A dietetic student at the University of Westminster would like to speak to people who are involved in running cooking skills clubs for children – in order to find out their views on evaluation and what evaluation tools they use. The closing date to get involved in the study is 1st August. Please contact swannj@westminster.ac.uk if you would like more …
Author archives: Kim Newstead
Can you contribute to research on the evaluation of cooking skills clubs for children?
Cooking skills blog 13: How can ‘significant others’ help (or hinder) the aims of your cooking skills course?
Our cooking skills study group recently met together and shared ideas about running effective cooking skills courses. One topic they discussed was the role of ‘significant others’ attending courses. That is (for example), family members attending with their child, or support workers attending alongside the person they support. Significant others can help (or hinder) the …
Cooking skills blog 12: Finding out if your cooking skills courses are ‘working’: as well as asking participants, who else can you get feedback from?
Our cooking skills study group recently met to discuss how they are getting on with the challenges of thoroughly evaluating their cooking skills courses. For many people that run cooking courses (or any other type of courses), it won’t be necessary to carry out the amount of evaluation that we are expecting from members of …
Cooking skills blog 11. Recruiting and retaining ‘vulnerable’ course participants
Our guest blog writer this week is CFHS cooking skills study group member Gail Hutchison. Gail (ANutr) has been running community cooking skills courses for Edinburgh Community Food since 2013 and has recently begun to run these for NHS Forth Valley’s Nutrition and Dietetic Health Improvement Team on a part-time basis. In both areas, Gail …
CFHS Development fund is closing soon
Community Food and Health (Scotland) has an annual development fund open to groups and agencies in Scotland who would like to improve access to, and take up of, a healthy, varied and balanced diet. Funding from £500 to £2000 is available. The closing date is Friday 5 August. Guidance and applications forms are available here
CFHS Capacity building fund (up to £500) open
The aim of this fund is to support groups and agencies running food and health activities to build the knowledge, skills and expertise they need to help deliver these better. Groups can apply for funding for training or learning opportunities for staff, volunteers, or management committee or board members. There is no closing date for …
Survey on children’s cooking skills
The Children’s Food Trust want to give children in Scotland more chances to learn to cook and would love to hear your views on the importance of cooking skills in the challenge of creating a healthier Scotland. A short survey is available here.
Cooking skills blog 10: Finding out if your cooking skills courses are ‘working’: How can you improve your questionnaires?
Questionnaires are a popular way of evaluating cooking skills courses. If they are planned well, they are a quick and easy to use and can be used for two different purposes, i.e. to find out: What difference your course has made to participants (e.g. has it improved their cooking skills or eating habits?) or/and; What …
Cooking skills blog 9. The new eatwell guide, the REHIS accredited cooking skills course and ‘training for trainers’
Last week I attended the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS) event for those that teach the accredited Elementary Cooking skills course and other REHIS food and health courses. For those that are not aware of the REHIS Elementary Cooking skills course – it is short (six-hours minimum); it is suitable for people with …
Cooking skills blog 14. What are the best recipes to use in a cooking skills course?
One of the topics that I would like to find out more about is: What are the most successful type of recipes for community cooking skills courses? ‘Success’ for members of our cooking skills study group means recipes that are cooked again at home by participants, (and preferably repeatedly). What’s the best way to choose …