VIEWS From the pen of... Jo Cormack


In our regular feature on authors working in the field of education, this month we hear from counsellor and author JO CORMACK, who calls for a new focus in the classroom on helping children develop a healthy and lasting relationship with the food they eat.


“There are many areas in which practitioners can make a meaningful difference to the lives of the children they teach. One that is often overlooked is children’s relationship with food. I’m not just thinking about nutrition. I’m talking about how teachers can enable children to develop a life-long love of eating, helping foster a psychologically (as well as physically) healthy relationship with food. “I am a counsellor and picky eating specialist. When my


youngest daughter was a toddler, I was a trainee therapist working at CAMHS with young people with eating disorders. I noticed that - while developmentally normal - the way my child used food as a means of controlling her environment was reminiscent of how my young clients were using food. This got me thinking: how can we take the power battles and boundary testing out of mealtimes with young children? I began reading the academic literature (a journey that has taken me to a PhD in picky eating ten years on) and discovered that there is a wealth of research that many parents and professionals are not aware of. “In my recent book, ‘Helping Children Develop a Positive


Relationship with Food’, I attempt to bring together that research in a way that is accessible to practitioners. Here are just a few examples of the kinds of suggestions I share, where small things can make a big difference in the classroom:


• Avoid praising children for trying a new food. This can be experienced as pressure (which research has shown make eating worse). It also turns eating into a behaviour adults want children to perform for them, rather than something they do in response to bodily signals (i.e. appetite). Eating for internal, physical reasons, rather than external, emotional reasons is the hallmark of a positive relationship with food.


• Instead of praise, if a child tries something new, engage with their sensory experiencing of the food: What sound does it make? Is it juicy? This type of reaction is neutral and facilitates further experimentation on the part of the child.


• Be mindful of how you talk about food. Every time someone offers you a biscuit and you take (or refuse) one saying, “I shouldn’t”; every time you describe a cake as ‘naughty’; you are giving food an emotional and moral currency which children will pick up on.


“I am passionate about giving the professionals who work with


children day-in-day-out, the tools and insights they need in order to nurture a positive relationship with food. Picky eating affects approximately 25% of young children; childhood obesity is constantly in the headlines. It is not enough to know what children should eat, we need to know how they should eat.” Jo’s book is available from Jessica Kingsley Publishers


(www.jkp.com). It gives practitioners a blueprint for dealing with food in the classroom. It also includes valuable advice on eating and special needs, such as autism, anxiety and sensory processing challenges.


uTo read more about Jo’s work with picky eating, visit www.emotionallyawarefeeding.com


April 2018 British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) Why we STILL need to


“Resource Our Schools” This month regular Education Today contributor PATRICK HAYES, Director of educational suppliers’ trade association BESA, looks at the ongoing funding pressures on England’s schools, and calls for government to look again at the resources and finances allocated to schools to ensure that they can all be the best schools possible.


Last month, as the BESA team were all hands on deck at the Education Show, the Education Policy Institute (EPI) was publishing a new report exploring the latest trends in school funding pressures in England. Unsurprisingly, the report shows a sad picture of the state of our


schools, with the proportion of English secondary schools in deficit almost trebling since 2013/14. The average primary school deficit also noticeably increased, from £72,042 in 2010/11, to £107,962 in 2016/17. In addition, the EPI found that pressures on school budgets are so


significant that half of the schools will struggle to afford the annual 1% pay increase for school staff. It reports that to respond to their cash-strapped situation, schools have undertaken a variety of efficiency measures to deliver cost savings, such as switching suppliers, reducing energy usage and reducing the size of leadership teams. What the report does not examine is how much schools’ resources


budgets will have to be cut to respond to the funding crisis. The latest annual research on Resources in English Schools conducted by the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) shows that resource budgets experienced a 5% decline in secondary schools in 2016/17 and are projected to keep falling in 2017/18, by 3.5% across primary and secondary schools. However, it was encouraging to see that school leaders are


anticipating an expansion in their resource budgets in 2018/19, both at the primary and secondary levels. In particular, schools are expecting to spend nearly 3% more on ICT in 2018/19 than they budgeted for in 2017/18. Nevertheless, we cannot allow this positive news to make us


complacent. Instead, it is time to redouble our efforts to convince the government of increasing its financial support to schools if we want to ensure our children receive the education they deserve. We know that outstanding schools are the best-resourced schools;


there is a powerful evidence base to show that resources matter – from the size of the furniture, to the quality of the science equipment. If the new Secretary of State for Education, Damian Hinds, wants to solve the teacher retention crisis, it is important he and the government recognise the role of resources in saving teachers’ time and helping them teach interactive, engaging lessons. We cannot let the tough financial decisions that schools have to


make in the current situation jeopardise children’s education. Just like the NAHT is not dropping its efforts with its School Funding STILL in Crisis campaign, BESA’s Resource Our Schools campaign has never been more important. It is crucial that we rally behind it, to ensure that every school has


access to the resources they need to deliver the education that our children deserve.


uFor more information: besa.org.uk/resource-our-schools


www.education-today.co.uk 13


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