Abstract
The principal objective of this study was to evaluate the perceived management performance and importance level of nutrition teachers by school administrators in the Chonbuk area. Self-administered questionnaires were collected from 142 school administrators. Statistical data analysis was completed using SPSS v. 12.0. Approximately 74.6% of the subjects were men. About 37% of subjects were principals, 33% were vice principals, and 35% were administrative directors, with over 60% aged 40~50 years(p<0.05). Among the 142 schools evaluated, 82.7% were located in urban areas and 17.3% were in rural areas. About 98% of the schools served meals in the dining room(p<0.05). Approximately 68% of the schools employed nutrition teachers and 33.4% had school dietitians(p<0.001). The result indicated that the overall importance level(4.24) was higher than the performance level(3.97)(p<0.001). In a survey of the degree of task performance by nutrition teachers, administrators regarded sanitation management was evaluated as the most important performance parameter(4.49), other management attributes as very important parameters(4.41), with nutrition counseling being much less important(2.76) and meal service being least important(3.29; except for classroom teachers). According to the title of the subjects, evaluations of administrative directors were lower than evaluations of principals and the vice principals. The results indicate that nutrition teachers should not only have meal service management as their main duty, but should also be involved in constructing a life-long health management system for students and teachers by conducting nutrition education and counseling, and should be active in the development of nutrition education programs and in the duties of sanitation management of school meals.
