Home Economics as a food education intervention: lessons from the Irish secondary education context

In this article, we start with a history of Home Economics followed by a discussion of Home Economics in the Irish curriculum, the development of the profession and its pedagogical base; finally, we make a case drawing on the existing literature for home economists as key catalysts in any ‘whole of school’ programme around food and health

An international review of second-level food education curriculum policy

Recently, there has been an intensification of calls for comprehensive food education curriculum in schools. Despite this, there is limited international comparative data on the provision of food education. This study uses a comparative case study approach to analyse second-level food education curriculum policy across seven countries. It explores curriculum policy regarding the status of food education, nomenclature and the pedagogical and philosophical approaches. In six of the seven countries, Home Economics is identified as the school subject which teaches practical food education. Coherence in the discourse and pedagogical approaches is evident; however, disparity between countries exists as to whether the subject is optional or mandatory. The authors conclude that food education should form part of the curriculum, but rather than a piecemeal approach, they recommend it be taught, by specialist teachers, in an integrated, sequential and developmentally appropriate manner through an established subject such as Home Economics

Determining the accuracy of crowdsourced tweet verification for auroral research

The Aurorasaurus citizen science project harnesses volunteer crowdsourcing to identify sightings of an aurora (or the "northern/southern lights") posted by citizen scientists on Twitter. Previous studies have demonstrated that aurora sightings can be mined from Twitter but with the caveat that there is a high level of accompanying non-sighting tweets, especially during periods of low auroral activity. Aurorasaurus attempts to mitigate this, and thus increase the quality of its Twitter sighting data, by utilizing volunteers to sift through a pre-filtered list of geo-located tweets to verify real-time aurora sightings. In this study, the current implementation of this crowdsourced verification system, including the process of geo-locating tweets, is described and its accuracy (which, overall, is found to be 68.4%) is determined. The findings suggest that citizen science volunteers are able to accurately filter out unrelated, spam-like, Twitter data but struggle when filtering out somewhat related, yet undesired, data. The citizen scientists particularly struggle with determining the real-time nature of the sightings and care must therefore be taken when relying on crowdsourced identification

Barriers and facilitators to cooking from 'scratch' using basic or raw ingredients: A qualitative interview study

BACKGROUND: Previous research has highlighted an ambiguity in understanding cooking related terminology and a number of barriers and facilitators to home meal preparation. However, meals prepared in the home still include convenience products (typically high in sugars, fats and sodium) which can have negative effects on health. Therefore, this study aimed to qualitatively explore: (1) how individuals define cooking from 'scratch', and (2) their barriers and facilitators to cooking with basic ingredients. METHODS: 27 semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants (aged 18-58 years) living on the island of Ireland, eliciting definitions of 'cooking from scratch' and exploring the reasons participants cook in a particular way. The interviews were professionally transcribed verbatim and Nvivo 10 was used for an inductive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Our results highlighted that although cooking from 'scratch' lacks a single definition, participants viewed it as optimal cooking. Barriers to cooking with raw ingredients included: 1) time pressures; (2) desire to save money; (3) desire for effortless meals; (4) family food preferences; and (5) effect of kitchen disasters. Facilitators included: 1) desire to eat for health and well-being; (2) creative inspiration; (3) ability to plan and prepare meals ahead of time; and (4) greater self-efficacy in one's cooking ability. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings contribute to understanding how individuals define cooking from 'scratch', and barriers and facilitators to cooking with raw ingredients. Interventions should focus on practical sessions to increase cooking self-efficacy; highlight the importance of planning ahead and teach methods such as batch cooking and freezing to facilitate cooking from scratch

Increasing intention to cook from basic ingredients: A randomised controlled study

The promotion of home cooking is a strategy used to improve diet quality and health. However, modern home cooking typically includes the use of processed food which can lead to negative outcomes including weight gain. In addition, interventions to improve cooking skills do not always explain how theory informed their design and implementation. The Behaviour Change Technique (BCT) taxonomy successfully employed in other areas has identified essential elements for interventions. This study investigated the effectiveness of different instructional modes for learning to cook a meal, designed using an accumulating number of BCTs, on participant's perceived difficulty, enjoyment, confidence and intention to cook from basic ingredients. 141 mothers aged between 20 and 39 years from the island of Ireland were randomised to one of four conditions based on BCTs (1) recipe card only [control condition]; (2) recipe card plus video modelling; (3) recipe card plus video prompting; (4) recipe card plus video elements. Participants rated their enjoyment, perceived difficulty, confidence and intention to cook again pre, mid and post experiment. Repeated one-way factorial ANOVAs, correlations and a hierarchical regression model were conducted. Despite no significant differences between the different conditions, there was a significant increase in enjoyment (P < 0.001), confidence (P < 0.001) and intention to cook from basics again (P < 0.001) and a decrease in perceived difficulty (P = 0.001) after the experiment in all conditions. Intention to cook from basics pre-experiment, and confidence and enjoyment (both pre and post experiment) significantly contributed to the final regression model explaining 42% of the variance in intention to cook from basics again. Cooking interventions should focus on practical cooking and increasing participants' enjoyment and confidence during cooking to increase intention to cook from basic ingredients at home

The evolution of Home Economics as a subject in Irish primary and post-primary education from the 1800s to the twenty-first century

This paper is a historical review, documenting the evolution of Home Economics as a subject in Irish primary and post-primary education from the 1800s to the twenty-first century. In the 1800s and early twentieth-century domestic subjects, including cookery, was widely taught to females in both primary and post-primary schools. The philosophical underpinning of the subject was to enhance the quality of life for families. The subject remained a popular choice for young women up until the establishment of the Irish Free State which, thereafter, witnessed many changes in the teaching of cookery and domestic science in primary and post-primary schools. The core ideology of the subject has remained relevant and it aims to provide students with knowledge, practical skills, understanding and attitudes for everyday life as individuals and as family members. This reflects the richness of the subject from the past and the relevance of the subject in addressing issues of a twenty-first century society

‘Home Economics: the missing ingredient in food policy’. The practice and interpretation of food policy in the Irish secondary school education setting

Despite a renewed interest internationally in researching food education in schools, there remains a dearth of published research on the practice and interpretation of Home Economics, from a food policy perspective, in the education setting, particularly in the Irish context. The aim of this thesis was to explore the practice and interpretation of food policy in the Home Economics curriculum in the Irish secondary school setting. To address the research aim, five studies were undertaken. The use of the interpretative paradigm, as the conceptual lens, is reflected through the choice of qualitative methods. Basil Bernstein’s theory of ‘Pedagogic Device’ was integrated with the work by Stephen Ball on policy enactment. This offered a hybrid theoretical lens to gain a deeper understanding of the macro policy level of curriculum development and the interpretation of this policy at the micro level of the school and classroom. Study one analysed the curriculum policy pertaining to food education across seven countries. Study two explored the evolution of Home Economics curriculum policy in Irish primary and secondary schools from the 1800s to the 21st Century. Study three critiqued Home Economics in Irish secondary schools as a food education intervention. Study four examined the macro policy process pertaining to the reform of Junior Cycle Home Economics in Ireland. Study five examined the experiences of Irish Home Economics teachers in enacting curriculum policy at the micro level. By using Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic device as the theoretical lens, the findings outline how the reformed Home Economics curriculum policy was developed at the macro policy level. The findings demonstrated how Home Economics education is ideally placed to teach practical and theoretical food education in the secondary school setting. The enactment of this reformed policy was broadly welcomed by the teachers who regarded it as timely, relevant and modern. They perceived the new policy presented opportunities for Home Economics to contribute more effectively to the wider health and food policy agendas. It is evident that the Home Economics teacher nationally and internationally, as an actor in the pedagogic device, plays a critical role in facilitating the empowerment of students with practical food and health skills so that they can develop a positive relationship with food and make sustainable and healthy food choices. Home Economics incorporates nutritional knowledge, practical food skills and scientific theory in an integrated and sequential manner. Therefore, it is ideally placed to deliver holistic, comprehensive, and sustained food education to young people in the education setting as part of the wider food and health policy arena

Teachers' experiences of enacting curriculum policy at the micro level using Bernstein's theory of the pedagogic device

This study examines the experiences of teachers in the Republic of Ireland, as agents of the pedagogic device, in enacting curriculum policy at the micro level of the classroom. It explores their enactment of policy at a time of significant curriculum reform of junior secondary school education. Drawing upon the findings of in-depth interviews with teachers, this study integrates Bernstein’s Theory of ‘Pedagogic Device’ with Ball’s concept of ‘policy enactment’ and ‘policy actor’ and provides valuable insights into the development of curriculum policy at the macro level and how this is translated and enacted at the micro classroom level. It explores teachers’ experiences in translating the subject knowledge and pedagogical practices in the classroom and how these align to the official curriculum policy. Moreover, the study provides an insight into the correlation between the classification and framing of a subject and its perceived status among teachers and students. Particularly, the balance between the common and esoteric discourses and how this has a strong influence on the positioning of subjects in a school is explored