Despite people’s perceptions, food & nutrition is not a practical subject: it's a subject with practical elements. Many schools first decide what to make, rather than on what students will learn. In Huh, GarryLittlewood, assistant headteacher responsible for curriculum and assessment at Huntington School, York tells us that a good food curriculum leads with learning.
‘Learning has to drive curriculum planning. One thing to impress upon students is that food technology is not about making things all the time-there are well-planned theoretical lessons in which they gain knowledge & understanding, which in turns helps them to make a product.
‘One of the key things to emphasise in relation to the design technology curriculum at key stage 3 is that there should be no circuses or carousels.
‘It requires an hour a week for food and textiles and an hour a week for resistant materials. This gives students the time to develop their knowledge and understanding and build and apply a repertoire of skills over a whole year, like all other subjects on the national curriculum.
‘Pupils study different materials over a significant length of time and are, consequently, able to move through the curriculum at a relatively deep academic level. That requires the teacher to have high expectations and subject expertise.
‘We need to begin the planning of any scheme of learning by asking the question, ‘What are the key concepts that we want students to learn?’ The next step is to decide what the students should make which will enable them to know, understand and do what we intend them to learn.
‘By the end of year 9 students should
have a thorough knowledge and understanding of the materials that they are working with
understand the design process from a practical perspective
be able to make something independently.
‘If a student can make a dish independently, understand why they are doing what they are doing whilst they cooking, understand the science and nutrition behind the ingredients that they are using, and if something goes wrong, they can correct it, then that is success. In order to get there, you have got to have very gradual, incredibly well-planned steps throughout key stage 3.
‘Too often, there’s a tendency to say ‘Oh well, we’ll make this, we’ll make that, because we can do it in an hour.’ Of course, you have constraints, with hour periods and limited practical equipment and the curriculum time. But the learning has to drive the curriculum planning, not convenience or entertainment value. At the end of the day, why are they making those things and how do they relate to the national curriculum design and technology aims?’
Some helpful resources for colleagues line managing food
1. The national curriculum computing programmes of study
2. ‘Public Health England, ‘Food teaching in secondary school: A framework of knowledge and skills’
3 . Littlewood, G. ‘Making Thinking Visible in Food’
If you’d like to know more, you can watch the full conversation with Garry on Myatt & Co (£/free trial)
Until next time
Mary
And when you’re ready, you might find these helpful for curriculum and leadership development in your school
NEW: Huh Leadership Lobby: a blended, self-paced course with live check-ins, led by me and Andrew Morrish. It is designed for aspiring, new and established leaders, and starts April 2023, places are limited.
Huh Curriculum Leaders Course: UPDATE: The June course is now open, and the last two were oversubscribed
The spring Primary Subject Networks now available to book, live and recorded (£/free trial). Secondary subject networks are coming soon!
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