Abstract:

Sustainability is a concern that emerges in current political agendas, reflecting on official documents related to the education of children and young people. It is considered that educating children about food sustainability can contribute to the change of society's habits soon. Considering, this concern has conceived the Project "Oleachain: Skills for sustainability and innovation in the value chain of traditional olive groves in the Interior of the North of Portugal", under the responsibility of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança and developed through its research centers (CeDRI, CIMO, UNIAG, and CIEB), in close liaison with organizations, associations, schools, and producers. This project arose from the need to value traditional olive groves, olive and olive oil and is realized in different dimensions. The Research Center in Basic Education (CIEB) assumes in this project the commitment to work on the concept of sustainability and the STEM approach, relating it to the olive grove line. This research is based on the theme of food sustainability. It aims to collect the state of art on the role of education in the development of food sustainability. It is characterized by a qualitative study, of an interpretative nature. It is supported in a systematic review of the literature for data collection and content analysis for the interpretation and triangulation of data.

The investigative process followed the following steps:
(i) search databases for the keywords: "sustainable food" and children and education";
(ii) selection of relevant articles;
(iii) reading the texts, organizing them in a diachronic way;
(iv) elaboration of categories of analysis;
(v) textual elaboration, performing the intersection between education and food sustainability.

The data highlight the importance of promoting reflection with children around pro-environmental social issues in formal and non-formal education contexts. It is concluded that educational contexts that promote reflection and connection with the community may have a greater influence on the promotion of more sustainable food consumption behaviors. However, this seems to be a subject that deserves greater attention from schools and teachers.

Keywords:

Sustainability, education for sustainability, childhood education, critical thinking.