\u27Thinking Outside the Box\u27: Extending Our Analysis of Surplus Food Movement

The concept of movement in relation to food can be applied in diverse ways, literally, but also as metaphor. Food waste, similarly, is an open and contested signifier. To bring the two concepts together, then, is a potentially complicated analytical exercise. Nevertheless, to think of food waste in terms of “movement” may be productive. This paper examines, in terms of movement, the activities of Irish community and voluntary organisations (CVOs), partners with an Irish-based NGO, FoodCloud, in the distribution of surplus food. These are examined within the context of the COVID19 pandemic in Ireland during 2020 and 2021. The paper is based on research conducted by the authors in 2021-2. It outlines aspects of the concept of movement within food waste studies; describes the aims and methodology of the research; reports findings in relation to surplus food distribution in terms of movement; and suggests implications for our broader understanding of food waste. It asks scholars of food waste to “think outside” a number of boxes, to ask how the food chain is extended through surplus food distribution; how surplus food may be used in multiple ways; and in how surplus food distribution activities may have the potential to support, more broadly, sustainable food communities

Food, Connection and Care: Perspectives of Service Providers in Alternative Education and Training Settings

While the formal school system has been the focus for researchers, practitioners and policy-makers for food and nutrition-related research and interventions, there has been less attention to the Alternative Education and Training (AET) sector. A qualitative social ecological examination of food issues among marginalised young people in Irish alternative education and training settings was conducted through interviews with 15 service providers. We aimed to provide insight into the everyday food practices of young people in AETs, understand educational responses to food and eating in AETs, and determine how these educational responses might be optimised. Through a socio-ecological framework, we examined service providers’ accounts beyond individual (intrapersonal) factors that related to young people’s dietary practices, to include interpersonal, organisational, community and policy-related factors. Across the socio-ecological framework analysis was organised in terms of four broad themes: (i) food practices of young people in AET; (ii) food and connection; (iii) food, place and community; (iv) teaching and learning about food and health to marginalised you in marginalised education settings. Food provision was central to AETs’ activities and impacted on young people’s home life and employment prospects. AETs experienced challenges: food provision resources; expertise to address food issues; and the tension between AETs’ holistic educational response to food and their obligation to provide certification and employment pathways. There is an opportunity to harness the interest in food, education and empowerment in these settings to bridge the social and nutritional dimensions of food for/with young people

The Role of Grandparents in Childcare in Ireland: Towards a Research Agenda

This paper discusses the role of grandparents in informal childcare in Ireland. It considers how recent demographic change and government policy on childcare have the potential to place greater pressures on the provision of grandparent childcare. It illustrates research literature that has examined the prevalence and intensity of grandparent care, factors influencing such care, and the role and needs of grandparents in childcare. We argue that there are significant gaps in Irish research evidence about the extent of, role and needs of grandparents as childcarers and outline a data and research agenda that builds on previous research in this area

Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Institution-wide pedagogical reform at an elite university in Ireland

Institution-wide pedagogical reforms are common across higher education institutions. Such reforms may be driven by rationalisation as well as recognition of the need to provide students with interdisciplinary learning experiences that equip them with the “social and analytic competencies needed in contemporary careers outside the academy” (British Academy, 2016, p.5). This paper reports on an institution-wide pedagogical reform initiative, the Trinity Education Project (TEP), at Trinity College Dublin, an elite and ancient Irish university. We describe the development of the TEP and the implementation of its Assessment Framework, which aims to bring diversity into teaching, learning and assessment through the assessment of graduate attributes in a system strongly focused on assessment of learning, examinations and lectures. Reflections on challenges are presented. Discussion centres on the extent to which it is possible, and the best approach, to achieve consensus in an educational system where autonomous disciplinary structures and traditions prevail

The Early Learning Initiative’s Stretch to Learn Programme: baseline evaluation in primary schools in the Dublin Docklands.

The ELI Stretch to Learn programme aims to promote better educational outcomes for children and young people in the Docklands. It operates in seven local primary schools. A range of educational supports and activities are provided to students in-class and at the National College of Ireland (NCI). These include literacy, numeracy and educational guidance programmes, activities that celebrate student achievement and initiatives that aim to enhance parental involvement in children’s learning. This study provides baseline data on the schools, students and parents involved in Stretch to Learn to inform the future direction of the programme. It will also support future evaluation. The baseline data provides the educational and social context in which Stretch to Learn operates. It provides socio-demographic information about the students and parents who participate in the programme, attitudes to education and key educational performance indicators of 2nd and 6th class children