SEEDS – Learning the universal value of food
The cultural dimension of sustainability
What is the role of culture in the global challenges we are facing?
In 2015, the United Nations established 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 Targets, brought together in the 2030 Agenda. This provided all countries with a clearer view of the goal to be achieved in terms of concrete actions and time available.
Culture is directly and indirectly reflected in all the Sustainable Development Goals, but particularly in the challenges related to quality education (SDG 4), sustainable cities (SDG 11) and decent work (SDG 8).
As a result multiplier, culture is an essential pre-requisite for the whole 2030 Agenda, thanks to its ability to transfer knowledge and encourage people to think in terms of the community.
In order to promote culture, it is important to enhance education, so as to offer new generations the degree of knowledge and awareness needed to make change possible.
Seeds was set up to support teachers and educators in this process, as a way of contributing to the growth of a culture based on sustainability, starting with food.
Learning from food
Why is food the starting point for addressing the global challenges of sustainability?
The response lies specifically in a principle the Barilla Foundation regards as fundamental: food is not a commodity because it contains a universal value that can be interpreted in a nutritional, cultural, environmental, social and economic sense.
Food is a topic that can help students understand sustainability as a whole in a simple and intuitive way.
In creating an educational pathway with young people, food is a tool that helps us understand and visualize the link between health and sustainable development, because what is good for people is also good for the community and the planet. It reminds us of the value of resources and the concept of circularity, exemplified by the focus on reducing food waste and reusing leftovers.
It suggests that every individual has an important role to play in creating a more sustainable system based on their daily choices.
Food therefore presents an opportunity to think about the complexity and richness of the subject of sustainability through the different dimensions of common living.
This is the focus of the activities carried out by Seeds, an area wholly dedicated to the topic of education for sustainability through food.
Starting from food allows us to build educational tools and pathways that lay the foundations for real and constant learning, which continues to feed on new experiences, knowledge and opportunities for sharing.
From learning to change-making
The survey commissioned from Ipsos Italia shows that young people are sensitive and attentive to the issue of sustainability, but have limited knowledge of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and are unaware of the link between sustainability and food. This is why it is important to offer young people new stimuli and new tools to understand the complexity of these issues and the role they can play in dealing with global challenges.
In educational terms, improving skills in the area of food and environmental sustainability first of all requires adequate knowledge to be provided for people to understand the extent and implications of the nutritional, social, economic and environmental challenges of our time.
It is important to note that it is not just a matter of gaining more knowledge, but of using the contents and specific skills gained to develop a series of soft skills, such as decision-making skills, a systemic, critical and creative approach, collaborative and relational skills, allowing three primary goals to be achieved.
The first is to help children and teenagers to grow into informed citizens and develop responsible behavior for themselves and for the environment.
The second is to make them active agents of change and therefore able to independently identify the best opportunities to involve their family, class, friends, the local area and the entire community in this process.
Finally, the third is to become responsible adults, as citizens and, possibly, as professionals in the food and environmental sustainability sector.
Educating about the universal value of food therefore becomes the first step in promoting a virtuous circle that starts with training and evolves into a continuous path of learning and change.
Working in this direction with the younger generations therefore becomes a particularly significant social role, because it supports the people who will be able to achieve a positive long-term impact.
Schools have a vital role to play in this respect, with teachers and educators on the front line. This is why Seeds relies on important collaborations and partnerships to create multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary tools and educational paths that can help teachers and educators in their work with young people and children in their studies and personal growth. These are scientifically supported and constantly updated scientific materials that advise teachers on how to implement high value educational pathways.
Food teaches sustainability
Seeds offers teaches and trainers concrete tools with which to support their work and their ability to promote change.
Making the topic of sustainability through food a priority in schools
Updating teachers and trainers on the topic of food sustainability
Offering new training and sharing pathways for teachers
Making the topic of sustainability through food a priority in schools
We, food, our Planet
The project, which is the subject of a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Education, was set up in 2018 to introduce the topic of food sustainability to schools of all levels.
The project summarizes the key points related to food and food systems, helping students to understand its complexity and its various factors, such as health, safety, culture and the environment.
We, food, our Planet includes:
content, resources and materials for online teacher training and digital educational tools for lessons with students, including laboratory activities that promote more dynamic and engaging learning; promoting the introduction of teaching through CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning);
rewards for excellence, through the “We, food, our - In action!” competition, with the collaboration of Tuttoscuola, which rewards teachers and schools committed to training young people on food sustainability issues using the educational tools provided by the program.
The project also resulted in the “We, food, our Planet: Feeding a sustainable future” experiential exhibition.
This multimedia path, divided into five themed areas, used interactive and immersive methods of involvement to explain to students the paradoxes of food and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, addressing the culture of food, the relationship between food and cities, the value of the Mediterranean diet and the impact of food choices on the environment. Launched on the occasion of Parma 2020 – Italian Capital of Culture - the exhibition included dedicated paths and workshops for students of all levels.
We, the food, the Planet
We, the food, the Planet is a digital game-based learning activity. It allows players to dialogue with our Planet to understand the impact of human activities on the environment, starting with food.
We, the food, the Planet provides quizzes and interactive games, and players can discover global problems and practical solutions that are both healthy for humans and respectful of the planet.
Finally, all the initiatives are carefully monitored to gather feedback from teachers and observe the results achieved.
Updating teachers and trainers on the topic of food sustainability
S.O.F.I.A.
As a training establishment recognized by the Italian Ministry of Education, the Barilla Foundation has set up a project based on the blended learning model, which combines online and face-to-face learning.
The goal is to enhance and promote the professional growth of teachers on a LifeLong Learning path, helping them to deal with food and environmental sustainability through:
specific and in-depth knowledge of the topics;
strengthening planning, evaluation, organizational and relational skills;
the more informed use of new technologies.
The refresher courses developed by Seeds are available on the Italian Ministry of Education’s S.O.F.I.A. platform and allow teachers to gain training credits.
Offering new training and sharing pathways for teachers
SkillED – Key competences for building sustainability knowledge through food
SkillED is an international Erasmus+ project set up to build a set of certified skills for teaching about food and environmental sustainability.
Food, in fact, allows us to talk to the younger generations about many issues, including global citizenship, resource management, cultural diversity and the importance of participation in local communities.
Within this richness of contents and skills there is no common approach. SkillED was created precisely to respond to this need and therefore to ensure a constant and shared quality standard in teaching about sustainability through food.
This three-year project began in 2020.
The Barilla Foundation is the lead organization for this project that involves 23 teachers and over 250 students from Italy, Bulgaria, Spain, Latvia and Greece.
Learning about the complexity of food systems
Our path
The commitment to educate about sustainability through food and to contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda has been a journey full of significant experiences, of which it is important to recall the main stages.
Partners
A long, intense and meaningful journey that has relied on the collaboration of important partners.
