Nourishing Our Future: A Knowledge Mobilisation Programme Improving Food and Nutrition Practice in Early Childhood Education and Care

ABSTRACT Eating is one of the earliest social practices of childhood, and in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings young children learn what to eat and how food fits into social life. New statutory nutrition guidance now sets expectations for these settings, but guidance alone does not reliably reach everyday practice. Moving evidence into practice across this fragmented sector is a knowledge mobilisation problem that remains little studied. This case study reports the Nourishing Our Future (NOF) programme, a county‐wide knowledge mobilisation initiative across ECEC settings in Essex, England, designed and delivered prospectively using the Knowledge‐to‐Action (KTA) Framework. NOF is a multi‐strategy programme that combines original research with the sector, dissemination through conferences, community cafes and workshops, co‐production of a progressive setting‐level award, co‐produced resources and training, and sensory food education. Delivered across three phases, the programme generated original evidence with 207 settings, co‐produced an award and supporting resources with the sector through sustained knowledge exchange, and implemented these across ECEC settings in Essex. We analysed open‐text responses from 30 educators who had engaged in any aspect of the NOF programme using a framework approach, organising reported change against the five levels of the socio‐ecological model (SEM): individual, interpersonal, organisational, environmental and governmental. Educators described change across four levels of the SEM. Children showed greater willingness to try new foods and a growing food vocabulary; practitioner confidence supported more assured conversations with families and observable changes in home food behaviour; settings made deliberate changes to food provision, mealtime culture and food policy; and these changes extended to the physical spaces where children encountered food. However, childminders highlighted funding pressures that affect the sustainability of improved provision. The NOF programme offers a practical example of KTA application in early years food and nutrition, and a model other local authorities could adapt across the ECEC sector. Whether the reported changes endure depends on structural conditions, and long‐term follow‐up is the priority for establishing whether they are sustained.