Abstract
Objectives
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are attended by most children before school entry, reaching many living in circumstances of poverty and providing opportunity to support their nutrition. In this study, we examine the extent to which this opportunity is being met, comparing two common types of service provision: centre- versus family- provided food.
Methods
Intensive in-situ observations were undertaken across 10 ECEC services in highly disadvantaged Australian communities. All meals provided to children aged 3.5–5 years across an ECEC day (N = 48), of which 11% were experiencing severe food insecurity, were photographed and analysed to assess nutritional adequacy with reference to national dietary standards.
Results
Meals provided did not meet national dietary recommendations for quality or quantity. Nutrition was least adequate in services with policies of family-provided food. These services were also those that served families experiencing the highest levels of severe food insecurity (29%).
Conclusions
In the absence of policies for the provision of food in ECEC, services are not realising their potential to support child nutrition in the context of poverty presenting increased risk to lifetime trajectories of health and wellbeing. System level policy interventions are required to facilitate equitable access to nutritious food and attendant life chances.
Significance
ECEC services present an important opportunity to address social inequities, including inequities associated with experiences of poverty. Yet, to date knowledge of the extent to which ECEC services are meeting the nutritional needs of children remains unclear. This study provides evidence from an intensive data collection in ECEC services located in areas at high risk of poverty. Our findings suggest that the nutritional needs of children are not being met within these services, but particularly where provision of food is the responsibility of families. This article highlights the need for system level policies for food provision to overcome perpetuation of poverty for these children.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which this research was conducted – the Turrabul and Jagera peoples. We thank all members of the Mealtimes Matter team and participating ECE services in Queensland.
Funding
This study was funded under the strategic initiative fund of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families across the Life Course (CE140100027) for a project entitled Mealtimes Matter.
Conflict of interestNone to declare.
Ethical approvalEthics approval for this study was obtained from University of Queensland Human Research Ethics Committee (Approval Number 2018002381).
Consent to ParticipateAll persons gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study.
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BS: Project administration, data collection, formal analysis, writing—original draft, review and editing. SS: Conceptualisation, funding acquisition, methodology, supervision, review and editing, OB: data collection, preliminary analysis. RL: review and editing. KT: Conceptualisation, funding acquisition, methodology, supervision, writing—original draft, review and editing.
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Searle, B., Staton, S., Littlewood, R. et al. A Missed Opportunity? Meal Provision in Early Childhood Education and Care Services in the Context of Socioeconomic Disadvantage. Matern Child Health J 28, 362–371 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-023-03849-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-023-03849-4