Food and the Curriculum Glynis Henderson 26 th February 2014

Presentation  Primary curriculum  Post-primary curriculum  European dimension  Practicalities in the classroom

Primary Curriculum  Personal Development and Mutual Understanding  The World Around Us 

Post-primary Key Stages 3& 4  Home Economics- compulsory at Key Stage 3  Science  Key Stage 4  LLW  GCSE Home Economics  GCSE Child Development  GCSE Hospitality  GCSE Science  GCSE Agriculture and Land use  GCSE PE/Sports Science  GCSE LLW 

Fish fingers = Chicken?  Research conducted by the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF)  27,500 children across the UK,  29% of primary school children think that cheese comes from plants  one in ten secondary school children believe that tomatoes grow under the ground  nearly one in five primary school children say that fish fingers come from chicken.

 77 % of primary and 88 % secondary school pupils know that people should consume five or more portions of fruit and vegetables each day.  On the day of the survey, 8% of primary school children; 24% year olds, 32% of year olds hadn’t eaten breakfast.  16 % of primary and 20% of secondary school pupils said they never eat fish.

 21% of primary school and 18% of secondary school pupils said they have never visited a farm. 34% of 5-8 year olds and 17 % of 8-11 year olds believe that pasta comes from animals.  Encouragingly, 84% of primary and 75% of secondary school children would like to cook more and an average of 85% of children across all age groups say that they enjoy cooking.

Exploring Food in the Curriculum  Encouraging the use of a variety of learning styles  Using active learning methodologies  Creating opportunities for connected and thematic learning  Developing thinking skills and personal capabilities  Decision-making  Time-management/ organising self  Challenging attitudes and dispositions  Developing transferable skills relevant to work  Using Maths  Communication  Using ICT

Literacy  We know it looks intimidating, but don’t judge a smoothie by its colour. It actually tastes good. No really, we’re serious. It’s got an arsenal of 10 supercool ingredients and is packed with vitamins A&C. Vitamin C is a natural antioxidant that helps to protect your cells from damage from free radicals. So, go for it. And let the pink and orange smoothie drinkers of the world cower at your smoothie prowess. Drink as part of a balanced and varied diet and a healthy lifestyle.  Reading age of years

Numeracy

Agri-Food must be introduced into the curriculum at pre-school, primary and secondary level to enhance the understanding of agriculture and food. The scope for development of primary and secondary level curriculum based training in agriculture and food to GCSE exam level must be examined.

Practicalities in the Classroom  From the cradle to the grave  Food skills in everyday use  In the classroom  Changing landscape in food and nutrition  Individual experiences with food  Health  Diversity in the classroom  Need for specialist Home Ec. teachers  Underpinning nutritional knowledge  Practical food skills

 Food = Decisions to be made  What to eat?  When to eat?  Where to eat?  How much money can I afford to spend on eating?  Develop skills in the decision-making process  Eat to live or live to eat?

 The decision maker is usually the person doing the shopping/ making the food decisions  The future effects of on-line food shopping  Geo. Orwell( ) We may find in the long run that tinned food is a deadlier weapon than the machine gun  Parent’s skills out of step with their children’s

Resources  Wide range of resources available  Engaging, motivating and supporting  Across all key stages  Range and variety of formats  Hard copy  Computer-based  Apps  White/ smart boards  Competitions and awards

Food is working hard to reach its full potential