So says former teacher-turned dietician and University of Newcastle researcher Tammie Jakstas, who has launched a research project called ‘The Teacher Nutrition Study’ that’s seeking to address this seemingly under scrutinised issue impacting on teachers’ health and wellbeing.
Jakstas’ own experience as a food technology teacher first prompted her interest in looking more closely at teachers’ diet and food habits, and she was keen to assess how the ‘always on’ nature of their work might stand in the way of basic self-care.
Often she found herself unwrapping lunch well after the final bell had sounded.
“I found that I would put so much energy into my lessons and my classes, and I would get to the end of the day and realise I forgot to eat lunch – you just get so stuck with everything,” she tells EducationHQ.
“It starts to take its toll over a series of months and years, and that was the case with me – [it didn’t seem anything] major at the time, you skip a meal here and there.”
But the cumulative effect of missed meals and snacks soon added up. This was something Jakstas also witnessed playing out for her colleagues.
“We all get swept up in these demands, [and that leads to] just unhealthy habits.”
With her health and wellbeing ‘seriously’ derailed, the teacher opted to complete a dietetics degree before returning to the classroom.
Armed with new suite of knowledge and skills, she was able to draw on a few key strategies to ensure this time her health was not compromised or shoved down the priority list.
“I made sure I packed simple and easy-to eat-meals. I would plan my week ahead if I knew it was going to be busy, so that I would at least be able to grab something to eat on the run, that would help keep me going in a healthy way,” she recalls.
Homemade soup – divvied up into portions and frozen – proved a highly successful lunch option.
“It didn’t require much chewing.”
Researcher Tammie Jakstas is developing a tool to help teachers better care for their nutrition needs throughout the school day.
Many teachers across Australia work in ‘food deserts’, with the school canteen perhaps the only option for sourcing sustenance during the day, Jakstas flags.
Yet to date the research on teacher wellbeing has been ‘light on’ when it comes to investigating this broader nutrition issue facing teachers, she notes.
“I wanted to be able to share some of those practical hints and tips that I’ve learnt in my training as a dietician, because there’s really a gap.
“There’s a lot of teacher wellbeing being resources out there, but that practical aspect of eating something, that we do every day, and [recognising] how it’s so connected to our health and wellbeing [is not factored in].”
Teachers are clearly in need of bolstered support in this area, Jakstas says.
“The data supports this too – wellbeing and diet are not part of any initial teacher training. There is very little out there – and when teachers are responsible for role modelling healthy eating habits for their students, it’s clear we need to support them better so they can support their students”.
This is where the Teacher Nutrition Study, funded by Teachers Health Foundation, is aiming to step in.
Now in its third and final phase, Jakstas says teachers are busy testing out three pilot modules that cover topics such as key ‘food skills’ and why a healthy diet is crucial to wellbeing at work.
”We are taking a teacher-first approach and saying, ‘we know you’re important’ and here are some really simple strategies that can help boost your nutrition-related health and wellbeing,” Jakstas says.
In the absence of any concrete data to begin with, the researcher set out to gather her own.
“We didn’t know what teachers were eating. We didn’t know how their food and nutrition practices were affecting their day-to-day. We didn’t know much about it.
“So, we went back and created a tool, and we were able to collect some longitudinal data, which we’re still analysing at the moment, and collect some qualitative data around those key barriers that teachers are experiencing in the school day.”
Time – or lack of it more specifically – emerged as the main obstacle to teachers’ ability to maintain a healthy diet.
“My experience is one thing … but the time to stop for a meal was a huge barrier, as was the disruption out of hours work presented in the evenings.
“Because you’re maybe staying late for an extra meeting, or you have parent-teacher interviews, or you have your own children’s commitments after school – it’s the disruption of that work-life balance that then impacts on whether you can prepare a healthy meal, or you can do some of that planning.”
Primary or secondary teachers interested in completing the test modules over the course of four months can register here by May 5.
