Abstract

This work expose, form a descriptive-comparative point of view; the sights and proposals in the field of teaching training on Feeding and Nutritional Education (FNA) of the National University on Education “Enrique Guzmán y Valle” (NUE-EGyV) on Perú, and the Experimental Pedagogic University Libertador (UPEL) on Venezuela. For this, is described a comparative outlook among the leading indicators of health; owns, they were pointed out by the OMS on Latin America’s scheme and, the principal approaches on Healthy education by the region. Where the School is the main stage. Secondly, its described the NUE-EGyV’s proposal by teaching training on FNA; its juridic-curricular base, formation areas, its structure and curricular administration, its general and specific proficiency, and its evaluative didactic approaches, use it by each career, using how coordinaion axis faculties integrate itself. Thirdly, its present the EPUL’s approach, emphasizing in the level of Initial education. Where, teaching formation is based on a proficiency curriculum following international (Tunning and UNESCO project) and national guidelines, that assume the education as a continuous and permanent training process; It was pointed its curricular structure-administration, its extension, community service and investigation as curricular support. At the end, is generated reflexive lines between those vision, where it is highlight them compromise and value of the Education, on the development of human resources and pointing a way to join forces in Latin America.

Keywords: Health, food and nutrition, teacher training, competency-based curriculum, university education, comparative education, public policies.

LA EDUCACIÓN ALIMENTARIA Y NUTRICIONAL EN LA FORMACIÓN DOCENTE. DOS VISIONES, DOS UNIVERSIDADES, DOS PAISES Y UN COMPROMISO: PERÚ-VENEZUELA

El presente trabajo expone desde el punto de vista descriptivo-comparativo las visiones y propuestas en el campo de la formación docente en Educación Alimentaria y Nutricional (EAN), por parte de la Universidad Nacional de Educación “Enrique Guzmán y Valle” (UNE-EGyV) Perú y la Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador (UPEL) Venezuela. Para ello se describe un panorama comparativo de los principales indicadores de salud propios y en el marco de América Latina señalado por la OMS y las principales propuestas para la región donde la escuela se constituye en el escenario primordial para educar en salud. En segundo lugar, se describe la propuesta de UNE-EGyV para la formación docente en EAN, su base jurídico-curricular, áreas de formación, estructura y administración curricular, competencias, generales y específicas, y los abordajes didácticos-evaluativos asumidos para las diferentes carreras teniendo como eje de coordinación las facultades que la integran. En tercer lugar, se presenta la propuesta de la UPEL, con énfasis en el Nivel de Educación Inicial, donde la formación docente se basa en un currículo por competencia de acuerdo a lineamientos internacionales (proyecto Tunning y UNESCO) y nacionales, que asumen la educación como un proceso de formación continuo y permanente; se señala su estructura-administración curricular, la extensión, el servicio comunitario y la investigación como apoyo al currículo. Al final se generan líneas de reflexión entre estas dos visiones donde se destaca el compromiso y valor de la Educación en la formación de recursos humanos y señala un camino para unir esfuerzos en Latinoamérica.

Palabras clave: Salud, alimentación y nutrición, formación docente, currículo por competencias, educación universitaria, educación comparada, políticas públicas.

1.   INTRODUCTION

The changes that have recently emerged in education, both in the national and international context, have been manifested through the emergence of different paradigms in the existing social sciences, as well as in the ways of conceiving theory, curricular praxis and - in our case - teacher training, in which it must be clear that the substitution of contents, techniques and methodologies alone do not allow for the transformation or improvement of educational action.

In this scenario, a proposal for constant reflection is reflected in Food and/or Nutrition Education, which constitutes a pedagogical strategy for the promotion of adequate and healthy nutrition, and presupposes articulated and permanent processes of problematisation, reorganisation of values, ideas, attitudes, beliefs, generation of autonomy, differentiated from the information and communication strategies traditionally proposed in health issues. In a world like the present, in which health is so important, the educational approach to the concepts that are handled about it and especially in food education in the context of Latin America, due to its current social, cultural, economic and political landscape, has considerable repercussions, as it means different actions and planning around food and nutrition education, especially in teacher training.

In this sense, this paper addresses two visions and scenarios of teacher training in the framework of Food and Nutrition Education (EAN) by the Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador (UPEL-Venezuela) and the Universidad Nacional de Educación "Enrique Guzmán y Valle" (UNE-EGyV-Peru). Through which they respond to their particular educational scenarios and pedagogical models of teacher training, but at the same time share commitments on this problem and generate relevant contributions that can generate resonance to other universities in Latin America and the Caribbean in response to the serious crisis in malnutrition, morbidity and mortality and chronic diseases that affect our countries. For this reason, education and the training of teachers is a priority for the development of our countries.

2.   METHODOLOGY

The research uses a qualitative approach. This type of approach allows the study phenomenon to be investigated by understanding its characteristics (Botero, Vélez-Evans, & Múnera, 2019). Likewise, the qualitative approach allows to deepen the relationships and processes that cannot be identified by the quantitative approach from the perception of the actors involved (Maxwell, 2013). The present methodology, therefore, aims to review relationships, differences and the point of view from the research being considered (Flick, 2017). The article uses the exploratory type of research. Exploratory research contributes to the discernment and prioritisation of the total or some content that addresses the problem to be investigated (Acevedo-Gutiérrez, Cartagena-Rendón, Palacios-Moya, & Gallegos-Ruiz-Conejo, 2019; Bretschneider, Cirilli, & Jones, 2017; Stebbins, 2001). For these reasons, researchers have developed topics related to food education in teacher education in their respective institutions.

Additionally, the comparative approach assumed here, typical of social studies under qualitative methodological perspectives (Piñero & Rivera, 2013), aims to search for similarities and dissimilarities, given that the comparison is based on the criterion of homogeneity with a horizontal deployment and for interpretative purposes (Piovani & Krawczyk, 2017; Tonon, 2011). It is the identity of the element or object of comparison, the EAN curriculum unit, which legitimises the comparison on the basis of its status or global properties. This approach has allowed us to confront its structures or stated elements - at the present time - as a complex system. The description-analysis presented here has followed the axes foreseen in the design, taking each case separately and arriving at the following considerations.

3.   OUR FOOD SITUATION. EDUCATION FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION

The epidemiological profile in general, according to international organisations, which have characterised the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region in the last decade, although with variations between countries, is marked by endemic and epidemic infectious diseases of masses, emerging and re-emerging; non-infectious diseases in clear ascent; by an epidemic of violence and injuries; and by another epidemic of mental illness closely linked to alcoholism and other addictions, all within a framework of hunger, silent and silenced nutritional deficiency coexisting with overweight, obesity and obesity; and by another of mental illness closely linked to alcoholism and other addictions, all within a framework of hunger, silent and silenced nutritional deficiency coexisting with overweight, obesity and poverty; in other words, by a rather quintuple burden of disease with a socio-natural-structural-economic-political cause, all in a context of ecological deterioration, of marked environmental abuse, with evident consequences for health as expressed by the Covid-19 phenomenon.

Specifically, non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease, cancer and stroke, are the leading causes of death in the Americas. Across the region, the mortality rate for non-communicable diseases is 427.6 persons per 100,000 population, seven times higher than the mortality rate for communicable (infectious) diseases, at 59.9 persons per 100,000 population. With regard to risk factors, about 8 per cent of newborns in the region have low birth weight (less than 2,500 grams/5.5 pounds). Chronic undernutrition affects 10% of children under 5 years of age, and 6% of children in the same age group are overweight (2012 data). Rates of overweight and obesity are high among adults in the Americas: in 2016, 64% of men and 61% of women were overweight or obese. In addition, 39% of adults do not get enough physical activity. High blood pressure affects 21% of men and 15% of women in the Region (latest available data from 2015), while diabetes mellitus affects 9% of men and 8% of women (Pan American Health Organization, 2018).

In the specific case of Peru, there are indicators that still need to be improved in relation to nutritional status. For example, 12% of children under 5 years of age are chronically undernourished. Likewise, adolescents aged 10-19 years increased from 10.9% in 2014 to 18.5% in 2018 (United Nations International Children's Emergency, 2019). In addition, 18.6% of Peruvian pregnant women are anaemic and 44% are overweight (National Institute of Health, 2020). In this context, one of the factors contributing to behavioural changes in eating habits is education. The school is the place where educational content is developed with the aim of changing bad eating habits and achieving healthy eating (Vio, Salinas, Montenegro, González, & Lera, 2014). But it is the teacher who executes the pedagogical activity generating meaningful learning (Paakkari, Tynjälä, Torppa, Villberg, & Kannas, 2015).

On the other hand, in the case of Venezuela, the situation is expressed in high levels of malnutrition (from excess to deficit) [ENCOVI, 2017-2018], increased to 51% by 2015, and in mortality rates associated with chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and reported in the mortality yearbook for Venezuela by the Ministry of People's Power for Health (2015): cardiovascular diseases (20.6%), Cancer (15.4%), cerebrovascular (7.4%), and diabetes (7.6%). This is in addition to overweight and obesity: 27.44%, deficits: 14.68% (children aged 7-12 years) and 54.95% and 3.51% respectively in adults (18-40 years). Sedentary lifestyle is 49.54% (children 7-12 years) and 42.94% in adults. This shows that the Venezuelan population has a major nutritional problem, where the main components that condition it are: the socio-demographic environment, inadequate eating habits and physical inactivity mainly (National Institute of Nutrition, 2015).

For this reason, the World Health Organisation (WHO) points to a wealth of scientific evidence that highlights: (a) unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and smoking are confirmed risk behaviours for chronic diseases, (b) it is well established that hypertension, obesity and dyslipidemias are risk factors for coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes, (c) major biological and behavioural risk factors emerge and act early in life and continue to have deleterious effects throughout life, (d) major risk factors can continue to affect the health of the next generation, (e) some preventive interventions, such as targeted educational programmes, at an early stage of life, can have a significant impact on the health of the next generation, (f) some preventive interventions, such as targeted educational programmes, can have a significant impact on the health of the next generation, (f) prevention through diet and physical activity is a complementary strategy that delays the progression of existing chronic diseases and decreases the mortality and disease burden caused by these diseases, (g) a combination of physical activity, food diversity and broad social interaction is probably the most appropriate lifestyle profile to optimise health, resulting in increased longevity and healthy ageing (WHO, 2003).

In the context of the above, the turning point is constituted by, among others, the following agreements: the Alma-Ata declaration "health for all" (1978-WHO); the Ottawa conference "principles for health promotion" (1978-WHO); the Jakarta agreements "determinants of health" (1997-WHO); the Millennium declaration (2000-UN); the Bangkok charter on health promotion (2005-WHO); the agreements for the promotion of fruit and vegetable consumption (2005-WHO); the regional strategy and plan of action on nutrition and development (2006-WHO); the declaration on the right to adequate food (2007-FAO), the global strategy for the prevention and control of chronic diseases (2008-WHO), the Ministerial conference on healthy lifestyles (2011-PAHO), the ORAS resolution on the prevention and control of NCDs (2011-PAHO), the Mercosur agreement for a trans-fat-free America (2008-PAHO), the LAC food insecurity overview (2015-FAO), the agreement to combat obesity (2015-WHO), the food security plan (2015-CELAC), and the guideline on sugars intake (2015-WHO), among others.

These documents generate a set of proposals by international organisations and the agreements signed by our countries in terms of: food security, health promotion, child care and protection, advertising and marketing, education, investment in food production, millennium goals, among others, which do not materialise in the context of our social realities in the field of health-food-education, although diverse, are recognised to be shared with the phenomena of malnutrition, overweight-obesity, sedentary lifestyles and the prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases, which constitute worrying situations in terms of public policies in different countries and at different scales (regional - national - local - community - family - individual). This has - in our opinion - a framework of enormous responsibility that must be evidenced with greater relevance in the day-to-day comprehensive training of our children and that our universities must assume with greater ownership, the training of specialised human resources, particularly in teaching at the different levels and modalities of the education system, with special attention to childhood (Cruz, 2016).

In support of the above, the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health (WHO, 2004), among others, stands out. This addresses two of the main risk factors for Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), diet and physical activity, and is based on the recognition and concern for the problem and its impact on the economic, social and cultural levels in the world. Furthermore, in 2006, the WHO mandate to use schools as a means of strengthening health promotion, in this framework the promotion of healthy food and nutrition, thus seeking to improve the health of students, families and all members of the community (WHO, 2006). For this reason, the school is the ideal and most responsible place for the achievement of comprehensive health and the consolidation of habits that improve the quality of life, because the school is the primary setting for health education and becomes an agent of it, by directly influencing the knowledge and understanding of the conditioning factors of individual-collective well-being and health, where the teacher's professional training and the development of his or her competences constitute a responsibility for teacher training institutions and become more relevant in the current scenarios our countries are going through, especially in the framework of Food and/or Nutrition Education.

4.   FOOD EDUCATION IN TEACHER TRAINING: THE CASE OF UNE-EGYV-PERU

Food is one of the essential necessities of life and is affected by the cultural, social and economic context. In addition, the political factor is one of the axes that contributes to the use of resources for adequate nutrition. In Peru, food education is considered in a political framework (Portocarrero, Beltrán, Romero, & Cueva, 2020) and is communicated in the second objective of the National Agreement (2002). In relation to the National Agreement (2002), the document expresses the need to train and educate the population in healthy eating. It also promotes the inclusion of educational content on healthy eating in the programmes of the Peruvian education system.    

In relation to Peru's political stance on healthy eating, Law 30021 considers that within the framework of curricular diversification, teachers should develop educational content that promotes healthy eating. Along the same lines, the “Universidad Nacional de Educación” "Enrique Guzmán y Valle" (UNE-EGyV), considers within its curriculum based on objectives, four areas that will contribute to the professional training of the future teacher: the area of knowledge, the area of pre-professional practices, the area of activities and the area of research.

Regarding the areas of professional training, in the first one we have: general training, pedagogical training and specialised training. In the second area, there are four classroom placements, one in the educational institution (administration and management) and the last one in the community. The third area considers four subjects called activities. Finally, the fourth area develops five subjects. The food education course is considered within the general training (knowledge area). It is developed in the third cycle and in the seventh cycle (restructured R. Nº 0917- 2006-R- UNE) of the professional career. This course has 2 credits. It is also structured in one hour of theory and two hours of practice. The study plan is valid until the 2019 promotion. The purpose of the course is to re-evaluate nationally produced food, to consider the food culture and the nutritional value of nationally produced food, making different nutritious and balanced mixtures for food and nutrition in the life cycle, as well as to develop educational projects for healthy eating.

In line with the changes in the pedagogical proposals, the UNE. EGyV, considered the general guidelines of the University Law N° 30220, with the purpose of promoting quality vocational training, developing labour competences and entrepreneurial skills, responding to the needs at local, regional and national level. The consequence of this change was the implementation of the competency-based curriculum (Resolution 1220-2020-R-UNE). The university's competency-based curriculum is divided into generic competences, specific competences and specialised competences.

The generic or general study competences contribute to the construction of knowledge and the capacity for communication and correct reasoning through natural language and logical and graphic language. The specific competences or professional training are aimed at mastering the knowledge of the areas of knowledge of the speciality and the knowledge of pedagogy. And the specialised competences or specialised studies apply the knowledge of pedagogical, didactic and technological sciences in the planning of technical pedagogical instruments for the training of learners at different levels and in different modalities, as well as for technological transfer.

In this new curriculum, the Food Education course is developed in the third cycle of the professional career. It has 2 credits in the curriculum. Likewise, the course is divided into one hour of theory and two hours of practice. It is offered in all the professional careers offered by the university through the faculties of education (Agriculture and Livestock and Nutrition, Science, Technology, Social and Humanities, Initial Education and Pedagogy and Physical Culture) and the faculty of Business Sciences. The course is attached to the Faculty of Agriculture and Nutrition, which aims to serve all faculties of the university. The purpose is to impart knowledge to form habits and attitudes that promote healthy eating in the family environment and in the workplace according to the cultural context, through the professional career of education (in the education system) and in professional careers that do not belong to the area of education.

At present, the National University of Education teaches the food education course in the seventh cycle of the professional career. The students are male and female. Their ages range from 18 to 31 years (National Institute of Statistics and Informatics, 2018). In addition, the students belong to the faculties of education and business from the 2015, 2016 and 2017 graduating classes (see Table 1). The students come from different regions of Peru (Cuenca, 2015). Those students who do not live in Lima have to rent a house in the vicinity of the university. Students are also responsible for the costs of their studies and living expenses.