References to Body Mass Index (BMI), calories, diet and weight have been removed from school resources by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).
The word ‘healthier’ is also gone – replaced with terms that include ‘balanced nutrition’ – as a direct response to a national campaign to improve the way food and well-being are taught to Australian school students.
Former teacher Kylie Burton is a member of Eating Disorders Families Australia (EDFA) and spearheaded the campaign when her daughter returned to school last year after two anorexia-related hospitalisations, and immediately faced a lesson requiring students to record each other’s weight and height to calculate the BMI, then plot the results on a graph and compile diet advice for fictional case studies as part of a six-week math unit on measurements and diets.
“My daughter immediately started restricting her food intake and relapsing,” the Brisbane mother says. “That very first lesson was an obvious tipping point.”
Changes are a positive preventative measure
In April 2023, Ms Burton, body image advocacy group The Embrace Collective and EFDA – an organisation that promotes itself as the only national organisation providing education, advocacy, counselling and support, solely for carers and families impacted by an eating disorder – wrote an open letter to ACARA, demanding changes to the Australian Curriculum to prevent the development and relapse of eating disorders.
“Kids are dying from eating disorders, so the curriculum has to be safe,” she says. “We applaud ACARA for making these changes – they will have a significant impact on eating disorder prevention in Australia.”
Ms Burton says she knows the challenges teachers face in trying to cater to students’ individual needs, and says the changes were not a criticism of them.
Although eating disorders have been an ongoing issue for many Australians, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic saw hospital presentations of children and young people soar, with Victoria’s Royal Children’s Hospital reporting a 63 per cent rise.
Support services still also struggle to keep up with demand, with more than 12,000 calls made to the Butterfly Foundation’s national helpline between July and December 2023, compared with just over 10,000 during the same period the previous year.
Union says teachers need support and appropriate professional development
An ACARA spokesman said the updated curriculum resource for food and well-being helps promote “talking about food that is nutritious and nourishing in a positive way”.
He said the resource also provides teachers up to year 10 with advice about some personal challenges students may face when learning about food at school.
But although it is ACARA’s responsibility to develop the national curriculum, deciding how it is implemented is driven by authorities in each Australian state and territory.
Australian Education Union (AEU) federal president Correna Haythorpe welcomes the changes to the Australian Curriculum but says teachers need support with resources and professional development.
“Teachers are always looking to be more equipped to deal with issues around health and well-being and to ensure that they can meet their teaching and duty of care responsibilities,” Ms Haythorpe says.
Support is available:
- Eating Disorders Families Australia 1300 195 626
- Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800
- Butterfly Foundation 1800 33 4673
- Lifeline 13 11 14.
