Abstract
Objective
To understand teachers’ perceptions about Breakfast in the Classroom and traditional breakfast.
Design
An electronic survey was sent to teachers across the state of Utah. Teachers responded
to an open-ended question exploring what they liked and/or disliked about Breakfast in the Classroom and traditional breakfast.
Setting
Schools across the state of Utah.
Participants
Kindergarten through grade 12 teachers who were members of the Utah Education Association.
Phenomenon of Interest
Teachers’ opinions regarding Breakfast in the Classroom and traditional school breakfast
Analysis
Researchers independently coded all responses and then grouped codes into themes.
Themes were reviewed recursively over time.
Results
The 3 overarching themes were food and nutrition, administration of school breakfast,
and student outcomes. Aspects most commonly disliked were the nutrition or quality
of food, the mess created, the time required, coordination and logistical issues,
behavioral issues, and waste. Aspects most commonly liked were breakfast being available
to all students, students being fed or not hungry, coordination and logistics, and
student learning and academics.
Conclusions and Implications
Teachers liked and disliked aspects of Breakfast in the Classroom and traditional breakfast. Schools could potentially increase efforts to garner support
and feedback from teachers to create buy-in and identify best practices. Future research
could focus on identifying the effect that the School Breakfast Program model has on teachers’ perceptions as well as confirming results with a larger and
more diverse population.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 10, 2019
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors have not stated any conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
