrition-based education as strategies to promote improved food choices in the school canteen.

As Home Economics is a non-compulsory subject for pupils beyond Key Stage 3 education (pupils aged 11–14 years), principals and teachers suggested a whole-school, cross-curricular approach to delivering nutrition education to pupils which should involve other departments incorporating the promotion of healthy eating into their subjects. Some examples included the English department assigning pupils written tasks on the topic of healthy eating and the art department incorporating healthy eating poster campaigns as part of the curriculum. It was noted that as a start to have even one stand-alone lesson across a number of taught subjects would facilitate pupils thinking more about their food choices and could prove beneficial. School staff also acknowledged that healthy eating promotion should not be limited to the Home Economics department and suggested additional whole-school, educational strategies to promote healthy eating such as delivering talks during assemblies and educating parents.

‘It would be a good idea to have at least one initiative, whole-school, a year and try and drive that message home, because in that way you’re targeting the whole-school population rather than those just in Home Economics’ (P8, T, F)

This study explored pupils’ (aged 11–13 years) and school staff’s perspectives on the main factors influencing adolescents’ canteen-based food choices and how best to encourage this population to select healthier food items within this environment. This qualitative research has identified several influential factors on food choices and recommended strategies for improvement to consider when designing future school-based interventions aiming to facilitate positive dietary behaviours among adolescents that are both acceptable to the target population and viewed as feasible for implementation by key school staff members.

In this present study, both pupils’ and school staff cited habitual intakes and personal preferences as important determinants of adolescents’ food choices within the school canteen. Food appearance and perceived taste were also identified as particularly salient factors, which can act as deterrents to selecting the healthier items available in the canteen. These findings support recent research by Glabska et al. ( 47 ) whereby adolescents considered sensory appeal of higher importance than health when determining food choices. Moreover, taste has consistently been identified in the literature to motivate adolescents’ school-based food choices irrespective of gender or location ( 30 , 48 – 52 ). Opportunities to sample items served in the school canteen free of charge was a strategy proposed by participants in the present study, which aligns with previous United Kingdom research ( 53 ) reporting that 9–10-year-old advocated for exposure to new foods through school ‘taster sessions’.

The influence of queues on United Kingdom adolescents’ food choices in the school canteen has been reported from the early 2000s ( 38 , 54 ). Results from the present study confirm that queue length remains a prominent factor when making dietary decisions in the school canteen. Data from the present study also identified that long queues can negatively influence adolescents’ food choices, and in line with previous studies in the United Kingdom ( 55 ) and further afield ( 56 ), can act as a barrier to school meal uptake, with pupils’ often sacrificing their school lunch due to long waiting times. Thus, efforts to alleviate the impact of queue length at lunchtime, such as implementing staggered breaks for different year groups or, as suggested in the present study, providing queue skips as a reward for healthy eating, may be measures for schools to consider to both encourage the uptake of school meals and establish healthier dietary habits within this environment. Findings from the current study also correspond with past research ( 57 ) that adolescents’ can be more inclined to opt for the grab-and-go options available in the canteen. As grab-and-go foods tend to be ultra-processed with typically high fat, sugar and salt contents ( 58 ), it is important that schools provide alternate nutritious, readily available grab-and-go options to support healthy school-based food choices.

In accordance with previous literature, highlighting the influential role of peer social conformity in influencing adolescents’ dietary intakes ( 59 ), the present study further evidences that peer acceptance is also fundamental when considering food options in the school-setting, which can impede the selection of healthier items. Recent work has highlighted gender differences among this age group, with females having larger concern for peer perceptions than males in relation to their dietary behaviours in school ( 60 , 61 ). Interestingly, these gender disparities were not apparent in the present study, with both male and female pupils reporting feeling conscious and subject to disapproval from their peers if they opted for the healthier options, directly impacting their food choices in the school canteen. Given the perceived impact peers pose on purchasing decisions, school staff in the present study proposed involving peers in school-based strategies to promote positive dietary behaviours and particularly emphasised the opportunity to utilise senior peers in healthy eating school-based initiatives. In Australia, senior pupils have proven effective in role modelling healthful behaviours among the younger pupils in secondary school ( 62 ). Additionally, in America, a peer-led, school-based nutrition education intervention among adolescents was positively viewed and reported as feasible and acceptable among pupils, peer-leaders and teaching staff, with peer-leaders also citing improved dietary practices and awareness of healthy eating as a result of their role ( 63 ). However, the feasibility and acceptability of delivering a peer-led, school-based dietary intervention in secondary schools across NI is unknown, and thus, further investigation is warranted.

Whilst peers appear to have a significant role in influencing adolescents’ school-based dietary behaviours, school staff in the present study also cited the importance of home and parental influences in helping school’s shape adolescents’ dietary practices and were of the opinion that ‘ we can only do so much’ . This is comparable to an English study where secondary school headteachers and chairs of governors viewed parents as key influencers on adolescents’ lifestyle habits and that any measures taken by schools to improve these behaviours can either be supported or impaired by the home environment ( 64 ). Contrary to previous research ( 65 ), pupils’ in the present study did not acknowledge their parents or their home environment as an influential factor on their food choices in school, which may reflect how this population group place greater importance on expressing their own individual autonomy at this life stage. Future work to determine NI parents’/guardians’ perspectives on both their own and the school’s responsibilities in influencing adolescents’ food choices within the school-setting may be worthwhile.

Ultimately, participants in this study cited that adolescents’ food choices are influenced by what is available to them. In NI, assisted by a checklist, individual schools are required to self-monitor their compliance with the school food standards ( 66 ). In a recent study, NI stakeholders’ commented that adherence to the school-based standards may be negatively impacted due to a lack of monitoring ( 15 ), thus, implementation of a systematic monitoring process or procedure may be beneficial to enhance the provision of nutritious foods across NI schools.

Based on findings from the present study, pupils would welcome more frequent information on school meal choices on the menu and food prices, which would assist with pre-planning their meals. In addition to suggesting improvements to menu and pricing information, some pupils advocated for a pre-order lunch system, which has been previously shown to increase the selection of fruit, vegetable and low-fat milk items among youth in US school canteens, however, more research is required with larger sample sizes and in alternate locations to generalise these findings ( 67 ).

Incorporating labelling schemes for items served in the canteen was a leading strategy recommended from both pupils and school staff to improve food choices. Pupils and staff suggested visual labels, with pupils placing emphasis on the usage of icons and symbols. This suggestion supports previous research ( 68 ) which showed subtle messaging around foods was more impactful than explicit messaging, with adults more likely to select healthier items labelled with a heart logo than those with labels stating ‘a healthy choice’. Discussions with pupils and school staff also indicated the potential usage of colour-coded labels including traffic-light labels. A study conducted in secondary schools in Belgium found that increasing the number of healthier beverages available and applying a traffic-light labelling scheme to all items, effectively reduced adolescents’ consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB’s; labelled red) in both the school canteen and vending machine ( 69 ). Nonetheless, the importance of consultation with catering staff in individual schools prior to the design and implementation of labelling schemes was acknowledged in the present study to ensure feasibility with caterer’s daily routines, which aligns with previous research ( 70 ) reporting that school staff’s time constraints acts as one of the most dominant challenges to the implementation of school-based healthy lifestyle programmes.

Both pupil and school staff participants had a level of awareness of how adolescents’ food choices can be dependent on the location of items in the canteen, hence, manipulating the placement of the healthier options to more visible and accessible locations was a desirable concept among both stakeholder groups. Placement manipulations are a form of ‘nudge intervention’ which are generally minimal cost to implement ( 71 ). Implementing placement manipulations has resulted in increased and decreased purchases of fruit pots and SSB’s/sweet-baked goods, respectively, within United Kingdom secondary school canteens, albeit the evidence was limited ( 71 ). Further, school staff perceived items positioned first in the canteen serving area can directly impact adolescents’ food choices, and therefore, proposed serving the healthier items first as an effective strategy to improve food selection. This strategy has proven effective in breakfast buffet lines, with >75% of individuals opting for the first items they encountered ( 72 ), which could be easily transferred for implementation within school canteens.

The concept of receiving rewards to engage adolescents’ in healthy food-related behaviours in the school canteen has been positively viewed as a suitable strategy among socially deprived NI adolescents (aged 11–12 years) ( 30 ). Our findings in this study address a gap in the literature by further confirming the acceptability and feasibility of reward schemes (social, financial and recognition rewards) as incentives to promote positive food choices in school from the perspectives of both adolescents and school staff from a range of socio-economically diverse schools located in numerous district locations across NI. Tangible and praise rewards have previously proven effective in achieving positive food choice change by increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among elementary school children, although tangible rewards were more effective in the short and longer-term ( 73 ).

Overall, in line with a recent review ( 74 ), this qualitative study has identified various influential factors impacting adolescents’ food choices in secondary school canteens, with many also acting as barriers to the selection of the healthier food items in this setting. Moreover, similar to previous research with key school stakeholders outside the United Kingdom ( 75 , 76 ). Participants in the present study perceived schools to be a viable setting to nurture healthy eating habits in adolescents and had clear ideas on practical and acceptable solutions, which could be implemented to better support adolescents making improved food choices in the school environment.

Strengths and limitations

A strength of this study is that we successfully recruited a relatively large sample of mixed-gender pupils and staff in schools with socio-economically diverse profiles across a wide range of geographical locations in NI, including both urban and rural areas, increasing the generalisability of these findings. Given the complexity of adolescents’ dietary behaviours, the recruitment of adolescents, principals, vice-principals, teachers, caterers and EA staff enabled a holistic view of the primary factors influencing adolescents’ food choices within the school-setting and novel suggestions for improvement within this environment to be obtained, whilst also facilitating comparisons between a range of key stakeholder groups to be investigated. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore NI school staff’s perspectives on adolescents’ school-based food choices and their recommendations for feasible intervention components to facilitate improvements in their dietary behaviours within this setting and to also compare these with the views of adolescents across NI. Moreover, schoolteachers in this study were recruited across a variety of subject disciplines, reducing the risk of selection bias of individuals particularly interested in the promotion of healthy eating within their school.

When interpreting the results, several limitations should be considered. It must be acknowledged that although a large sample of pupils of mixed-gender ( n  = 52 female; n  = 34 male) were recruited to this study across 2-year groups, selection bias cannot be overlooked as only pupils who returned their study forms were eligible to be selected by a teacher for participation as the researcher (not affiliated with schools) was not involved in the selection process. Additionally, it is possible that pupils may have felt the need to provide desirable responses regarding their school’s food practises and their dietary behaviours, however, all pupils were informed by the researcher at the beginning of the focus groups that their responses would remain anonymous. Within the sample of pupils, 60% were female and 40% male, which is unlikely to introduce gender bias, however, it is important to note, that the participating school staff were predominantly female. Therefore, future work should consider achieving a gender-balanced sample by targeting male teachers within schools to encourage participation to determine if any gender differences may be present among school staff on this topic.

Collectively, this research highlights the complexity of the multilevel factors which influence adolescents’ food choices within the school canteen and identifies barriers to achieving healthier dietary behaviours. Involving pupils and school staff to explore these barriers has highlighted a number of possible practical solutions to improve food choice in school, in particular those that are low-cost and non-labour intensive. Using the ecological framework, suggestions for improvement of food choices were identified at the individual (e.g., rewards), social (e.g., pupil-led initiatives), physical (e.g., labelling) and macro environment (e.g., whole-school approaches) level. At macro level, it is recommended that schools may wish to review the pricing policy to consider offering for example meal deals or special offers, with clear menu and labelling strategies to improve information for pupils at the point of purchase and also consider the location and placement of foods on sale. Additionally, it may be beneficial to implement a whole-school initiative, for example, healthy eating days/themes in the canteen to encourage all pupils to make healthier choices. This study highlights the importance of early consultation with school stakeholders to identify the existing influential factors on adolescents’ school-based food choices and which strategies are viewed as both acceptable to the target population and suitable for implementation within the school-setting by key school staff members which should be considered in future intervention design. Further research is needed to determine the feasibility of implementing these intervention strategies within the school-setting and to test their effectiveness in practice.

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Ulster University Research Ethics committee FCBMS-20-016-A; REC/20/0031. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants' legal guardian/next of kin.

Author contributions

LD, AH, and AG: conceptualisation, data coding, data analysis, and interpretation of findings. LD, AH, SB, and AG: methodology. LD and SB: recruitment. LD conducted the interviews and focus groups and drafted the manuscript. AH, SB, and AG critically reviewed the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

This study was undertaken as part of a PhD scholarship (LD) funded by the Department for the Economy (DfE).

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the participating schools, pupils, school staff and the Education Authority staff for their involvement in this study.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary material

The Supplementary material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1227075/full#supplementary-material

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Keywords: pupil, school staff, food choice, secondary school, canteen, adolescence

Citation: Devine LD, Gallagher AM, Briggs S and Hill AJ (2023) Factors that influence food choices in secondary school canteens: a qualitative study of pupil and staff perspectives. Front. Public Health . 11:1227075. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1227075

Received: 22 May 2023; Accepted: 16 June 2023; Published: 14 July 2023.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2023 Devine, Gallagher, Briggs and Hill. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Alyson J. Hill, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Article Contents

Introduction, results and discussion, conflict of interest statement.

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Examining primary and secondary school canteens and their place within the school system: a South Australian study

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Claire Drummond, Lorraine Sheppard, Examining primary and secondary school canteens and their place within the school system: a South Australian study, Health Education Research , Volume 26, Issue 4, August 2011, Pages 739–749, https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyr036

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In Australia, school canteens are an integral part of the school environment and an ideal site to encourage healthy eating. However, when the canteen is not supported within the school system, healthy menus may be difficult to implement. The aim of this study was to investigate school canteens and their place within the school system in primary and secondary schools in South Australia. Using a systems approach, 14 schools and their canteens located throughout metropolitan and rural South Australia are discussed. A range of qualitative interviews was conducted with school principals ( n = 14), canteen managers ( n = 14), parents ( n = 50), teachers ( n = 10) and focus group interviews were held with students ( n = 450). This study showed that although school canteens were located on school grounds and should be supported as an integral part of the school system, in many cases they were not. A range of influences such as: maintaining profit, reduced volunteer support and student choice negatively impacted what was sold on the canteen menu. This study indicated that offering a sustainable healthy school canteen menu largely depended on the support and resources provided to the canteen by the school system in which it belonged.

The school setting is a crucial part of the social environment that shapes eating behaviour, especially given that children’s food preferences are learned through repeated exposure to foods [ 1 ]. School food services are an integral part of the school environment and are an ideal site to focus efforts on improving the nutrition of schoolchildren. However, research indicates that many school food services face myriad concerns in their provision of healthy food items [ 2–4 ]. Although school food services should provide a practical example of good nutrition by supporting the nutritional education provided in the classroom, many do not [ 3 , 5 , 6 ]. If the school relies on the school food service to make a profit, those making the financial decisions within the school may believe that products containing high fat and sodium are thought to be most profitable [ 7 , 8 ]. Given the place of school canteens within the school system, there are ethical challenges that require attention regarding the sale of such products. This raises concerns regarding the effectiveness of the entire school system in its delivery of healthy behaviour.

The school can be viewed as a complex but permeable open system [ 9 ]. When all parts of that system are functioning efficiently, there is a greater likelihood of producing desired outcomes. School food services sit within that system and should be an integral part of the school environment [ 10 ]. If the school system supports the ethos of a health-oriented canteen, together they can provide an ideal site upon which to focus efforts on improving the nutrition of school students. Unlike the UK and the US school food models, where a national school lunch programme provides many school students with a sit-down cafeteria-style meal, most children in Australia generally bring their lunch from home or purchase from the canteen [ 4 ]. Food purchased from the canteen can provide students with a complete lunch or can supplement food brought from home. Therefore, the foods sold at the school canteen may have consequences for the health of students. Research indicates that canteen users consume greater amounts of foods likely to create unhealthy weight gain, such as confectionery and packaged foods [ 4 , 11 ]. As school canteens in Australia are generally profit driven, these types of unhealthy products are thought to attract the most sales [ 4 , 8 ]. Whereas the need to maintain profit is clear in terms of financial viability, the desired health outcomes of the school system may be compromised.

Notable studies [ 4 , 5 , 12–14 ] have investigated children’s purchasing habits, parents’ perceptions and the impact of the school canteen on childhood obesity. However, the role and function of the school canteen as it sits within the school system has been largely unexplored. Pressure from influences within the school system may require school canteens to act as a source of revenue and this further restricts many canteens from selling foods that reflect healthy eating practices. Although this aspect is changing in some Australian states [ 15 ], conflicting ideologies still exist between managing a canteen for profit and healthy food provision [ 16 ].

The purpose of this paper is to present significant findings of an in-depth qualitative study which investigated South Australian school canteens and their place within the school system [ 3 ].

Systems approach

An interpretive inquiry using a thick descriptive approach [ 17 ] supported by a systems perspective [ 18 ] was the framework for this research. Interpretivism is central to a systems perspective as it seeks to understand the system as a whole that is both greater than and different from its parts [ 19 , 20 ]. The ‘Health Promoting Schools’ framework determines the basis for the School System model [ 3 ] applied to this study. The Health Promoting School framework [ 21 ] is underpinned by certain dimensions of health being interconnected and their influences on each other. Figure 1 shows how the three parts of the interconnected inner section of the School System model are reliant on and influenced by each other in some way. For example, the school canteen is dependent on the immediate school environment to provide important feedback on the canteen menu. What is sold on that menu can either support or negate what is taught within the school’s health curriculum and is subject to what is profitable for the school. Overarching influences such as television advertising, peer groups and government health policies such as the Dietary Guidelines for Australians [ 22 ] and the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating [ 23 ] also have significant consequences for the school system.

Using a systems approach to understand the school setting [ 3 ].

Participants, recruitment and data collection

Fourteen schools were randomly selected from both metropolitan ( n = 10) and rural government schools ( n = 4) in South Australia from a range of culturally diverse and socio-economic standing [ 24 ]. All participants were recruited with the assistance of the school's governing council (the group who provides the governance in South Australian state schools where the majority of members are school parents) and the school principal. Interviews were conducted with school principals ( n = 14), canteen managers ( n = 14), parents ( n = 50), teachers ( n = 10) and focus group interviews were held with both primary and secondary school students with ages ranging from 5 to 16 years ( n = 450) over a course of two school terms in 2007 (approximately 6 months). Approximately 45 student focus groups were conducted. All the focus groups contained 8–10 participants. Table I shows a summary of school and participant breakdown.

School and participant breakdown

Differentiation based on age was considered to reflect changes in eating patterns and using primary and secondary schools was thought to attract a range of ages. The use of rural schools was considered to attract another aspect of the school system. The number of schools was decided upon by the project's reference committee to gain an adequate number of case studies without making the data collection unmanageable [ 25 ]. Detailed information and consent forms were sent to each participant and parents of the students involved in the study were asked to return signed consent forms prior to any data collection. All adult interviews were held in the school's staff room or school canteen and were approximately 60 min in duration. The student focus group interviews took approximately 30–45 min and were held in an area close to the student’s classroom or a vacant classroom nearby as well as being in close proximity to a teacher. The principal of the school approved all student focus group interviews. Interview questions ( Table II ) were based on the outcomes of pilot research [ 26 ] and reflected a mixed mode interviewing strategy [ 17 ]. All interviews were conducted by the lead investigator (C.D.) and audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Ethics approval was granted from the Institutional Ethics Committee and the South Australian Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECS). As is the standard when working with school students in South Australia, the researcher obtained a personal police check.

Sample interview questions

Denotes whom the questions were directed to.

Interview data were analysed manually using colour-coding procedure [ 17 ]. Repeated examination of the colour-coded passages back to the original transcripts occurred. This was to identify common themes among the experiences of the case study participants in regard to their school canteen [ 27 ]. At all times, the thematic process underwent strict scrutiny by members of the advisory committee who oversaw the study. The credibility of the themes was assessed by triangulating the data, which were based on documentation and the interviews in order to maximize breadth and range [ 27 ]. No attempt was made to quantify the data, given that the study was underpinned by rich descriptive analysis reflective of sound qualitative research [ 17 ].

The major findings in relation to the School System model (see Fig. 1 ) are addressed in this paper. Results for the primary and secondary schools are presented together where the results were congruent. Themes relating to other issues, for example the major differences between primary and secondary school canteens in South Australia will be presented in a separate paper. This paper will report on the broad themes and subthemes that emerged from the case studies as they fell within the three influences in the ‘school system’ component of the system model: (i) school food service, (ii) school curriculum and (iii) school community.

School food service

I cannot rely on volunteers to help me and the school will not pay for help so I have to have an easy menu to prepare. Making sandwiches or making salads from scratch takes time which I don’t have, not unless I get some help. (Canteen manager: metropolitan primary school) There are chicken nuggets that are already made, they look okay. … processed food, nuggets and things are not my ideal, but when you work with the limited resources and staffing-wise, and there are days I’m on my own, so you can’t put anything on the menu that requires a workload, because I’m just not guaranteed to get it, so that would be the worst if I had, a high workload and then no one turned up. (Canteen manager: metropolitan secondary school)

It’s becoming difficult to find reliable volunteers to work on a regular basis but we’re quite lucky in this school. As you can see by our menu, we can offer fresh salads and I have the time to make all of my hot food [like pasta] from scratch because I have some help. (Canteen manager: rural secondary school)

The majority of secondary schools supplemented the food sold within the canteen with closely located vending machines. Whereas vending machines were not present in primary schools, they were located in all the secondary schools. These machines were available to the school population even when the canteen was closed. In these instances, the canteen may not have sold high-sugar drinks or many foods containing a high percentage of fat and sodium, but these products were still available from the vending machines.

The fact that there are parents in the school who never gave it a thought, and who therefore think oh, hang on what’s wrong with the kid buying this at lunchtime or a packet of chips or this or that. They’re slowly coming to realise too, and I think they just respect the fact that the canteen is working to give their kid choice, but that they’re choosing from appropriate foods . (Principal: metropolitan primary school)

In this instance, the principal introduced a nutrition curriculum into the school to support the healthy example set by the canteen.

Asked whether the school required a profit to be made from the canteen, the majority of canteen managers maintained that it was expected that the canteen should make one. The amount of profit differed from school to school, with some schools stating that they were required to make large profits to help finance other areas of the school, whereas other managers claimed that they ‘just had to break-even’. However, most of the school principals were more concerned with what was sold to the students and to ‘cover costs’ rather than make a substantial profit. Some comments made by some canteen managers were in direct contradiction with those made by many of the schools principals. One canteen manager argued, ‘you need to make a profit so that you can pay for staff, cleaning and things like that’. Another claimed that as far as the school was concerned, there was ‘an underlying expectation that we should cover our costs’ and the school ‘would probably like the money because it would probably go towards computers and other things’. These comments seem to support literature, which claims that canteens are required to make a profit to ‘prop up’ other areas of the school [ 28 ].

Volunteers and implications for outsourcing

Lack of volunteers within the schools was one of the main reasons for the outsourcing of the canteens, although this was only evident in secondary schools. Although primary schools did struggle with attracting volunteer help, they had not taken the step to outsourcing in order to stay viable, but some could not stay open every day. The resulting unavailability of the service 1 or 2 days a week put some students at a disadvantage. The shortage of volunteers in many schools meant a lack of time to prepare healthy alternatives. Some schools identified that their only option was to sell pre-packaged pre-made products in favour of freshly made. In many cases, schools were hesitant to outsource, concerned with the lack of control they might then have over the canteen. Although the school canteen might sell a ‘few unhealthy alternatives’, respondents felt they still had the opportunity to change the menu to incorporate healthy ideas where possible. The general consensus from canteen managers and teachers particularly from the primary schools was that they did not want their canteen full of unhealthy products, which according to the participants was a by-product of outsourcing.

Student choice

That’s part of the reason that I think schools have problems, because [students] like to skip across the road, and we do have lots of, you know, many exits. We don’t fence them in. (Teacher: metropolitan secondary school)

We get the Year 12 students involved and Year 11s to act as role models for the junior kids. Because if the junior kids see the older kids going across the road, bringing junk food in, or not supporting the healthy food that’s here in the canteen, then obviously it’s not going to take off, so the big emphasis has been those kids’ role modelling behaviour and eating habits. (Teacher: metropolitan secondary school)

Built environment

Sure, if we can fundraise and also receive some local or state government support we would definitely upgrade the canteen space. But that’s just the thing, how do we fundraise enough to do this. The government would also need to see this as a priority otherwise we would not receive funding. (Principal: metropolitan primary school)

School canteen guidelines

Canteen guidelines developed in most Australian states and territories apply to all situations where food and beverages are supplied in the school environment [ 15 ]. The aims of the guidelines are to provide a framework to support the implementation of sale of healthy food in school canteens. Currently, canteen guidelines refer only to the school canteens in the state or territory in which they were developed, however, national canteen guidelines have been written which harmonize existing state and territory school canteen guidelines [ 31 ]. Canteen guidelines for schools in South Australia were not applicable at the time of this research; however, the position paper explaining the guidelines [ 32 ] was available to schools. A few school canteen managers who had seen the position paper were concerned that the guidelines would prevent the sale of the canteen's ‘profitable’ foods, such as pies and hot dogs. Theses comments concur with research [ 4 ] indicating a reliance on profits from canteens, vending machines and ‘junk food fundraising’ makes it difficult for schools, particularly secondary schools, to model healthy eating. Currently, many Australian government schools are slowly adopting the state guidelines that support healthy food implementation [ 33 , 34 ] in school canteens although there is limited evidence showing how effective these food policies are. The recent removal of the healthy food policy in New Zealand schools [ 11 ] due to concerns regarding issues such as canteen staffing resources and pressure of maintaining a profit indicates that schools are not receiving the support required from the surrounding system to assist with long-term implementation of a healthy menu.

School curriculum

The types of foods and beverages that predominate in school canteens can undermine the health and nutrition curriculum by promoting foods high in fat, sugar and salt as ‘everyday foods’ rather than as ‘occasional foods’ [ 4 ]. Certainly, this was the case in some of the schools. Many participants understood healthy behaviour and some were despondent about the food available in their canteen. This was particularly evident in the secondary schools, especially when take-away outlets surrounded the schools. If the school deemed keeping their students on campus as a high priority, then the school food services generally stocked items to keep the students from purchasing elsewhere. Some secondary school principals were of the opinion that although the school did have an ethical obligation to sell healthier alternatives, the school canteen was still required to sell food in keeping with their ‘competition’. Similar research carried out in Victorian schools [ 12 ] indicated that a high percentage of respondents did not think that the foods sold at the canteen reflected classroom teaching. According to Hesketh et al. [ 35 ], teachers should provide pupils with accurate and consistent health information that they require to develop skills to make correct eating choices [ 22 , 36 ]. However, in many schools, although the teaching curriculum integrated nutrition concepts into the teaching and learning process, it did not trickle down into other areas of the school system. Skill development appeared compromised when the school food service did not support the nutrition messages taught within the schools. If the school community maintains that the canteen is a profit-making venture rather than a service for the students, then the school system does not support a whole-school approach to health.

School community

The concept of adopting a whole-school approach to healthy eating raised much debate. A number of canteen managers, teachers and parents provided contradictory comments on the role of the canteen in the whole-school approach. Whereas they were certainly in agreement that the school canteen should supply ‘some healthy food’, there were varying degrees of how much should be healthy and how much should be a ‘treat’.

The governing council

Currently, school councils in many state schools make the financial decisions that affect the day-to-day running of the school. According to Bush and Gamage [ 37 ], this is a move away from the traditional centralized control and is based on the assumption that individual schools take ownership of their own economic outcomes rather than national or local politicians determining on national or local need. Schools or governing councils have influential power to manage the schools’ own affairs within a national framework and are usually composed of major stakeholders such as staff and parents with operational management devolved to the school principal [ 37 ]. Although this makes sense at the local level, it also can raise some concerns. The governing councils within this research made the majority of financial decisions in the schools, incorporating (among other areas) the canteens' profit and loss. The council, run by volunteer parents and teachers in after-school hours, were sometimes unlikely to include the canteen manager in any decision making regarding the canteen. In some instances, the canteen manager was given instructions on products or ‘special fundraising’ events that should be included and marketed in order to increase profits. This is alarming given that in only one school did the member of the school council have any specific nutritional training. Some of the school principals did concur that the financial decisions sometimes made by the council did not reflect healthy practice, especially when it came to fundraising and sponsorship at school sport events.

Principal and teaching staff

Schools, especially secondary high schools, should supply a good range of healthy food options that are within the range of what the kids would choose at competitive prices, bearing in mind the unique situation of each school. It shouldn’t be seen as an essential part of their food intake because in normal cases it’s not, just a really good range of foods that they can make choices from. (Teacher: secondary metropolitan school)

This notion of providing choices for students is also apparent in other literature associated with school food [ 39 ], which highlights that upon the provision of healthy choices and options to students, these items are frequently purchased. Several teachers claimed that the canteen should encapsulate the ‘healthy ethos’ of the school environment and offer healthy options to a ‘captive audience’. This idea of providing healthy food to a captive audience is an interesting point in that school students are required to remain on the school grounds for the majority of the weekday. If the school is promoting a health focus within a working system, clearly the school canteen is an ideal site to support such a focus.

A school canteen should provide fairly healthy options for children and an alternative for parents should they need to give the canteen some lunch orders. It’s a process where children can learn about retail, it’s a process where children can learn about choice but I don’t think that school canteens are the place where things like Coca Cola and chips should be sold. I just think that if we’re talking about kids’ brains and so forth, that kind of stuff, they can source that from elsewhere but a school really should be held responsible for health. (Parent: metropolitan primary school)

In keeping with a whole-school approach to health, some primary schools successfully ran programmes such fruit days where students were either required to bring fruit from home to cut and share or ‘no waste day’ where foods in their lunchboxes produced no throw away waste. Parents were involved with the running of nutritional programmes within some primary schools with the introduction of specialized committees. However, utilizing volunteers created some difficulties due to the availability of parents.

The parents in secondary schools were not as proactive. The comments from the parents were that their children would not appreciate their involvement, with many students citing that it ‘wasn’t cool’ to have their parents ‘hanging around’. None of the secondary school parents volunteered in the school canteen and the main reason cited for the non-involvement was parent employment during school hours. This non-involvement had a trickling-down effect in the secondary schools as none of the metropolitan canteens were able to rely on volunteers to help and hence two school food services in this study were outsourced to private companies. The rural secondary schools still successfully ran their canteens with volunteer help and this is consistent with Drummond and Sheppard’s [ 42 ] research of canteens in rural areas.

My students who are in Nutrition, mainly girls, they’re very health conscious and they were complaining that they couldn’t get healthy options at the canteen. The boys are the ones that still eat the junk food and they’re the ones that tend to get out of the school yard and go to the shops. [Girls] are generally more health conscious. And they’re not trying to be really skinny a lot of them, but they just want to be really healthy. (Teacher: secondary metropolitan school)

Generally I am happy with the food but it could be healthier though. Maybe sell some fruit, like cheaper than someone else does. Like watermelon and like pieces of fruit and stuff, like 30 cents. We have a choice then to buy it when we want it. (Student: secondary metropolitan school)

Another issue raised by both primary and secondary students was the cost of food purchased at the canteen. Students claimed that food was not only expensive but also that the canteen lacked ‘variety’ in food items. Moreover, claims were made that ‘the healthy stuff is always more expensive than the fatty foods so it’s cheaper to buy a pie or sausage roll’.

Implications for schools

When viewing the school canteen as part of the school system, this research has shown that there are many differing influences acting on the delivery of a healthy food service. When the school canteen is fully supported by the school system in which it belongs, healthy food implementation within the canteen can occur. Strategies must be employed within the entire school system to ensure that schools do not fail in their attempt to offer a superior health-promoting school model. For example, nutrition education taught in the classroom should be closely supported by what is sold within the canteen. Arguably, the school principal’s unconditional support along with the teachers’ and parents’ endorsement of the school's commitment to a healthy service will be the main reasons behind a school’s success. This is consistent with system design research that establishes that a successful system design in schools requires unconditional support from the school principal for practical and sustainable change. Further evidence of a systematic approach to healthy eating in schools is where the school community supports the school canteen that may be reliant on a volunteer model to operate in order to produce healthy menus. A range of initiatives to sustain volunteer recruitment and retention must be implemented and sustained.

When the school food service is not considered part of a functioning school system, one pivotal element of the whole-school systems approach to healthy eating is not upheld and this raises concerns regarding the effectiveness of the entire school system. Working in ways that allow those in the school system to find common ground is the essence of the whole-school system approach. Moreover, it is the connection between the parts that can prove the most important aspect of that system.

Australian Research Council Linkage (LP0561176); Australian Postgraduate Award Industry to CD.

None declared.

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Assessment of Food Quality in School Canteens: A Comparative Quantitative Study between Primary and Secondary Schools in Malaysia

Affiliation.

• 1 School of Health Sciences, Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia.
• PMID: 34578887
• PMCID: PMC8471405
• DOI: 10.3390/nu13093009

Schools are an important food environment to cultivate and promote healthy food choices and practices among children and adolescents. The aim of the present study was to assess the type and quality of food and beverages sold in school canteens in public primary and secondary schools in Kelantan, Malaysia. Eligible schools were randomly selected from the list of all schools and detailed information of all food and beverage items sold in the school canteens were collected during school days. Food and beverages were classified based on food groups derived from the Malaysian Food Dietary Guideline and the Recommended Foods for Healthy Cafeteria Guideline. An assessment of the traffic-light nutrition food-labelling system of the total sugar content in all pre-packaged foods was also undertaken. A total of 568 food items were identified, with secondary school canteens selling a greater proportion of food items than the primary schools (55.5% vs. 44.5%). In terms of the main food groups, grains and cereal products represented the largest food group served (33-36%), followed by beverages (21-25%) and confectionary and sweet foods (12-13%). In contrast, the vegetable and fruit group represented the smallest proportion of food items sold (1-3%). Comparisons between primary and secondary schools showed a similar trend and pattern of food types and quality of foods sold, except for animal-based foods. A greater percentage of food items in this category was found among secondary schools (12.1%) versus primary schools (6.7%). When total sugar content of all pre-packaged foods was quantified based on the traffic-light nutrition-labelling system, almost one-third of foods and beverages were classified as high (29.1%). Confectionary (19.1%) and flavoured milk and fruit drinks (10.0%) both exceeded the recommended sugar levels of >22.5 g per 100 g and >11.25 mL per 100 m L, respectively. Only one of these packaged foods and beverages (0.9%) was classified as a healthy food choice. About a quarter of the food items available in school canteens were classified as prohibited based on a new revised list of prohibited food and beverage items. These findings indicate that, despite the Guidelines, a large number of unhealthy food items are being sold in school canteens. Hence, interventions such as sustainable healthy school canteen menus should be implemented to promote healthy food choices amongst school-aged children.

Keywords: food availability; food quality; school food environment; schools.

Publication types

• Comparative Study
• Diet / methods*
• Diet, Healthy
• Food Labeling
• Food Preferences
• Food Quality*
• Food Services*
• Nutrition Policy

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A research about the canteen satisfaction level of the Grade 9 students of Holy Angel School of Caloocan

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Level of Satisfaction of Grade 12 Students on Canteen Services. A Quantitative Research

Akademische arbeit, 2022, 29 seiten, note: 12, lorraine manaig (autor:in), the problem and its background, introduction.

A canteen is a store that sells food and drink at an institution like a camp, college, or military base. Some are selling also personal items to personnel at an institution or school or camp etc. This is the area that created inside the school which order to secure and consider the nutrition of those students and the people surrounds in it. Moreover, is to have an enough active mind and body every day to fulfil such school activity.

According to some global related studies, most of the school councils make the financial decisions of everyday life in the schools as used by the employees and the students, in addition, the governing councils might have the authority to manage and engage the canteen services to empower and raise their funds. The canteen manager was given instruction by the school counsellors on products or they call it special fundraising events that should be included in order for them to increase profits. However, some of the students and parents demand on the food prices. According to Bartlby Research (2014), the prices are not enough or adequate to sell the products.

According to (Sigua, 2017), the Department of Education is responsible for giving and supporting the student’s health and well-being through its curriculum. Moreover, it encouraged the schools to implement some complete health programs, including food and health nutrition education. The researcher said the that canteen should serve as the place or venue for the development of eating habits, in addition the canteen should also serve as the laboratory for Home Economics which will provide hands on training for the students and employees on planning, purchasing, preparation of safe nutrition meals.

The purpose of this study is to encourage those Grade 12 Senior high school HUMSS students on how they study more to understand the qualities of the school canteen services. It is important to assure the proper sanitation of the equipment and tools used. Also to know the good facilities and services that given by different school. Moreover, to secure the safety of solid foods, beverages and other products that they sell for order to avoid health issues.

Theoretical Framework

According to Porral et al. (2018) this study examines whether the level of product involvement influences how emotions drive consumer satisfaction. Based on the Theory of the Hedonic Asymmetry, it is analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) how emotions drive consumer satisfaction. A sample of 570 respondents was gathered for a high involvement product – wine –, while a sample of 431 consumers was collected for a low involvement product – a cup of coffee –. Results show that positive emotions exert a higher influence on satisfaction in low involvement products, rather than in high involvement products, suggesting that situational factors – such as the occasion of consumption – could be acting as qualifiers of pleasant emotions. Additionally, our findings support the moderating role of product involvement on the consumption-elicited emotions and satisfaction link.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Figure 1: Research Paradigm

Statement of the Problem

1. How effective are those canteen services to the respondent in terms of: 1.1 Service 1.2 Menu 1.3 Facilities 2. What is the Level of Satisfaction of Grade 12 HUMSS students? 3. Is there significant relationship between the school canteen services and the level of satisfaction of Grade 12 HUMSS students of Laguna College of Business and Arts?

1. There is significant relationship between Canteen Services and the level of satisfaction of Grade 12 HUMSS students of Laguna College of Business and Arts on school canteen services.

Significance of the Study

The findings of the study may provide vital information regarding the Canteen services and its level of satisfaction experiencing by the grade 12 senior high school HUMSS students. The study may benefit the following:

Students. This would be helpful to have a particular anatomy of satisfaction of the canteen services. The outcomes would give awareness and knowledge about the students level of satisfaction and it would be able to assess.

Parents. This would give the parents ideas about their children level of satisfaction in the canteen services. They would be able to know on how the treatment given by the canteen staff to their children and how it affect to their children on consuming those products.

School Management . This may also helpful to give the school a detail depicted in terms of canteens services. The outcomes may give them new encouragement and motivations for the improvement and enhancement. It might also help the advancement of the good relationship of the school and students.

Future Researchers. This study will serve as a basis for those researchers as an additional information about the level of satisfaction on school canteen services of the senior high school students.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The study looked into the level of satisfaction of senior high school HUMSS students on school canteen services of Laguna College of Business and Arts of Burgos St., Brgy. 3, Calamba City.

The object of the study is limited to sixty (60) senior high school HUMSS students who had a high or low level of satisfaction.

Definition of Terms

For a better understanding of this study, terms are defined operationally.

Canteen. A small store or restaurant especially in a factory or school where food and meals are sold.

Canteen Facility. It is the quality of the equipment or tools that the staff and students use.

Level of Satisfaction. This is the customer level of approval when comparing a product's perceived performance with his or her expectations.

Senior High School. This is a curriculum on which including grades 11 to 12 after Junior High School.

Services. This action of helping or doing work for someone and something.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents the related literature and studies pertinent to the study or research. The knowledge secured from these studies previously conducted afforded the researcher a wide range of information and in-sight which furnish the background for the development of the study.

According to Marroquin and Brandt (2014) stated that even though services usually tend to be “naturally intangible” which means it cannot be remove or destroy, rather than an abject with the opposite nature, it might not be a clear feature after all. And it is the cause of many services or facilities that can provide an output that is compound by tangible components, such as product, equipment, physically entity and even staff. Moreover there are facility activities composed by two stages, and it is the interaction between the customer and the provider is being held, while the second stage might take time to take advantage to be visible actions. In addition they stated also that the best example for assumption in the service offered by a canteen catering provider, because it composed of wide variety of retailing foods and drinks. On the other hand of the studies in the country of Philippines, according to Omadto (2016), said that each of the canteen management and facilities follows a guidelines on their operational management set by the Department of Education through their order, the guidelines given to them was to rationalize the operation of the management of school canteens in the public and private academic system to ensure that the schools canteen shall help to eliminate malnutrition among their pupils. Moreover, school canteens may operate under a variety of management structures, a formal management agreement discussing the terms and the conditions in order to sign by the relevant management parties such as principal, school council, or the private contractor.

Based on Alger (2017), he mentioned that in Australia, school canteens are an integral or it is a fundamental part of the school environment, also it is the ideal site to encourage healthy eating. However, when the canteen is not supported in the school system, healthy menus maybe difficult to implement, moreover a range of influences such as: maintaining profit, reduced volunteer support and student choice negatively impacted what was sold on the canteen menu, the study indicated that offering a sustainable healthy school canteen menu largely depended on the support and resources provided by the school system. Although schools are the best places to implement solutions to over-nutrition and obesity since children and young adults spend most of their time in school and consequently, spend more time in school than at home. In addition, Adunna (2013) mentioned that when providing nutritious food and affordable, the canteen should focus on good management practices and be financially self-sustaining. Moreover, effective canteen management requires that everyone involved knows its goals and objectives and it is familiar with its policies canteen staff and committee develop an implementation plan to achieve policy everyday operational procedures.

It is indicated at the American International Journal of Contemporary Research (2014), that when the quality service of concept from the viewpoint of manufacturing service businesses, it must observed even it is difficult to derive or do a standard quality due to the intangibility and concurrency characteristics of the service, so that service quality can briefly or shortly described as a phenomenon considered within the context of customers expectation and perception about the service offered. Moreover, customer’s expectation and perception of the service will determine the quality of service, if the provided service does not exceed or meet the expectations of the customers, then specifically the service quality is low. However, Pineda (2013), he stated that the quality management practices in the school management in the Philippines, it is determined the level of effectiveness of the total quality service management between the quality of the practices of other institutions, likewise it is more on comparing other services.

The Service Quality Measurement or the “SERVQUAL” by the marketing scientist Parasuraman et al. According to him, it is stated that the service quality is nature a subjective concept, which means that understanding how the customer thinks about the service quality is essential to effective management. Moreover, the SERVQUAL models includes of five dimensions, they are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy, the main goal of their study is to measure or determine the degree of the service quality and it depends on the customer’s expectation, SERVQUAL has been compare to the customer’s expectations before a service encounter and their perceptions of the actual service delivered, it is the commonly instrument or a method to measure consumers perceptions of service quality. However in the Philippines, Garcia (2017) et al, stated that in the Lyceum of the Philippine University seeks to examine the competitive and strategic advantage through evaluating its services to International students about their quality assurance of canteen services, the researchers conducted the descriptive method of the research which employs quantitative approaches, the findings revealed to their study are generally highly satisfied with majority of the services offered.

According to Kumaradeepan (2015) et al, he stated that customer satisfaction in marketing is the most common used instrument for a key performance of many business. Additionally, it is the measure of how the products and services supplied by a company meet or exceed customer expectation, likewise the expectation of the customer is based on the satisfaction with one-self along with customer loyalty is becoming a paramount factor in the businesses for their long-term and short-term survival. On the other hand, Manesh (2013) et al, stated that customer satisfaction is a state of mind where the customers think that the product features are compatible with their personal expectations, moreover, if the performance falls short of expectation, the customer dissatisfied and if it matches the expectation, the customer is satisfied. Otherwise, Surreal (2008), stated that in the Philippines, service quality is simple or the customer satisfaction the people generalize about the entire organization based on the moment of truth. Moreover, the underlying assumption is that customer perceptions of service encounters are important elements of customer satisfaction, perception of quality, and long-term loyalty, satisfying the moment of truth, one at a time, results in customers coming back.

Hamza (ND), express that customer expectation is the ideas and feeling of a customer toward the service or it product that depends what he or she needs from the product and expects it to do. Furthermore, the customer expectation about the product or service is the core of their satisfaction, every customer might have some kind of expectations about the performance, price, and quality, and once the product or service is capable of meeting or satisfying the customer’s expectation, it can be termed as customer satisfaction. According to the book of Tongo-Mosura and Crisostomo (2008), entitled “Marketing”, market success happens when marketers exceed the value offered by competitors. The customers will decide what products they will buy based on judgments about the values offered by several different suppliers. After buying the product, customer satisfaction depends on whether its perceived performance matches or exceeds expectations. Customers form expectations through discussion with other people, after buying a product, as well as the supplier’s marketing activities. One caution to companies is to avoid setting very high customer expectations through exaggerated promotional claims. When performance of the product or service falls short of expectations, this can lead to dissatisfaction. Therefore, the expected sales do not happen. Because today’s competition is too intense, it is not enough to match performance and expectations. Companies need to exceed expectations for commercial success to follow. When expectations are met, customers are delighted with the result. The concept of customer satisfaction helps to separate characteristics that cause dissatisfaction, satisfactions are delight.

Methodology

This chapter presents all the necessary information about the intended process of this study. This includes research design used in conducting the study. In addition, the research locale, respondents of the study, research instruments, and validation of instrument, data gathering procedures, and treatment of quantitative data are also discussed.

Research Design

According to Hale, M.S (2018), there are three main types of descriptive method, the first one is the observational, case-study, and survey methods. Furthermore, the researchers will used the survey method, under the descriptive research in order for the survey to be reliable and valid, it is important that the questions are constructed properly. In addition, the researchers will use this research method because they will aim to identify the level of satisfaction of the selected Senior High School Grade 12 HUMSS Students in the Laguna College of Business and Arts. Through its result, the researchers will identify if there is significant relationship between the two factors.

Research Locale

The data gathered will be from HUMSS Grade 12 Senior High School students of Laguna College of Business and Arts. The researchers will opt to conduct the study in Calamba City due to proximity. The schools involved in the study are from the SSP data in the Laguna College of Business and Arts.

Respondents of the Study

The respondents of this study will be the 60 selected Senior High School Grade 12 HUMSS students from the strand HUMSS in Laguna College of Business and Arts. The researchers set 100% as their respondents from the total population of 128. The respondents of the study are shown below:

Percentage Distribution of the Respondents

Table A. shows that the section of HUMSS Integrity has a total population of 42 students, while the HUMSS Creativity and Determination has an equal population of the students which is 43.

Instrumentation

The researchers will make and will use a questionnaire that emphasizes on the frequency in canteen services and level of satisfaction. The questionnaire will show the frequency in level of satisfaction wherein the respondents will choose from four choices: strongly disagree, disagree, agree and strongly agree. All in all, the questionnaire will have a total of 30 items. The questionnaire will be modified by the researchers for the accuracy of the results.

Data Gathering Procedure

The researchers will prepare a letter of approval regarding the distribution of the questions to the respondents to be approved by the adviser of the research. When approved, the researchers will begin the dissemination of the questionnaires to respondents and will retrieve the questionnaire right after. The researchers will discuss the content of the questionnaire to the respondents if necessary. Then, the researchers will gather the data and will analyze through the use of a certain statistical treatment of data. After analyzing the tabulated data, the researchers will arise in the relationships of canteen services and the level of satisfaction of the respondents.

Ethical Considerations

The ethical concerns will be followed by the researchers as those are taken into account throughout this paper. Consent will be asked wherein the confidentiality will be assured. All the necessary details will explain by the researchers for them to understand their role upon the completion of the study. Information personal to the respondents are assured to have its confidentiality.

Treatment of Quantitative Data

The researchers will use quantitative techniques in finding the answers that will suit to the statement of the problem.

Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation of Data

This chapter reveals the data gathered together with the corresponding data analysis and interpretation to determine if there was a significant relationship between Canteen Services and its level of satisfaction of the respondents. The data were presented in tabular forms organized in sequential manner, following the order of presentation of the specific problems in Chapter 1.

2. SOP 1. How effective are those canteen services to the respondent in terms of: 2.1 Service 2.2 Menu 2.3 Facilities

Level of effectiveness of Canteen Services in terms of Services

Legend: 3.25 - 4.00 Highly Effective (HE) 1.75 - 2.49 Slightly Effective (SE)

2.50 - 3.24 Effective (E) 1.00 - 1.74 Not Effective (NE)

Table 1.1 depicted the observation of the respondents in the quality of the canteen in terms of services. Furthermore, the computed general assessment was 2.962 and was verbally interpreted as “ Effective ” statement. Additionally, the indicator “ 2- The staffs show courtesy and politeness has the highest general assessment of 3.02 and was verbally interpreted as “ Effective ” . In contrary, the indicator “ 4 - The staffs keep their service consistently has the least general assessment of 2. 90 and verbally interpreted as “ Effective ”.

This implied that most of the respondents believed that services that they show courtesy and politeness general assessment that weighted 3.02 that verbally interpreted as “ Effective ” .

According to Adunna (2013) mentioned that when providing nutritious food and affordable, the canteen should focus on good management practices and be financially self-sustaining. Moreover, effective canteen management requires that everyone involved must know it goals and objectives and it is familiar with its policies canteen staff and committee develop an implementation plan to achieve policy everyday operational procedures.

Level of effectiveness of Canteen Services in terms of Menu

Legend: 3.25 - 4.00 Highly Effective (HE) 1.75 - 2.49 Slightly Effective (ME)

2.50 - 3.2 Effective (E) 1.00 - 1.74 Not Effective (NE)

Table 1.2 revealed the observation in canteen quality in terms of menu of the selected G12 HUMSS Students; the computed general assessment was 2. 774 and was verbally interpreted as “ Effective ” statement. Additionally, the indicator “2-The menu that they serve contains the nutritional value. ” has the highest general assessment of 3.02 and was verbally interpreted as “ Effective ” and was verbally interpreted as “ Effective ” . In contrary, the indicator 4 - The menu is affordable for the students.” has the least general assessment of 2. 17 and verbally interpreted as “ Slightly Effective ”

This implied that most of the respondents believed that the menu that they serve contains nutritional value by a computed general assessment that weighted 3.02 that scales “ Effective ” .

On the other hand of the studies in the country of Philippines, according to Omadto (2016), said that each of the canteen management and facilities follows a guideline on their operational management set by the Department of Education through their order, the guidelines given to them was to rationalize the operation of the management of school canteens in the public and private academic system to ensure that the schools canteen shall help to eliminate malnutrition among their pupils. Moreover, school canteens may operate under a variety of management structures, a formal management agreement discussing the terms and the conditions in order to sign by the relevant management parties such as principal, school council, or the private contractor.

Level of effectiveness of Canteen Services in terms of Facilities

Legend: 3.25 - 4.00 Highly Effective (HE) 1.75 - 2.49 Moderately Effective (SE)

Table 1.3 revealed the observation in canteen quality in terms of facilities of the selected G12 HUMSS students; the computed general assessment was 2. 876 and was verbally interpreted as “ Effective ” statement. Additionally, the indicator “ 1 -The utensils, tools and equipment used in the canteen are sanitized. ” has the highest computed general assessment of 3.08 and was verbally interpreted as “ Effective ” and was verbally interpreted as “ Effective ” . In contrary, the indicator “ 5 - The canteen is strategically situated in place where it is accessible and convenient to all students”. Have the least computed general assessment of 2. 75 and verbally interpreted as “ Effective ”.

This implied that most of the respondents believed that the facilities of canteen are utensils; tools and equipment used in the canteen are sanitized by a computed general assessment that weighted 3.08 that scales “ Effective ” .

According to Marroquin and Brandt (2014) stated that even though services usually tend to be “naturally intangible” which means it cannot be remove or destroy, rather than an abject with the opposite nature, it might not be a clear feature after all. And it is the cause of many services or facilities that can provide an output that is compound by tangible components, such as product, equipment, physically entity and even staff. Moreover, there are facility activities composed by two stages, and it is the interaction between the customer and the provider is being held, while the second stage might take time to take advantage to be visible actions. In addition, they stated also that the best example for assumption in the service offered by a canteen catering provider, because it composed of wide variety of retailing foods and drinks.

2. SOP 2. What is the level of satisfaction of Grade 12 HUMSS students?

Level of satisfaction in terms of Services

Legend: 3.25 - 4.00 Highly Satisfied (HS) 1.75 - 2.49 Moderately Satisfied (MS)

2.50 - 3.24 Satisfied (S) 1.00 - 1.74 Not Satisfied (NS)

Table -2.1 revealed the level of satisfaction in canteen in terms of services of the selected G12 HUMSS Students, the computed general assessment was 2. 968 and was verbally interpreted as “ Satisfied ” statement. Additionally, the indicator “ 4 -There are provisions for garbage disposal. ” has the highest computed general assessment of 3.07 and was verbally interpreted as “ Satisfied ” . In contrary, the indicator “ 2- Request/order of the clients are promptly accommodated and quickly served.” has the least computed general assessment of 2. 90 and verbally interpreted as “ Satisfied ” .

This implied that most of the respondents believed that the The services that they show has mean of 3.07 which are provisions for garbage disposal by a computed general assessment that weighted that scales “ Satisfied ” .

It is indicated at the American International Journal of Contemporary Research (2014), that when the quality service of concept from the viewpoint of manufacturing service businesses, it must observed even it is difficult to derive or do a standard quality due to the intangibility and concurrency characteristics of the service, so that service quality can briefly or shortly described as a phenomenon considered within the context of customers expectation and perception about the service offered. Moreover, customers expectation and perception of the service will determine the quality of service, if the provided service does not exceed or meet the expectations of the customers, then specifically the service quality is low. However, Pineda (2013), he stated that the quality management practices in the school management in the Philippines, it is determined the level of effectiveness of the total quality service management between the quality of the practices of other institutions, likewise it is more on comparing other services.

Level of satisfaction in terms of Menu

Table 2.2 revealed the level of satisfaction in canteen in terms of menu of the selected G12 HUMSS students; the computed general assessment was 2. 742 and was verbally interpreted as “ Satisfied ” statement. Additionally, the indicator “ 3 - Meals are cleaned and maintained fresh. ” has the highest computed general assessment of 2.90 and was verbally interpreted as “ Satisfied ” In contrary, the indicator “ 1- Meals are affordable . ” has the least computed general assessment of 2. 28 and verbally interpreted as “ Moderately Satisfied ”.

This implied that most of the respondents believed that the menu that they serve contains 2.90 are cleaned and maintained fresh by a computed general assessment that weighted that scale “ Satisfied ” .

Based on Alger (2017), he mentioned that in Australia, school canteens are an integral or it is a fundamental part of the school environment, also it is the ideal site to encourage healthy eating. However, when the canteen is not supported in the school system, healthy menus maybe difficult to implement, moreover a range of influences such as: maintaining profit, reduced volunteer support and student choice negatively impacted what was sold on the canteen menu, the study indicated that offering a sustainable healthy school canteen menu largely depended on the support and resources provided by the school system. Although schools are the best places to implement solutions to over-nutrition and obesity since children and young adults spend most of their time in school and consequently, spend more time in school than at home.

Level of satisfaction in terms of Facilities

Table -2.3 revealed the level of satisfaction in canteen in terms of facilities of the selected G12 HUMSS Students, the computed general assessment was 2 .854 and was verbally interpreted as “ Satisfied ” statement. Additionally, the indicator “ 2- There are enough tables and chairs for the clients. ” has the highest computed general assessment of 3.00 and was verbally interpreted as “ Observed” . In contrary, the indicator “ 3- Tables and chairs are kept clean and properly arranged for the next clients.” has the least computed general assessment of 2. 82 and verbally interpreted as “ Satisfied ”. This implied that most of the respondents believed that the facilities of canteen have 3.00 enough tables and chairs for the clients by a computed general assessment that weighted that scales “ Satisfied ” .

According to Galabo (2019), Tangibility defined as the related to an appeal of facilities, equipment, and material used by a service firm as well as to the appearance, moreover tangibles provide physical representations or image of the service that customers particularly new customers, will use to evaluate quality. However, assurance means the staff behavior will give customers confidence in the school canteen and that the employees are always courteous and have the necessary knowledge to respond to customers questions.

The Significant Relationship between the Canteen Services and the Level of Satisfaction of the Grade 12 HUMSS students of Laguna College of Business and Arts.

- Correlation s significant at the 0.05 level (two tailed)

Table 3 showed the test for significant relationship between the canteen services on the level of satisfaction of G12 HUMSS students on Laguna College of Business and Arts. The analysis generated a computed R Value of 0.7174 which was greater than the P Value of .00001 and was decided or interpreted as “significant”. Thus the null hypothesis was rejected. The result implies that the canteen services in terms of: services, menu and facilities about the level of satisfaction is connected with each other and it is important.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presents the summary of findings, conclusions and recommendations based on the data gathered and presented.

Summary of Findings

Based on the data gathered and after careful and thorough analysis of the investigation, the following are the findings of the study in summarized form.

1. Level of effectiveness of Canteen Services

1.1 In terms of services, it has a general assessment was 2.962 and was verbally interpreted as “Effective” . The staffs show courtesy and politeness has the highest computed mean of 3.02 and was verbally interpreted as “ Effective ” . The staffs keep their service consistently has general assessment of 2. 90 and verbally interpreted as “ Effective ”.

1.2 In terms of menu, the general assessment was 2.774 and was verbally interpreted as “ Effective” . The menu that they serve contains the nutritional value has the highest computed general assessment of 3.02 and was verbally interpreted as “ Effective” . The menu is affordable for the students has the least computed general assessment of 2.17 and verbally interpreted as “ Slightly Effective ”.

1.3 In terms of facilities, the computed general assessment was 2.876 and was verbally interpreted as “ Effective” . The utensils, tools and equipment used in the canteen are sanitized has the highest computed general assessment of 3.08 and was verbally interpreted as “ Effective” . The canteen is strategically situated in place where it is accessible and convenient to all students have the least computed general assessment of 2.75 and verbally interpreted as “ Effective”.

2. Level of satisfaction of Canteen Services

2.1 In terms of service, the general assessment was 2.968 and was verbally interpreted as “ Satisfied” . There are provisions for garbage disposal has the highest general assessment of 3.07 and was verbally interpreted as “ Satisfied” . Request/order of the clients are promptly accommodated and quickly served has the least computed general assessment of 2.90 and verbally interpreted as “ Satisfied”.

2.2 In terms of menu, the computed general assessment was 2.742 and was verbally interpreted as “ Satisfied” . Meals are cleaned and maintained fresh has the highest computed general assessment of 2.90 and was verbally interpreted as “ Satisfied”. Meals are affordable has the least computed general assessment of 2.28 and verbally interpreted as “ Moderately Satisfied”.

2.3 In terms of facilities, the computed general assessment was 2.854 and was verbally interpreted as “ Satisfied”. There are enough tables and chairs for the clients has the highest general assessment of 3.00 and was verbally interpreted as “ Observed. Tables and chairs are kept clean and properly arranged for the next clients.” has the least computed general assessment of 2.82 and verbally interpreted as “ Satisfied”.

3. Relationship between the Level of Effectiveness and Level of Satisfaction of the students of Laguna College of Business and Arts.

Showed the test for significant relationship between the canteen services on the level of satisfaction of G12 HUMSS students on Laguna College of Business and Arts. The analysis generated a computed R Value of 0.7174 which was greater than the P Value of .00001 and was decided or interpreted as “significant”. Thus the null hypothesis was rejected. The result implies that the canteen services in terms of: services, menu and facilities about the level of satisfaction is connected with each other and it is important.

Conclusions

Based on the aforementioned findings of the study, the following conclusions are derived:

1.1 That the staffs show courtesy and politeness to their customers but the staffs did not kept their service consistently in terms of their services. 1.2 That the menu that they serve contains the nutritional value although menu is not affordable for the students. Still, it is worth bought for. 1.3 That the utensils, tools and equipment used in the canteen are sanitized when it comes to the effectives of facilities. However, based on the students the canteen is not strategically situated in place where it is accessible and convenient to all students. 2.1 That there are provisions for garbage disposal that the student satisfied but students noticed that they are not able to request/order of the clients are promptly accommodated and quickly served. 2.2 That meals are cleaned and maintained fresh but meals are not affordable. 2.3 That even though there are enough tables and chairs for the clients but they did not kept clean and properly arranged for the next clients

Recommendations

Based on the findings summarized and conclusions drawn, the following recommendations are hereby offered:

1. The staffs must find ways on how they improved their services in a way that they maintained the consistency of the services to the students and to the school administrators. 2. The canteen manager will be the one who in-charge for the changes of the prices of the menu to the affordable and cheapest price which might be implemented for the students to able them befit their budget and keep their nutrition healthy. 3. The school administration and management need take plans and action through assessment and look for the suggestions of the students to improved and enhanced the whole aspect of school canteen in terms of services, menu and facilities for the sake of students satisfaction. 4. For the further researches, this study is recommended and suggested for further study which may help the learners, teachers and parents to attain their satisfaction on the canteen services. Also for them to be aware on the safety of them on the canteen services.

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Brandt M. (2014) Applying the SERVQUAL model to describe the satisfaction of the Aviva Company’s employees in Dublin, Ireland, regarding to the canteen service quality in their workplace. Retrievedfrom:https://esource.dbs.ie/bitstream/handle/10788/17 96/mba_marroquinbrandt_jc_2014.pdf;jsessionid=B1B64C98D345 4F59423D9FDDB81F41C7?sequence=1

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Hale J. (2018) The 3 Basic Types of Descriptive Research Methods. Retrieved from: https://psychcentral.com/blog/the-3-basic-types ofdescriptiveresearchmethods/#targetText=They%20do%20not% 20make%20accurate,their%20advantages%2C%20and%20their% 20drawbacks.

Hamza K. (ND) A Study on the Dimensions of Customer Expectations and their Relationship with Cognitive Dissonance. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/L%20E%20N%20O%20V%20O/Downloads/7547- 26678-1-PB%20(1).pdf

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Level of Satisfaction of Grade 12 ABM Students in Food Services in the School Canteen of Bestlink College of the Philippines School Year 2018-2019

• Juvelyn Garcia
• John Kenneth Litang
• Hazel Villa
• Manuel Gutierez
• Crystel-Joy S. Tamon

Having a school canteen inside the campus is helpful and important for students. It makes access to buying foods easier and more accommodating rather than going outside. Bestlink College of the Philippines ensures to have its canteen inside the school that offers different food services to produce productive students. This study aims to assess the level of satisfaction of Grade 12 ABM students in the Food Services of School Canteen. The purpose of this study is to promote continuous patronage of the school canteen and recommend a more effective strategy in maintaining the satisfaction level of the students in its food services. This study used a qualitative-descriptive research design to assess the level of satisfaction of Grade12 ABM Students in the Food Services in the canteen. There were three variables identified affecting the level of satisfaction of Grade 12 ABM students. These were the nutrition of food, the price of food, and the cleanliness of food in the canteen. The data were gathered from distributed questionnaires to the respondents. The results of the study revealed that Grade 12 ABM students were satisfied in the food services in the school canteen on the following: (1) Nutrition of Food –foods that were served in the canteen meet the satisfaction of the Grade 12 ABM students in terms of taste, nutrition, and menus that promote healthy lifestyle. (2) Price of food –the price of food in the canteen is found to be reasonable per serving and meets the budget of the Grade 12 ABM students. (3) Cleanliness of the food –this included the neatness of the canteen staff, the area, the preparation and arrangement of the foods. The school canteen was found at its satisfactory level in terms of promoting the cleanliness of the food for the benefit of the students and other customers. The results of the study showed that the Bestlink Canteen has a satisfactory rate in terms of its Food Services. In line with this, the school administrators must maintain good standing in the level of satisfaction and implement more effective policies and guidelines for the canteen services to level up the satisfaction rate of the students and other customers. It was highly recommended to conduct a wider study about the satisfaction of the students in all strands to create more effective strategies and projects, promoting to continuously buy foods in the canteen.

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THE MANY SINS OF MOSCOW�S NEW ST. ANDREWS COLLEGE

by Nick Gier

For a full accreditation report on NSA see this link .  For articles on the Wilson Saga click this link .

        In April 2000, I gave a talk to the students and faculty of New St. Andrews College (NSA), a small Calvinist college established in Moscow in 1994.  At that time I congratulated Douglas Wilson, founder of the college, on the success of both NSA and his K-12 Logos School.  Wilson appeared to enjoy a story I told about him as a student in the philosophy department, and it got a good laugh from the audience. I also announced that I was prepared to help NSA students with their senior theses.  In the previous year I had spent about 60 hours helping a bright NSA student with a thesis on Buddhism.

    In December 2002, I invited NSA faculty and students to the regional meeting of the American Academy of Religion.  It was held in Moscow in May 2003, and 40 percent of the papers were presented by faculty from conservative Christian colleges.  NSA president Roy Atwood defended their absence by saying that they �had better things to do.�

    Wilson wrote an article �Why Evangelical Colleges Are Not� in Chronicles (September, 1998), the journal of the far right Rockford Institute. The hostility displayed against reputable evangelical colleges in this article not only shows blatant disrespect for these fine schools, but it manifests shameful disregard for the entire academic enterprise.

    In a letter to the Moscow-Pullman Daily News on May 23, 2003, Atwood wrote that his college was an accredited institution. At a legal hearing before the Latah County Commissioners in April 2003, the NSA attorney also testified that NSA was accredited. The problem, however, is that NSA did not receive its accreditation until November 29, 2005.

    In October, 2003, the community learned of the existence of Wilson�s booklet on slavery in the Antebellum South in which he stated that �there has never been a multi-racial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world" (p. 24). It was later discovered that 20 percent of this text was lifted from another book. When two UI history professors wrote a paper criticizing Wilson, his reaction was to write Governor Kempthorne and request that the professors be disciplined.

    Only recently did I learn that NSA faculty celebrated April Fools of 1999 by stealing letterhead from the UI provost�s office to distribute an announcement of visiting feminist scholars who would give their presentations topless. There is nothing wrong with a good joke, but one usually tries to avoid criminal activity in pulling stunts such as this.    Recently Wilson defended this action in his blog: �By the time you receive this, our local police will probably have forgotten all about it, so a little bragging is now safe. . . . [My son-in-law], . . . encouraged by some winks and nudges from me, . . . made up a flyer which announced a topless and proud lecture series by topless feminist scholars.� 

An important academic virtue is �collegiality,� which consists of respect for, and cooperation with, all members of the academic community.  I believe that we can conclude from NSA�s actions that it has not been a very good academic citizen. The supreme irony is that 9 of the15 NSA faculty have, or are expecting, 13 UI degrees.

The following are some more disturbing NSA facts:

Only 27 percent of the college�s faculty have PhDs. NSA has the resources to hire PhDs, but evidently chooses not to do so. Their less than prestigious accrediting agency requires that only one third of the faculty have the doctorate.

Two of the college�s senior fellows, presumably equivalent to full professors, do not have PhDs. Generally, a PhD is required at the lowest rank of assistant professor.

Although full resumes are not available on NSA�s website, it appears that a majority of the faculty�s published books are from Canon Press, Wilson�s own creation and the publisher of the infamous slavery booklet.

Of special concern is the fact that Wilson�s brother, his son, and his son-in-law are on the college�s faculty.

 Steve Wilkins and George Grant are regular speakers at Wilson�s annual conferences in Moscow. Grant has a mail order doctorate and Wilkins is a conservative Calvinist minister from Louisiana. Wilkins is a founding director of the League of the South, which has been declared a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Confederate flag used to hang in Wilson�s office and Logos School displayed it at its social functions.

When a Moscow journalist interviewed Wilson, Grant, and Wilkins in February, 2004, they each proudly affirmed their belief that only propertied males should vote.  Always the jokester, Wilson said that democracy was just like two coyotes and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.

There are well qualified students at NSA and some competent faculty, just as there are good, decent people who attend Wilson�s 800-member Christ Church.  One can usually spot these people because they frequently speak of Wilson�s goal of achieving �truth, goodness, and beauty.� These fine folks need to be reminded that their leaders have not always told the truth, that condoning slavery is not good, and that calling for the execution of homosexuals is just plain ugly.

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100 Years of Mass Housing in Russia

• Published on July 23, 2018

Russia’s history of mass housing development can be divided into several distinct periods, each manifested by its own specific type of residential building. These houses reveal what lifestyle, comfort level, construction cost and distinctive traits were considered preferable in any given decade. Every new stage saw its own experiments and had its achievements, which together can be regarded as a line of lessons, discoveries, and experiences, helping to understand a specific character of Russian standard housing.

1917-1930: First efforts, first experiments

The October Revolution brought about a number of changes in Russia ’s housing policies, defining its development for many years to come. Two decrees of 1918, “On Abolition of Private Property in Cities” and “On Land Socialization,” gave rise to so-called communal apartments. The state-owned property began to account for a larger share of the country’s total housing stock and construction projects; the Soviet regime also took over the task of allocating dwellings among people.

In the 1920s, a new type of low-cost mass housing began to take shape. The Construction Committee of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was the first in country’s history to embark on developing a model of a standard house in accordance with modern requirements and with the use of a scientific approach. Among other things, the authorities had held a number of various contests, and these measures eventually resulted in creating fundamentally novel types of homes, ranging from communal houses to so-called garden cities.

According to plan, a local resident could have spent his whole life in this neighbourhood without feeling any need for something outside of it: this place had shops, nurseries, schools, an institute with dormitories, factory, and even a crematory. Khavsko-Shabolovsky housing area was an important part of the district. Its thirteen buildings were situated at a right angle to each other, and at a 45-degree angle to main streets. This feature provided a good lighting, and created a closed yard system. Balconies and bad-sitting rooms both faced southern façades, while kitchens and bathrooms were designed to look to the north. Each row of houses had its own color scheme. Public building was placed in the center of the district.

1935-1955: Fine décor and high ceilings: The indiscreet charm of Stalinka building

In the early 1930s, a public contest for the Palace of the Soviets project and a new Stalin’s Moscow city master plan (1935) marked an architectural shift towards exploitation of classic legacy. Moscow city was first to straighten, enlarge and build-up its avenues with solemn ensembles, and then many Russian cities followed the lead. Artistic features in buildings, and for the neighborhood as a whole, became a priority. After World War II, the trend increased; although, multi-story buildings became less common, while wooden construction regained its relevance.

Mastering a technology of manufacturing structure elements at the factory (instead of making them right at the construction site) is a huge breakthrough of this period. But many projects were still being carried out upon their own unique custom design, and this ensured diversity of housing architecture of the time.

1949 saw an introduction of so-called standard planning: this approach completely dismisses the idea of a separate design for each project, and embraces exactly the opposite of that — a design concept which implies working upon standardised housing types and series plans.

On Tverskaya Street, Russia had tried a fast-track (industrialized) construction technology for the first time: a number of teams of workers with different skills shifting from one object to another in rotation, each in charge of his own task.

As a result of the successful experiment, the house number 4 on Gorky Street had been perfectly integrated into the mounting terrain of the road: in all three sections, residential units occupy five stories, but the height of ground floors, reserved for shops and eating places, is different. Basement and portal had been faced with polished granite, residential walls — with prefabricated tile; the interior decoration featured moulding and sculptures.

1955-1960: Khrushchev formula: Compact housing and arrival of “micro-districts”

In the aftermath of Nikita Khrushchev’s landmark speech of 1955 and the decree “On Liquidation of Excesses in Planning and Construction,” Russian housing industry started shifting to much simpler, less assertive architecture — and cheaper construction. Also, it was decided to utilize vacant lands for large low-cost residential neighborhoods — that is micro-districts — instead of proceeding with costly construction in the city center.

Since the rapidly advancing industrial technology suggested uniformity in construction, the custom planning had had to be practically abandoned. In 1959, Soviet Russia established its first DSK — Integrated House-building Factory, and more than 400 such plants were to come along in the future.

To deliver on the promise “For every family — separate apartment!,” the USSR had to build as simple and compact as possible; at the same time, expected lifespan of those structures was estimated to be around 20 years.

K-7 house line delivered the first and the cheapest mass five-story building; it took only 12 days to build such a home. Of course, this type of dwelling had its downsides, such as walkthrough rooms and no balconies. These issues have been revised and fixed for K-7 later versions.

In 1956, the USSR had held a nationwide contest for best projects on cost-effective apartment house types. The experimental 9th Block in Novye Cheryomushki district was planned and a put up drawing on the solutions submitted for this competition. Construction of a novel neighborhood took 22 months; the area had served as a testing ground for 14 building types (each of them used different planning and materials) and is up to five storeys high.

In an effort to make up for small apartments, great emphasis was put on spacious yards. These space were equipped with special leisure zones, playgrounds, landscaping, carpet-beating areas, paddling pools. Architectural planning of micro-districts excluded any through-traffic, and each block had its own nursery, kindergarten, school, canteen, shops, cinema, amenities’ building, telephone exchange, and garages.

1960-1980. Brezhnev-era homes: Same trend, greater comfort

During this period, greater focus had been placed on constructing high-rise buildings, as well as introducing improved housing types. This era gave birth to apartments with 1-5 isolated rooms, providing housing for different kinds of families. Besides, certain series allowed for flexible layouts of apartments.

In the late 70s, the housing policy agenda embraced the task of rebuilding and renovating pre-war and early post-war housing stock. Hotels and dormitories accounted for a large part of these new projects. However, housing problems still remain a major concern and a pressing issue. In 1986, with the aim to address this serious challenge, the government adopted a special program called “Housing-2000” — yet it was never fully implemented.

This neighborhood had been made up of 9- and 16-story residential buildings. For the purposes of accessible infrastructure and comfort, the architects decided to arrange entrances to all consumer service facilities in lobbies, or at least within walking distance. Buildings were connected by ground floor halls, therefore it was possible to move around almost without getting outside of the block. With internal passages reserved exclusively for taxi and ambulance, each house came with its own underground parking. The project also offered built-in furniture options, with one of the buildings attempting to perform a duplex apartment experiment.

1991—2018. Modern era: Return of custom design, and embracing larger scale

This phase saw the formation and development of the Russian housing market. The country has witnessed a glorious comeback of both individual development projects and widespread use of décor. There is an ongoing quest for new buildings’ and apartments’ layouts (studios, projects with common neighborhood areas, etc.), — while some housing series already provide options for possible replanning.

Thanks to privatization, Russians have regained their right to acquire and own housing property. This drastic shift is responsible for an important new trend in the Russian housing market. Today, more than 85% of homes are owned by private citizens.

In 1990s, our housing development has been taking rather erratic and unsystematic forms. The industry, largely dominated by infill development plans, saw a significant increase in the share of private and luxury housing. Then in the 2000s, during a period of intense economic growth, it has brought about some large-scale integral development projects for new territories.

In 1997, alongside with a new housing reform in Russia , Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending was created. A year later, the state presented a legal basis for mortgage lending. In 2016, DOM.RF (former Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending) and Strelka KB started to work out a paper called “Guidelines on Comprehensive Development of the Areas” — both parties are driven by their commitment to introduce and ensure a comfortable urban environment in Russia. One of the key ideas of these guidelines is to abandon micro-district development in favour of city blocks.

Initially, Yuzhnoye Butovo and Severnoye Butovo districts were made up of buildings of earlier types, and these homes were mostly intended for and granted to waiting-list households or welfare beneficiary families. Step by step, private construction development has been advancing and expanding — the process accompanied by the introduction of a new modernised planning series. Besides that, in the mid-1990s, Butovos accommodated our country’s first prototypes of a townhouse.

Due to its location far from city center and, thus, a long-distance commute of residents to their workplaces, Butovo district has become a symbol, and a generic term for the so-called “bedroom suburbs” — together with a burden of their distinctive problems: commuter migration, lack of public areas, underdevelopment of small-scale street trading, limited leisure options, etc.

• Sustainability

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俄罗斯公共住房的百年发展

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