ABSTRACT
This chapter aspires to advance discussion of school mealtimes as a pedagogical event. We explore school meal situations from three complementary perspectives: (1) institutional arrangements, (2) multisensory experiences and (3) commensality and interaction. We suggest this framework as a tool for further research in building a more overarching conceptualisation of school mealtimes as an event that supports learning. We conclude that strengthening the pedagogical impact of school mealtimes requires making its educational aims more seamlessly a part of the pedagogical activities of schools, and suggest that further development work is needed, for example, in terms of professional training of school staff, school-level organisation, acknowledgement of the school dining room space as a multisensorial learning environment, as well as acknowledging potentially contesting aspirations of school actors. Further opportunities to strengthen the pedagogical impact of school mealtimes can include stronger collaboration with classroom-based teaching, as well as with parents and homes. We call for continuous research and conceptual development work on how this mundane, complex and institutionalised event can support students’ learning, and potentially change how we interpret food in the everyday.
