Search results

The purpose of this paper is to design an objective, valid and reliable “Checklist” tool that teachers could use to measure their students’ food skills acquisition.

The design of the Checklist was based on 18 procedural food skills identified by teachers and verified by analysis of skills in recipes that are typically used in food education programmes in secondary schools. The skills were divided into five skill-sets and a recipe covering the skills was selected to test the Checklist. For the test, three hypothetical situations of a person with low, some and expert skills making the recipe were demonstrated in separate videos. Teachers were invited to test the Checklist by viewing the videos, completing the Checklist for each of the three conditions and completing an evaluation.

In total, 40 home economics teachers tested the Checklist and reported that they could use the tool to measure the development and progress of their students’ procedural food skills. Analysis of variance analyses of the data and the non-parametric analyses suggest that the Checklist is a reliable and valid evaluation tool.

Teachers report using various tools to measure their students’ food skills acquisition but these have not been well-documented in the literature. These preliminary findings of an original and quantifiable tool showed that home economics teachers used the Checklist to measure their students’ procedural skills however, as the teachers’ comments suggest, further development and validation of the tool are required.

The purpose of this paper is to test an hypothesis that teachers’ personal orientations toward food preparation, nutrition and environmental issues would be related to their perceived importance of food skills.

Little research has been conducted on home economics teachers’ views on the importance of the food skills they teach in secondary schools in Australia. Therefore, an online survey was conducted among 261 home economics teachers in Australian secondary schools. The research measured respondents’ ratings of the importance of 70 food skills as well as their teaching preferences and use of resources.

Respondents rated the procedural “hands-on” skills required to prepare a healthy meal as most important. Exploratory factor analysis derived five components (procedures for domestic settings, procedures for vocational settings, cookery methods, food economy, using microwave oven appliances) relating to teachers’ perceived importance of food skills. Teachers’ personal orientations were described as food aesthete, consumer-environmentalist and nutritionist. The findings showed that these were better predictors of the perceived importance of food skills than demographic characteristics. The most important perceived skills related to the basic procedures required by young people to be able to prepare meals for themselves when living independently. Teachers’ personal “orientations” were significantly related to the perceived importance of food skills. Demographic and professional characteristics were poor predictors of these perceptions.

The findings provide home economics teachers with an understanding of their selection of particular food skills to teach their students in skill-based healthy eating programmes.