3003HSV: Influencing Policy And Legislation - Humanities Assessment Answer

Subject Code: 3003HSV

Influencing Policy And Legislation - Humanities Assessment Answer

Assignment Task: The Problem: During school staff meetings it has been raised the lack of concentration and increased tiredness present in students. When questioned, a pattern emerged amongst these students that, for multifactorial reasons, they were not eating breakfast prior to school. This was highlighted as an issue amongst our school, and other schools Australia wide that was adversely impacting upon student’s ability to learn. One in four teachers has reported that the problem of children coming to school hungry is increasing (Foodbank Australia, 2016). Since 2008 there has been a steady increase, from 10.8% to 15.2%, in the number of school children who are skipping breakfast before school (The Queensland Times, 2015). This equates to one in seven Australian school children skipping breakfast. Queensland is the second highest state with 17% of the 16112 school children, from grade four to twelve, surveyed, having skipped breakfast the day of the CensusAtSchool survey (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014). Although the data presented was from 2014, it is the latest set of Australian data representing the number of school children who are skipping breakfast. It is clear that this is a problem that needs addressing; as there is a range of implications that skipping breakfast can have upon a child. Why does it matter? Breakfast is widely recognised as the most important meal of the day, providing children with daily nutrients including iron, B vitamins, Vitamin D and fiber (Adolphus, Lawton & Dye, 2013). These nutrients impact a child’s ability to concentrate, be fully present and actively participate within the class. Regular breakfast helps promote positive cognitive and academic outcomes, with those who regularly eat breakfast being found to have achieved higher academic grades, achievement test and attendance scores (Dykstra et al. 2016; Adolphus, Lawton & Dye, 2013). Children who do not eat breakfast before going to school have been linked with experiencing irritability and aggression that impacts individual and class learning (Food Research & Action Center, 2016). As a teacher myself, this takes away from the teachers' ability to solely devote time to teach as those who are unable to concentrate disrupt the class preventing other students from learning. A lack of breakfast on a regular occurrence also has adverse effects for the future. It is important to get young children into a good routine of eating breakfast as regularly skipping breakfast can increase a child’s risk of being overweight in the future (Adolphus, Lawton & Dye, 2013). Studies have found that children who often skip breakfast are less likely to be physically active and have a lower cardiorespiratory level (Adolphus, Lawton & Dye, 2013; Sandercock, Voss & Dye, 2010). During night time our bodies shut down the metabolic rate, by breaking the fast from the night before our metabolism gets a kick start and will increase (Adolphus, Lawton & Dye, 2013). However, as a busy mother myself, working full time and organizing two children in the morning, I am aware that mornings can be a stressful time. Why children are skipping breakfast? From personal experience, getting two children and myself ready and organised for school is a mission that takes organisation and preparation. With an increase in single parents or parents that both work full time, the morning school run can be very rushed, with limited time to have breakfast (Jackson, 2013). Amongst older children who are able to get themselves ready, a key factor for skipping breakfast is that they are often up late catching up on schoolwork and extra curriculum activities so that in the morning they are rushing to get to school (Jackson, 2013). Another reason as to why some children are not eating breakfast before school is the lack of income or healthy options that are available. In addition to this, the lack of education provided to parents and children on the importance of breakfast and the adverse impacts that it can have upon a child’s health (Jackson, 2013). As a teacher, I have noticed there has been a large increase amongst children replacing breakfast with energy drinks. The caffeine stimulant within energy drinks can increase difficulty concentrating, stomach issues and jitteriness (Jackson, 2013). Often convenience in the morning takes a lot of pressure away from the stresses of the morning routine, but unfortunately convenient foods and energy drinks are often laced with sugar and preservatives that are non-nutritional often leaving children feeling tired, deflated and irritable (Jackson, 2013). Hunger can equate to two hours of lost learning time each day, equivalent to one school term each year (Foodbank Australia, 2016). Two options have been identified to help combat this issue and provide children with a healthy breakfast to fuel their body for learning. Option One: The first identified option to provide families with cheap groceries. With food prices rising it is harder for parents to provide their children breakfast before school. One in six Australians reports having experienced food insecurity at least once within 2015, for a quarter of these people it is a regular occurrence (Foodbank Australia, 2017). Within New South Wales, The Staples Bag is a not-for-profit grocery store that provides some relief to families who are struggling to put food on the table. The grocery store relies on wholesalers to donate items at a heavily discounted price. At The Staples Bag a bag of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat for a family of four can cost only around $30, making it very affordable for families (Feng, 2017). Individuals who shop at The Staples bag reports the significant impact that the store has had on their lives and how they can now afford new school shoes for their children (Feng, 2017). There is not a shop similar in Queensland and although Foodbank is a non-profit organisation that receives limited Government to help purchase key staple foods, the changes in Government policy has influenced the ability for food relief teams to support individuals (Foodbank Australia, 2017). The 2014 Federal Budget announced a reduction of approximately $240 million over four years in the Department of Social Services’ Discretionary Grant Program limiting the ability for charities to respond to client needs (Foodbank Australia, 2017). With the ever-growing number of people wishing to receive groceries, within 2016 charities had to turn away 43000 people each month, 32% of those were children (Foodbank Australia, 2017). A limitation with funding a cheaper a grocery store is that there is no monitoring what food families buy and provide their children as a breakfast meal, as previously mentioned, the regularity of energy drinks within students diets for replacing meals is on the rise. Another identified option is to implement a school program that provides breakfast for students. Option two: Teachers estimate that when a student comes to school hungry, having not had breakfast, they lose more than two hours per day of learning, equating to one term per year (Foodbank Australia, 2016). The second option is to implement a school program that provides breakfast for students. The Australian Red Cross (South Australia Division) supports the Good Start Breakfast Club and provides education to schools assisting them in setting up their own breakfast program (Australian Red Cross, 2017). The program provides fact sheets and concept maps to aid schools in sourcing food, volunteers and funding for their program (Australian Red Cross, 2017). As a teacher, I am aware that this is a lot of responsibility for the school to set up and often finding funding from other organisations is challenging. By creating a government initiative for schools to employ this program it would ensure that all children, no matter what school that they are enrolled in, are being provided with a nutritious breakfast to start their day off. A highlighted issue was the lack of time parents and children had in the morning to have breakfast so implementing a before school program may not be as successful as children would have to get to school even earlier. However, implementing a breakfast program that ran for the first 15 – 20minutes of the school day in the classroom would ensure that all students would be present at school and be able to eat before class began. This has successfully been implemented in Western Australia, where eight out of ten students felt that their breakfast program provided by their school enabled them to concentrate more on their schoolwork and ‘behave properly’ (Foodbank Australia, 2016). Teachers from the same school reported that students were more ready to learn, better behaved, more productive and their attendance was better (Foodbank Australia, 2016). The recommendation for this submission, based on supporting evidence, is the implementation of a breakfast program in every school.

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