Research from the Queensland University of Technology has shown that early childhood educators had poor base nutritional knowledge despite being extremely confident in their knowledge.
From the survey conducted by QUT research fellow Phoebe Cleland 1748 respondents answered 11 nutritional question and questions about their confidence levels in regards to food groups and talking effectively to parents about food choices.
Only two per cent of the respondents answered all 11 nutritional questions correctly, even with access to the Get Up and Grow Guidelines.
The study brought about the Learning, Eating, Active Play and Sleep program, otherwise known as LEAPS professional development program, which allows educators to gain practical information, communicate with families, learn about eating behaviours and physical activity, and how this impacts on growth and development.
Ms Cleland said there was a disconnect between what they thought they knew and what they actually knew.
“The base results did show that knowledge was low, but confidence was high,” she said.
“Educators should know where to get the information from.
“The Get up and Grow Guidelines are based on evidence and it is trusted that this is the right information for children in early childcare (but we need to know) how to put it into practice.
“This really shows that we need training with any new guidelines, so we know what they are and how to use them.”
Ms Cleland said the LEAPS professional development program has had great success across Logan with five sessions being run since 2013, as well as online learners.
“So many children attend childcare and there needs to be a consistent message about nutrition,” she said.
“We need to give the skills and tools to give the best for children.
“We need to value our early childhood sector as we know there is a lot of pressure on educators.
“We don’t want children to go on and be in that 63 per cent of overweight adults.”
C&K Community Kindergarten assistant Jo Sing has completed the LEAPS program and said it was very worthwhile.
“It’s a good thing to understand and improve on, to get different ideas too,” she said.
“We are only advantaged by learning, more knowledge never hurts.”
Ms Sing said although she had a good understanding, the program did help her with imparting knowledge to parents and young families.
After June the LEAPS program will no longer be free, more information can be found here.
