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| School food: Michael Gove's remarkable socialist masterplan | School food: Michael Gove's remarkable socialist masterplan |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The school food plan is filled with unexpected ironies, the most striking that it is a Conservative education secretary, Michael Gove, who will oversee the final phase of the state-led reconstruction of the school dinner system decimated so comprehensively by Mrs Thatcher in the 1980s. | |
| That is no idle, partisan jibe. When the report's authors, restaurateurs and businessmen Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent, looked at why school meal take up fell off a cliff in the 1980s, it did not take them long to find the cause: the removal of national pricing, the abolition of minimum nutritional standards, and the tightening of eligibility criteria in 1988 which alone cut free school meal entitlement for half a million children. | That is no idle, partisan jibe. When the report's authors, restaurateurs and businessmen Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent, looked at why school meal take up fell off a cliff in the 1980s, it did not take them long to find the cause: the removal of national pricing, the abolition of minimum nutritional standards, and the tightening of eligibility criteria in 1988 which alone cut free school meal entitlement for half a million children. |
| Not only did Thatcher deregulate school food provision, she opened it up to market forces. From 1988 local authorities were forced to put food contracts out to competitive tender: nutritional standards plummeted rapidly, as did quality; skilled school cooks were replaced by processed meals and junk food. School kitchens were ditched. | Not only did Thatcher deregulate school food provision, she opened it up to market forces. From 1988 local authorities were forced to put food contracts out to competitive tender: nutritional standards plummeted rapidly, as did quality; skilled school cooks were replaced by processed meals and junk food. School kitchens were ditched. |
| As fewer children chose to eat school meals meals, costs rose, and take up, which had been at the 70% mark for over two decades slumped to 43%. | As fewer children chose to eat school meals meals, costs rose, and take up, which had been at the 70% mark for over two decades slumped to 43%. |
| Thirty years later and the UK finds itself in a 1980s-style recession, weakened by public spending cuts and rising poverty. But while Thatcher embraced markets and deregulation, Gove apparently agrees with Dimbleby and Vincent that in this case, the opposite course of action is needed: that if you want decent school food (and the benefits to students that accrue), school meals should be provided free by the state, and properly regulated and inspected. | |
| Dimbleby, a co-founder of the Leon chain of restaurants, and no Marxist, admits that he started out assuming the provision of universal free school meals would be a "waste of money". When he visited schools, talked to teachers, parents and students, and read the academic evidence, however, he changed his view. | Dimbleby, a co-founder of the Leon chain of restaurants, and no Marxist, admits that he started out assuming the provision of universal free school meals would be a "waste of money". When he visited schools, talked to teachers, parents and students, and read the academic evidence, however, he changed his view. |
| From Finland to Durham he found that where students ate properly, academic attainment improved (especially for the poorest kids) and students were more productive and better behaved. He also found the best way to improve take-up of meals was to make them universally free. | From Finland to Durham he found that where students ate properly, academic attainment improved (especially for the poorest kids) and students were more productive and better behaved. He also found the best way to improve take-up of meals was to make them universally free. |
| The government's own research shows exactly what happens when universal free school meals are introduced: in Newham and Durham, take up went from under 50% to 72% and 85% respectively under a pilot scheme (it is now 87% in Newham, which has continued to offer free school meals). | The government's own research shows exactly what happens when universal free school meals are introduced: in Newham and Durham, take up went from under 50% to 72% and 85% respectively under a pilot scheme (it is now 87% in Newham, which has continued to offer free school meals). |
| More children ate vegetables, the pilots found; consumption of packed lunch staples like crisps and soft drinks fell dramatically. Academically, the benefits were startling: students in the pilot areas made faster progress than their peers outside the pilot; children did better in exams. | More children ate vegetables, the pilots found; consumption of packed lunch staples like crisps and soft drinks fell dramatically. Academically, the benefits were startling: students in the pilot areas made faster progress than their peers outside the pilot; children did better in exams. |
| Participating schools noted subtle improvements in school culture and cohesion, what the report calls | Participating schools noted subtle improvements in school culture and cohesion, what the report calls |
The | The unifying social effect of having the whole school eating together |
| Much has been made in some quarters of the alleged profligacy of such schemes, and the seeming unfairness that the offspring of better off parents should get their meals for free. Indeed, the Coalition's entire cuts programme seems to be built on means testing, from child benefit to youth clubs. But Dimbleby and Vincent unequivocally reject this argument: | Much has been made in some quarters of the alleged profligacy of such schemes, and the seeming unfairness that the offspring of better off parents should get their meals for free. Indeed, the Coalition's entire cuts programme seems to be built on means testing, from child benefit to youth clubs. But Dimbleby and Vincent unequivocally reject this argument: |
We | We do not accept it. If you applied this reasoning across the board, you would need to dismantle the state school system and, indeed, the NHS. If there is a net benefit to children and the country as a result of universal schol meals, it should not matter if children from wealthier families get fed well too |
| The school food plan is that rare thing in the era of austerity and rising inequality: a passionate, unequivocal defence of universalism. | The school food plan is that rare thing in the era of austerity and rising inequality: a passionate, unequivocal defence of universalism. |
| The plan effectively endorses the trail blazed by Labour-run councils, like Islington and Newham, who have made and maintained investment in free school meals for all primary school children at a time when Gove's administration was stripping their budgets by a third (cuts forced Durham to abandon universal free school meals after the pilot finished). It also is absolutely clear that austerity has helped create rampant food insecurity, and that the school canteen has a role to play in the amelioration of food poverty. | The plan effectively endorses the trail blazed by Labour-run councils, like Islington and Newham, who have made and maintained investment in free school meals for all primary school children at a time when Gove's administration was stripping their budgets by a third (cuts forced Durham to abandon universal free school meals after the pilot finished). It also is absolutely clear that austerity has helped create rampant food insecurity, and that the school canteen has a role to play in the amelioration of food poverty. |
| But it would be wrong to see the plan entirely as a technocratic socialist masterplan. Vincent and Dimbleby, like Gove, want to nudge people into changing behaviour, too. There is a focus on the importance of getting the choreography of school dinners right. There's a recognition that lunch is a social activity with social benefits, not an administrative burden ("eating" not "feeding"). Positive change, it says, happens through culture change and good headteachers. State intervention is crucial, it says, but there is healthy, inbuilt scepticism of tick box targets and Whitehall edicts. | But it would be wrong to see the plan entirely as a technocratic socialist masterplan. Vincent and Dimbleby, like Gove, want to nudge people into changing behaviour, too. There is a focus on the importance of getting the choreography of school dinners right. There's a recognition that lunch is a social activity with social benefits, not an administrative burden ("eating" not "feeding"). Positive change, it says, happens through culture change and good headteachers. State intervention is crucial, it says, but there is healthy, inbuilt scepticism of tick box targets and Whitehall edicts. |
| In fact the plan is infused with a romantic, old-fashioned conservative ideal of the school - and the school canteen in particular - as a public realm where civilised values and good habits, from diet to cookery are inculcated, and where, once inside, pupils are protected, where possible, from the degradations of the market economy, whether that's in the form of turkey twizzlers, lunchboxes full of Haribos and Monster Munch, or empty food cupboards at home. | In fact the plan is infused with a romantic, old-fashioned conservative ideal of the school - and the school canteen in particular - as a public realm where civilised values and good habits, from diet to cookery are inculcated, and where, once inside, pupils are protected, where possible, from the degradations of the market economy, whether that's in the form of turkey twizzlers, lunchboxes full of Haribos and Monster Munch, or empty food cupboards at home. |
| As Dimbleby said, revealingly I thought, at the press conference this morning: | As Dimbleby said, revealingly I thought, at the press conference this morning: |
Food | Food in society is pretty bad and there is a risk that that is getting into schools |
| This is a humane, remarkable plan, and not just because it is appears to have been greeted with rare consensus among the main political parties (and Jamie Oliver). There is no money to immediately implement it, says Gove. But a headwind is blowing in favour of universal free school meals in the Labour Party, and should they win the next election, a potential political prize awaits: that of putting the final nail in the coffin of Thatcher's school food legacy. | This is a humane, remarkable plan, and not just because it is appears to have been greeted with rare consensus among the main political parties (and Jamie Oliver). There is no money to immediately implement it, says Gove. But a headwind is blowing in favour of universal free school meals in the Labour Party, and should they win the next election, a potential political prize awaits: that of putting the final nail in the coffin of Thatcher's school food legacy. |