Advocacy
Since 2023, The School of Artisan Food’s Best Food Forward programme has been building the evidence base for secondary school food education.
Since 2023, The School of Artisan Food’s Best Food Forward programme has been building the evidence base for secondary school food education. Our findings consistently show that high-quality food education, where pupils can Learn it, See it and Live it, helps create the conditions in which young people can thrive. Evidence also demonstrates the positive impact food learning can have on pupils’ health, wellbeing and independence.
Despite this, food education in English secondary schools remains fragmented and inconsistent, with significant variation in access, quality and provision. While food education is widely recognised as essential for developing practical life skills, too many young people are still missing out.
Our trilogy of reports, released throughout the 2025-26 academic year, explores the current state of food education in England, what parents and pupils want from it, and the wide-ranging benefits it can have on pupil outcomes. Explore our reports below.
Food Education Mapping Project 2025
The Best Food Forward Food Education Mapping Project (FEMP) set out to provide an up-to-date picture of food learning across the school day and beyond, capturing the experiences of students, teachers and leaders in 23 case study schools.
The project explored how food education is delivered through the curriculum, shaped by the school environment and applied in real-world contexts. The project is framed within current educational and food-related policies, recognising the opportunities created by the National Food Strategy (The Good Food Cycle), the Curriculum and Assessment Review, and the planned extension of free school meals and updating of the School Food Standards.
Hungry for Change 2026
Parents and young people overwhelmingly see cooking and food choice as essential skills for life, comparable in importance to digital literacy or time management. But access is fragmented and uneven. It declines sharply with age and varies by household income, school type, and region. Many pupils receive limited curriculum time and few opportunities to apply learning beyond the classroom, particularly those from lower-income households or in state comprehensive schools.
This new polling report, Hungry for Change, comes at a pivotal moment, as government investment in school food provision expands through free breakfast clubs, wider eligibility for free school meals, and revised school food standards. Without high quality food education embedded alongside these reforms, the long-term benefits of investment will not be fully realised.
A Central Ingredient 2026
‘A Central Ingredient’ is the final report in Best Food Forward’s three-part research series on food education and its impact. Our first, the Food Education Mapping Project, explored what food education looks like in schools and showed that it works best when pupils can ‘Learn it, See it, Live it’. Hungry for Change then showed that parents and pupils see food education as essential, but that access remains inconsistent and unequal.
This new report looks at the wider role food education can play in supporting pupil outcomes. Drawing on qualitative research with senior leaders, department heads and food teachers in schools recognised for strong food education, ‘A Central Ingredient’ explores how food learning is understood by those delivering it well.
