Experience and Vision of Nutrition Education by Nutrition Teacher Candidate in School

The purposes of study were to survey the status of nutrition education in school and investigate the perception of nutrition teacher candidates concerning the direction and ideal method for nutrition education. A questionnaire was distributed to 554 nutrition teacher candidates from August to October, 2006. A total of 468 usable data were collected (84.5% response rate). The statistical data analysis was completed by using SPSS for Windows (ver. 10.0) for descriptive analysis, ANOVA and -test. About 52% of respondents had nutrition education teaching experience. Half of the respondents indicated that the necessity for nutrition education stemmed from their own need for such education. The main problem in students' dietary life was 'the increasing intake of processed foods, instant foods and fast foods (4.23 out of Likert 5 point scale)' and the major nutritional problem was 'high calorie intake with low essential nutrients (3.96 out of Likert 5 point scale)'. Over half the respondents (53.4%) recommended that nutrition education be oriented towards behavioral change rather than knowledge delivery. Social learning theory was preferred mostly as an theory apt to nutrition education (60.3%) and the most effective means of education was referred to organizing the regular class for nutrition education (50.5%). The 'playing such as songs or game' was reported as both effective and realizable method in nutrition education.