Outcomes Assessment of Sensory Education in Schools

Project Information

OASES

Grant agreement ID: 799965

DOI

10.3030/799965

Project closed

EC signature date 23 February 2018

Start date 1 October 2018

End date 12 October 2022

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 195 454,80

EU contribution

€ 195 454,80

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - OASES (Outcomes Assessment of Sensory Education in Schools)

Reporting period: 2018-10-01 to 2020-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Diet related ill health is a major threat to public health and the sustainability of health services. Low consumption of vegetables and fruit amongst children is a particular concern in the UK. Food fussiness and neophobia have been identified as major barriers to greater consumption. Sensory food education aims to grow children’s confidence and enjoyment in food tasting, to support the development of healthy dietary variety. This action develops conducts a randomised controlled trial to assess outcomes assessment of the ‘Flavour School’ sensory food education programme, implemented in UK primary schools. It targets early primary school children, age 4-7 years, with particular focus on fruit and vegetables.
This action has been heavily disrupted by pandemic Covid19 and related restrictions. Some compromises have been necessary to complete the trial, and some work on write-up and publication of results remains to be completed at grant end. The study protocol has been published in the journal Trials, and the trial is registered at ISRCTN40249947.
We designed a simple, low pressure tasting activity along the lines of a Flavour School activity. Children participated in the activity before and after the Flavour School intervention. We video recorded the activity and observed the number of items tasted, the number of bites and licks, and the valence (positive/neutral/negative) of their facial expressions. This yielded a very rich description of the children's tasting behaviour.
The results showed surprisingly high baseline acceptance in the tasting activity, and even higher at follow up (p < 0.005) but by similar amounts in both the control and the experimental group. The intervention had no significant effect on tasting behaviour in our sample of children. Most children engaged from the start and did not need the extra sensory activities to encourage tasting. This high acceptance included many children who were rated by parents as particularly food fussy/neo-phobic/reluctant. We interpret this to suggest that tasting behaviour depends on context. Children who are reluctant to taste at mealtimes may be much more willing in the context of a low-consequence tasting activity in school. The sensory tasting activities provided a context in which even normally fussy children will taste vegetables and fruit. But this happened at baseline in our study, and extra sensory activities did not turn fussy children into less fussy children at follow-up. Facial expressions measures changed little on average across both groups, and children’s ‘food personalities’ were quite stable between baseline and follow up. Sensory and tasting activities in school class-time offer a powerful context for broadening children's food horizons, but less so for tasting behaviour change. We did not observe children's mealtime or home eating behaviour in this study.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

WP1 - Project management, training and career development
The project has been heavily disrupted due to Covid19 effects on schools. We are pleased to have completed a good trial aligned with core project intent. Training-through-research of the Fellow was effective. Many hours of contact time has grown the Fellows experience of children’s tasting behaviour and working with children in a research context. The Fellow has found continued employment at the host institution.
WP2 - Piloting and methods development
We designed and piloted a novel tasting activity to examine children’s tasting behaviour and obtain high quality individual video recordings of children’s faces and tasting behaviour. We video recorded the activity and observed the number of items tasted, the number of bites and licks, and their facial expressions. This yielded a very rich description of the children's tasting behaviour.
WP3 - Development and testing of automated facial expression analysis
Noldus FaceReader is a scientific software platform for automated facial expression analysis. The FaceReader algorithm was redesigned based on feedback from our pilots, and now offers much improved performance. Automated analysis of children’s videos using the FaceReader is ongoing at grant end.
WP4 - Empirical study and data analysis
We have attempted three iterations of the trial, with the third completing successfully. This has resulted in some delays, such that data analysis, write up and publication are ongoing at grant-end.
WP5 - Dissemination and Communication
We reached 12+ schools and trained 50+ teachers, enabling delivery of sensory food activities to over 800 children. Despite limited published data so far, the Fellow and the OASES project have played an important role in the growth of sensory food education as a hot policy topic in the UK. Write-up and publication of our results is forthcoming.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The OASES project has been a key driver in elevating sensory food education into a hot topic in UK health and education policy and practice, and our findings are hotly awaited. Sensory food education has been recommended in the UK National Food Strategy (2019) and Dept. for Education. The Fellow was consulted by both bodies.The project has enabled sensory food education teacher training for over 50 teachers, and the delivery of sensory food education activities to over 800 children in 13 schools. Leeds City Council Healthy Schools team has attended 5 teacher training sessions and Flavour School events, to support the adoption of sensory food education training by the Healthy Schools team, who provide teacher training services to schools across the Leeds region. The Fellow has supported a campaign by children’s food manufacturer Ella’s Kitchen (https://www.ellaskitchen.co.uk/eat-play-love) promoting sensory food play, and is currently working with preschool specialists the Early Years Alliance to upskill practitioners and develop activities suited to a range of preschool age groups. Our collaboration with the FaceReader software developers has already improved a leading scientific software tool.

The primary learnings so far from this study are:
1. We found that given an amenable context, the children in our sample were very willing to taste new and familiar vegetables and fruit.
2. The playful, low-consequence atmosphere created by the sensory tasting and exploration was the key factor driving their success in encouraging children to taste.
3. Given this amenable atmosphere, most children were willing to taste new and familiar vegetables and fruit, especially once they were familiar with the activity and the researcher.
4. The particular activities used to create the atmosphere did not make a big difference. Extra sensory activities did not make fussy children less fussy, but even fussy children were quite open to tasting in the atmosphere of Flavour School sensory activities.
5. Sensory food activities have strong potential as a means to familiarise children with a wide range of vegetables and fruit. They appear to work more by changing the context of tasting to avoid children’s barriers to tasting, than by changing children’s behaviour or ‘food personality’.
6. This means that sensory food activities in class can introduce children to a range of healthy foods and flavours (a worthwhile benefit in itself), but are less likely to offer a ‘cure’ for food fussiness and neophobia. This is largely in line with existing research.

Child participating

Results

The Flavour Explorers activity