Food teaching has been a compulsory part of the national curriculum. All schools that follow the national curriculum have to teach food as part of Food Technology including a new ‘cooking and nutrition’ requirement for secondary schools. The background to this has been to both acknowledge the importance of learning about food in a broad and balanced curriculum, but also the desire to address the obesity crisis. Food teachers lead the way in addressing young people’s understanding of nutrition and are well placed to support behavior change and offer practical ways to adopt a healthier lifestyle. The government has focused on the whole school plan that is central to addressing school food (in the curriculum and food service).

                It is a mistake to think that teachers are simply teaching a set of recipes to be followed step by step. The cooking and nutrition section has clear themes, which set out the knowledge and skills to be taught. These include:

1. Nutrition and healthy eating,
2. Where food comes from,
3. Characteristics and properties of ingredients,
4. Cooking a repertoire of predominantly savory dishes – for a healthy varied diet,
5. Being competent in a range of cooking techniques,
6. Sensory evaluation skills,
7. Being able to adapt, create and use their own recipes.
8. Technological developments that claim to support better health and food production including fortification and modified foods.
9. demonstrate effective and safe cooking skills by planning, preparing and cooking a variety of food commodities whilst using different cooking techniques and equipment.
10. develop knowledge and understanding of the functional properties and chemical characteristics of food as well as a sound knowledge of the nutritional content of food and drinks,
11. understand the relationship between diet, nutrition and health, including the physiological and psychological effects of poor diet and health,
12. understand the economic, environmental, ethical and socio-cultural influences on food availability, production processes, diet and health choices,
13. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of functional and nutritional properties, sensory qualities and microbiological food safety considerations when preparing, processing, storing, cooking and serving food,
14. understand and explore a range of ingredients and processes from different culinary traditions (traditional British and international) to inspire new ideas or modify existing recipes.
15. research and plan the task – using a variety of sources, testing variables, hypothesising and predicting outcomes, using technical vocabulary,
16. investigate the working characteristics, function and chemical properties of ingredients through practical experimentation and a wide range of tests and use the findings to achieve a particular result,
17. analyze and evaluate the task – analyze data and draw conclusions based on scientific knowledge, justify findings, evaluate the hypothesis and conform or review prediction.

                In senior high schools, students bring their knowledge and skills together and apply them to develop recipes and dishes that are suitable for a specific person or situation. Home, leisure, health, agriculture and industry are listed as contexts for learning, which opens up many opportunities for teaching about growing, farming, product development, food science, catering and so on, as well as developing meals for the students themselves and their families.

                There is no statutory number of hours for cooking, although there is an expectation that it will be regular, probably every week, with a greater focus on healthier recipes, practical learning and food science investigations. However, a number of issues that restrict the provision of high quality lessons including food’s low status in schools, lack of technician time, insufficient budgets for ingredients and class sizes that exceed health and safety limits. In addition, if a school is an Academy or Free School, the head teacher can chose not to follow the national curriculum, although many still choose to teach food lessons.

Students are also marked on their ability to:

By: Maricar G. Juico