Teachers’ help sought for National Curriculum food and farming research

A lack of food and farming knowledge among young people has led a student researcher to investigate ways agriculture teaching could be boosted in the National Curriculum.

Final year BSc (Hons) Agri-Food Marketing with Business student Darcy Johnson works as an NFU Farmers for Schools Ambassador, going into schools across the country to explain farming and food production.

However, while she has found this work hugely rewarding – with young people keen to engage after her workshops and assemblies – Darcy also believes that more work could be done to embed teaching on food and farming into the curriculum.

She said: “I’ve been lucky enough to grow up on a small beef and arable farm in Wiltshire, which certainly set the seed for an all-encompassing engagement with the land, nature, and food production.

“I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to be taught and understand the fundamentals of food production in the UK.

“Agriculture and food underpin our very existence, and if we don’t address them through our National Curriculum we are raising a society that – perhaps - we expect understands where its food comes from, but in fact, very much doesn’t.”

In her role as an NFU Ambassador, Darcy gives assemblies and workshops on agriculture, explains how food is produced, and answers pupils’ questions on her journey into farming.

She added: “Although I was nervous to start with – as presenting in front of 200 13-year-olds is somewhat out of my comfort zone – the level of engagement and enthusiasm I received back from the students is brilliant.

“Every assembly I’ve delivered, teachers come up to me at the end and are somewhat astounded with how much engagement their students have shown.

“I am so passionate that kids should know and understand where food comes from, so being an NFU Farmers for Schools Ambassador is a privilege, as I get to share that knowledge first-hand with students.”

However, as Darcy explained in an award-winning presentation to a student conference at Harper Adams earlier this year, recent research – such as that undertaken by the LEAF charity and the Harper Adams School of Sustainable Food and Farming – demonstrates a disconnect between young people and the food and agriculture sectors.

She is examining the issue for her final year research project and wants secondary school biology and geography teachers across England to complete a short survey to develop a picture of teaching across the country.

Darcy added: “We are creating a society that is more and more disconnected from the land, soil, food and agriculture.

“Given the current National Curriculum review, I thought it would be really interesting to explore the teachers’ point of view on this.

“At the end of the day, it is the teachers who will be delivering this content to the Next Generation, so they really are key stakeholders.

“If we are to deliver this content effectively, speaking to teachers is paramount to address their level of understanding of agriculture and food production, as well as learn from them on how best to deliver this content, given their many years of experience working with students in a school environment.

“So that’s what my project sets out to do.

“To keep my research specific and detailed, I’ve chosen to purely focus on biology and geography GCSE specifications and teaching within England with my survey.

“It only takes 10 minutes to complete, and you're welcome to give as much or as little detail as you feel necessary. A high response rate will be invaluable to my research, providing a much more reliable picture of what teachers think across England.”

Darcy’s questionnaire – which should be filled in by Secondary School (KS4) Biology or Geography teachers in England – can be found at: harper.ac.uk/darcyhrp