Educational resource packs for teachers were recently launched to help them provide effective, creative and enjoyable health and nutrition education to primary schoolchildren to promote healthier lifestyles among the younger generation and their families.

The packs, entitled Nieklu bil-Għaqal ma’ Fonzu – Healthy Eating with Fonzu, were launched at St Nicholas College Attard primary school by Suzanne Piscopo, a University lecturer on nutrition, family and consumer studies, who was involved in the pack’s development.

The various educational materials are based on the European Food Framework – a set of competences related to diet, physical activity and energy balance to be achieved by young people by the time they leave compulsory schooling.

This framework was a project coordinated by the British Nutrition Foundation and Malta was one of the countries chosen to produce an educational programme to put this framework into practice.

The packs comprise students’ workbooks, teachers’ handbooks, comics, audio-visual presentations, videos, an original song, a board game and a children’s recipe book.

Teachers can use the materials by integrating them with various school subjects to promote creativity and critical thinking, investigation, food preparation and basic entrepreneurship skills among others. The use of ICT as a teaching and learning tool is emphasised.

Teachers are also guided on how to extend the materials through extra-curricular activities and special school days and weeks, and by involving parents, other adult carers and the community at large.

The packs will be distributed to all schools in the coming weeks, and additional training and support will be provided to teachers.

For more information, e-mail suzanne.piscopo@um.edu.mt.