RECOMMENDATIONS

The recommendations discussed in this section are drawn from the findings presented in Chapter 5, which are supported by the more detailed presentation of the data in Chapter 4.

6.3.1 The School Nutrition Programme needs to create more programmes and initiatives that promote social learning to share knowledge about strategies to alleviate poverty in the community. Chapter 5 of the study showed that learning occurs between the School Nutrition Programme and the community. Only a few community members are involved in the School Nutrition programme, such as the SGB members, learner support agent, food handlers and the two parents that offer voluntary services. This can slow the flow of knowledge sharing between the School Nutrition Programme and the community and, ultimately, affect the extent to which the School Nutrition Programme can serve as a catalyst for community-based environmental learning to enhance food security.

The committee needs to organise campaigns and fun, knowledgeable activities for the general community so as to involve and inform everyone in the sustainable production of vegetables. These activities should be planned in a way that involves both the community and the school, with knowledge-sharing and learning being the main focus. This is in line with the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s (2005) encouragement of community members taking responsibility for school feeding programmes such as the School Nutrition Programme.

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6.3.2 The School Nutrition Programme members should actively promote local food production through reaffirming indigenous knowledge and traditional practices related to food cultivation. The School Nutrition Programme’s Generic Training Manual (South Africa, 2008) encouraged the use of indigenous foods in preparing meals for the learners as these foods are easily available, fresh, nutritious and cheap. Furthermore, this study’s data has shown that members of the School Nutrition Programme do draw on local knowledge and traditional practices, but this approach to learning seems to be taken for granted in the community of practice.

Food handlers need to share their indigenous knowledge with other School Nutrition Programme committee members more formally, for example, they can share and use recipes, remedies and other indigenous practices related to sustainable food cultivation that they learnt from their parents. Community gatherings are a good platform for this type of knowledge-sharing because women in the community observe and learn from elderly women as they cook. A strengthening of indigenous knowledge and traditional practices can benefit the School Nutrition Programme in the following ways:

 economically (home-grown food is generally cheaper and does not require transport to town);

 nutritionally (it is fresh and, in most cases, organic);

 environmentally (local, traditional food plants are well-adapted to growing in the local climate and ecosystem, thereby reducing the need for harmful pesticides or inorganic fertiliser. Growing food locally also eliminates the need for refrigeration and transportation as with commercially sold vegetables, and this reduces the carbon footprint of the food production process);

 culturally (the value of indigenous practices are strengthened);

 socially (people living in a context of poverty are able to cultivate their own food and perhaps even sell it when there is a surplus).

6.3.3 The School Nutrition Programme should explore ways of sharing knowledge and skills related to food cultivation more formally. The case of Bushula’s J.S.S’s School Nutrition Programme has shown that knowledge and skills produced and shared

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in this community of practice are mostly tacit knowledge that is shared through observing others’ practices. It would therefore be advantageous for the School Nutrition Programme committee members to develop a more formal training programme that can improve the knowledge and skills that they already have, such as gardening skills and cooking skills.

6.3.4 Teacher professional development workshops, or other explicit strategies are needed to help teachers at Bushula’s J.S.S strengthen social-ecological learning in the curriculum, especially regarding the links between health, nutrition and environmental sustainability. There is evidence that educators include “Health and Nutrition” in their lessons, for example, Chapter 4 described how a teacher gave her Grade 9 learners a task to create a poster that is based on health and nutrition under the theme “healthy lifestyle”. They used this poster for a once-off event to inform the rest of the school about living a healthy lifestyle. It was also evident that involvement in the running of the School Nutrition Programme gives teachers at Bushula’s J.S.S

opportunities to learn more about food security and other environmental issues, as well as relevant solutions. However, these environmental learning opportunities and links to the curriculum are currently limited and need to be nurtured. There is a need for continuous teacher professional development opportunities to strengthen environment-oriented learning in the curriculum. This may be achieved by organising teacher workshops, and starting environmental projects that involve the learners, teachers and parents. Such projects can include enhancing the school garden, starting an Eco-Club in the school or running practical competitions that are environmentally orientated.

Placing the learner at the centre of the home, school and community environments is central to any efforts undertaken by Bushula’s J.S.S to enhance environmental education through the School Nutrition Programme. As shown in Figure 6.1, when home, school and community environments are equally involved in education, learning can be a three- way flow, as suggested by Taylor and Mulhall (2001). Teachers at Bushula’s J.S.S will benefit from formal training to understand and develop these connections through their classroom practice.

101 Home environment Home environment School environment School environment Community environment Community environment The learner The learner Home environment Home environment School environment School environment Community environment Community environment The learner The learner Home environment Home environment School environment School environment Community environment Community environment The learner The learner

Figure 6. 1 Linking the Learning Environments (Taylor & Mulhall, 2001,pp. 135-148)

Some national and provincial programmes that might support such developments are the Eco-Schools Programme implemented by the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA), and the Fundisa for Change programme, a national teacher professional development programme aimed at strengthening environmental education that is endorsed by the Department of Basic Education.