Wednesday 14 May 2008

Does the "Jamie Oliver effect" apply to teachers as well as pupils?

It is some time now since celebrity chef Jamie Oliver started a campaign to improve the nutritional value of the meals served in schools. This led to the Government setting nutritional standards for school meals .... and, quite predictably, to fewer pupils taking school meals because the outcome was meals that they didn't want to eat. Some schools have also adopted short lunch breaks to help reduce the incidence of pupil misbehaviour, my own school, for example, having moved to a 40 minute lunch break. The two combine to discourage pupils from eating at lunch time. Instead, they wait until the end of the school day (which is of course earlier because of the shorter lunch break) and, on their way home, call in at the chip shop.

Now, today, three of my colleagues (who had better remain anonymous) dashed out at lunchtime to drive up to the nearby shops and return with assorted chicken and chips etc for their lunch. I felt very virtuous eating my bacon sandwiches (white bread) .... well, relatively speaking, anyway.

But my mischievous thought is: how long until "unhealthy eating" by teachers at school becomes a disciplinary offence?

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