Moving to senior school: an under‐exploited opportunity to teach nutrition?

Abstract

The effect of age on the way that children aged 7–16 years classify food was examined in a cross‐section of Welsh school children. Primary school children were interviewed and invited to classify photographs of food into groups. Secondary school children undertook a similar task using cards on which were written the names of foods. Although by 7 years of age children had well‐established food classification strategies, there are considerable differences between those used by older and younger children. A time of particular change was seen in the use of classification labels during the first year of senior school with children aged 11–12. Potential implications of the findings for the design and implementation of nutrition education programmes are considered.