Food Teachers Centre
May 2023 Newsletter
Results of two surveys
*The future of food education
*Ingredients for Success
|
Dear
As a member of the Food Teachers Centre Community, thank you for completing two important surveys that are now published!
Key players have begun to ask questions of the Food Teachers Centre to understand the shape and content of food education ready for any curriculum change in England.
These are big questions. If all young people are to get an opportunity to learn the skills and knowledge to cook and live healthily, how should schools plan and implement this? Food has been part of Design and Technology since the start of the National Curriculum in the 1990s; should it remain as part of this subject? Should it stand outside of D&T?
There are strengths and weaknesses in the different positions and plans that might be adopted by schools. But what will lead to a strong position for food education?

or
Food Education – fit for the future?
Survey Headlines
This survey was divided into two distinct sets of questions. Firstly, it starts with asking teachers about the subject and curriculum that they teach NOW to give an overview of how schools are currently interpreting the national curriculum requirements. Secondly, it asks about the FUTURE, and the choices and changes that teachers would make with regards to the next steps of curriculum change.
Food education now
- 75% are in D&T
- Only 38% agree/strongly agree that there is enough time to deliver the curriculum effectively
- 33% are timetabled on rotation for one term, 21% rotation for half year, 18% weekly throughout year
- Teaching focus: significant for healthy eating, cooking and food hygiene
- Majority believe that there is a lack of exam choice post 16
Food education future
- 75% wish to remove Food and Nutrition from D&T
- Majority believe should be a stand-alone subject (and say that their SLT would agree)
- 64% believe that the ‘food’ time for D&T should be removed from D&T
- Timetabling – 65% ask for this to be weekly throughout year
- Teaching focus: significant for healthy eating, cooking, food hygiene, and planning & cooking for yourself
- 87% believe that sustainability should be included
- 92% ask to continue current GCSE (less science, NEA1)
- Majority want an A-level
|
Ingredients for Success?- report out
How are the rising costs of ingredients impacting on our lessons?
|
Worried about the cost of ingredients? So are we!
The report called INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESS? was published in May. Teachers in the North East may have seen the very good coverage on BBC News on Friday 19th May. Check out the QUICK SUMMARY here
Join in our summer campaign to spread the word for better funding and school provision.
- We ask all headteachers and governors to look for a way to provide barrier free and stigma free food education in all schools.
- Students need to know how to cook Affordable healthy meals, these lessons are more important than ever, students should not be missing out.
- Food teaching budgets have not increased with the cost of living.
- Teachers have tried to adjust, reduce costly ingredients, work in pairs, but they need more help. They are often forced to ask students to contribute (anything from 50p -£4), or bring from home, and many simply cant.
- Scotland has managed to provide ingredients for all, recognise cost is an issue. England is a postcode lottery.
- When there is not enough budget and students forget to bring ingredients or money, the teacher has an impossible choice, ask the student to sit out or watch, buy ingredients out of their own pockets and not let them take it home. Many students don’t want to be identified and stigmatise for not having what they need.
- Sadly food and nutrition education is not seen as important as other subjects. Whilst a popular GCSE, the A Levels were removed in 2016.
- Costs affect the ability to opt to take exams creating a barrier.
Let’s campaign for Barrier Free, Stigma Free food education.
This will help you review and create inclusive food education in your school.
- What we have found out with your help,
- Evidence the Food Teachers Centre and Glasgow Caledonian University will present to DfE, as a full report,
- Taking your case to the next level and helping us spread the word,
- Help available right now through our two new support resources Closing the Gap and Affordable Food Lessons for All


|
Measuring up – food assessment at Key Stage 3
Saturday 1 July 9am-1.30pm
£75 Half Price ENDS 6th JUNE
|
Join the Food Teachers Centre and inspirational speakers for this national food and nutrition education conference. This event focuses on successful assessment strategies at Key Stage 3 – from theory to practice, providing practical solutions and ideas to use directly in your teaching to support learning.
Programme
Session 1: Keynote – context, theory and application
Opening address will be given by Ross McGill, Teacher Toolkit.
Session 2: Assessment in action – practitioner led insights
This session comprises five interrelated areas of focus which will be considered through an assessment lens:
- Planning what will be taught
over a series of lessons – choosing key content, concepts and documents;
being clear about planning for progression
- Building on what students
already know – knowing your students (strengths and weaknesses); building
on what students know; strategies that work
- Moving each student forward
in a busy practical class – new learning, checking progress and tracking;
making learning stick
- Showing and demonstrating what
they have learners and can do – testing and practice assessments;
practical assessments; opportunities for students to bring together what
they know
- Supporting students with SEND –
individual learner needs; choosing focus for lessons.
Real life experiences and case studies will be shared, along with exemplar handouts, worksheets and activity ideas.
These will be presented by:
- Food
Teachers Centre Ambassadors and teachers: Fiona Mather, Adele James,
Deborah Prigg and Sharon Blunden
- Plus: Steph Reid,
Lloyd Henry, Laura McGreevy, Adrienne Gristwood, Mary Campbell, Lisa
Othon, Stuart Thompson and Sarah Badzire.
Session 3: The theory of practice – making sense of the why?
Join Sue Parker-Morris, University of Worcester, and Karen Fuller, Manchester Metropolitan University, to explore the theory behind the practitioner led insights. They will use their experience in teacher training to exemplify best practice, as well as use real-life training case studies to look at how assessment could be improved.
In addition, Frances Meek, British Nutrition Foundation, highlights useful resources to support different areas of assessment, including progression and student self-assessment.
Session 4: Introducing the new FAST resource
The last session introduces the new Food Assessment Standardised Tasks (FAST) resource, developed and written by Louise T Davies and Roy Ballam. The FAST training resource not only explains the theory and practice of food education assessment, but comprises assessment resources for Years 7, 8 and 9 which can be immediately embedded into your curriculum. Louise and Roy will introduce the new resource – highlighting access, and the training and downloadable materials available.
The FAST resource includes:
- a
training guide, providing presentations with support information and
guidance
- assessment
101 overview, specifically related to food education
- detailed
testing and monitoring tasks for Years 7, 8 and 9
- a
question bank
- certificates
for students
- an
action planner.
Session 5: Plenary – 10 Next steps
Louise T Davies and Roy Ballam bring the event to a close by summarising the learnings around KS3 assessment – focusing on 10 steps for action.
|
New Courses
- New to teaching food: Foundations in Food
- Vegan High Level Skills
|
New to teaching food?
Join us at ‘Foundations in Food; KS3’
London: Sat 10th June 2023
Swindon: Thurs 22nd June 2023
Crawley: Mon 26th June 2023
Lutterworth: Mon 10th July 2023
This course has been designed to support non specialist teachers who are planning to teach food at KS3. It will give teachers the opportunity to look at the pedagogy of teaching food and cover the practical requirements which will help practical sessions run smoothly.
Focusing on Basic Nutrition, Health and Safety, setting up demonstrations and tips on how to set up the practical classroom. The practical aspect of the day will consist of a hands-on approach, covering key practical skills required at KS3 and provide ready to use resources to take away.
More information about the courses and to book
|
NEW
High Level Vegan Skills course launches this summer
|
High Level Vegan Skills course launches this summer
6 session on-line cooking course, PLUS complete key planning and teaching resources for all KS4 exam courses and support for KS3.
Produced with support from Leith’s Cookery Academy, The Vegan Society and practising food teachers, this new course is led by Food Teachers Centre Ambassador Fiona Mather and Founder Louise Davies and it includes:
- Step by Step Recipe Videos: Vegan high level practical skills and recipes to meet exam requirements. These recipes have been produced with support from Leith’s Cookery Academy and focus on the detail of high level skills. Each video can be used in a variety of way with your students – for flipped learning, classroom demonstrations, one to one progression and home study.
-
- Session 1: Vegan meringue and filling
- Session 2: Vegan fresh pasta and fillings
- Session 3 Vegan Enriched Doughs
- Session 4 Vegan Cake making and decorating
- Session 5 Vegan thickening and setting
- Session 6 Vegan Pastry
- Explainers: What makes this recipe high skill. Introducing/overview of the recipes and skills used (what it is, what ingredients are used and what needs to change to make it vegan).
- How the vegan alternative recipe works and science for successful use of vegan alternatives.
- High level knife skills and knife cuts and vegan examples of where they might be used.
- High level dough skills – enriched doughs, pastries and handmade pasta
- High level meringue skills
- High level cake making and decoration
- High level thickening and setting skills
- Upskilling and adapting base recipes for task set/differrent scenarios
- Nutritional content of the dishes
- What goes wrong and tips for success.
- Essential Guidance: policy and planning documents to meet the needs and legal requirements of students who are vegan. Plus, meeting exam board requirements.
- An overview of exam board defined high level skills and review of recipes that can be used, adapted or should be omitted.
- The exam board requirements: clarity on skills and what signifies high grades.
- A recipe bank (list of key recipes that work with links to the full recipe on-line).
- Example exam board tasks and supporting students preparing for and interpreting NEA.
- Student voice and reviewing your scheme of work.
- Planning and managing lessons where vegan students work alongside others.
- Working with parents and sending information home. Inclusive language: Communication at options evenings and on your school website re your scheme of work.
- Researching, upskilling recipes, and evaluating to gain marks in exams.
- Useful sources of information, speakers and teaching content.
- Having educated discussion and debates about food choices and where food comes from.
- Should we all be working towards a more plant-based approach? What are the benefits?
LOOK OUT! MORE DETAILS COMING SOON
|
Tunnocks TeaCake Challenge
JUDGING
|
This annual challenge is run by the Food Teacher’s Centre in conjunction with Tunnock’s. It was created by teacher and Food Teacher’s Centre Ambassador Deborah Prigg and focuses on teaching presentation skills by using a simple Teacake as a prop. It is a simple challenge that can be run over one or two lessons, at a cooking club or for homework. This year’s theme is Patterns and Shapes and there are different age categories.
- The closing date is 9th June 2023.
- You may enter ONE student for each of the 3 categories, per school.
- Categories are up to 14 years of age, 14 years and over, most novel.
- We also award prizes to an overall Challenge winner and make Judges recommendations for work that needs extra merit but didn’t get awards within the 3 entry categories.
- Prizes are sponsored by Tunnock’s.
Judging is done initially by the members of the Facebook Food Teachers Centre group, who all have a vote to shortlist the most popular entries. The most popular entries in each of the categories are then passed to a panel of judges, who decide on the winners in each category. This panel is made up of Deborah Prigg, Food Teachers Centre Ambassadors and Associates. The winners are then verified by Tunnock’s. Prizes are then sent out to each of the winning school entry students directly from Tunnock’s themselves, but we provide certificates for all the winning schools, and indeed everyone who takes part is given a certificate by their teacher (downloadable in the group).
|
Did you know that the Food Teachers Centre is also on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn? If you’re on one or more of these why not #followus?
We are always looking to promote the very best food education work – and you can support that! Click the links and follow us today – and help ensure that fantastic food education work is seen by even more people.
See you online soon!
|
Best wishes,
Food Teachers Centre team
Volunteer Associates and Ambassadors throughout the UK with a passion for ‘Better Food Teaching’.
The Food Teachers Centre is a place of:
creative and innovative ideas and action
If your organisation or company would like to work with us – please do get in touch via our website or facebook page/facebook group.
|
|