The History of Food in D&T

Marion Rutland

Food was first introduced into the English elementary school curriculum in the mid to late 19th Century for philanthropic or utilitarian reasons. Cookery had a low status and was intended to teach working class girls basic cooking skills to improve their standard of living, improve their family health and prepare them for low-paid employment. In the early 20th Century, it became ‘domestic science’ in girls’ grammar schools for more academically able girls. Even then, it focused on nutrition within an essentially practical subject, with little attempt to teach underlying scientific principles (Rutland 1997, 2006; Rutland and Owen-Jackson 2015a).

The Sex Discrimination Act (1975) made sexual discrimination unlawful, and schools were required to ensure that boys and girls had equal curriculum access to both CDT and cookery, then known as home economics. This included cooking, needlework, budget management, child development, health and hygiene. The Nuffield Home Economics project (1982) introduced a more scientific, investigative approach to practical food activities.

Following the introduction of the National Curriculum in 1990 the National Association of Home Economics and Technology (NATHE) and the Design and Technology Association (DATA) amalgamated in 1993. Food technology within D&T was developed by DATA, the newly combined organisation. The new GCSE and A Level Food Technology examinations widened the domestic setting to include knowledge and understanding of food product development as found in the food industry. Changing lifestyles and an increasing consumption of processed foods from industrially designed and manufactured foods necessitated these changes (Rutland 2018, 2024).

Knowledge content of food technology was rigorous and required pupils to combine “thinking and doing” with an ability to make informed design decisions in food product development through a learning style based on problem-solving rather than on rote learning and practice (Rutland 2017). Designing with food is essentially a hands-on-activity where pupils foster and use their knowledge and understanding of the physical, chemical, and nutritional properties of foods by exploring and experimenting when developing their food products (Rutland and Owen-Jackson 2015b).

Concerns were raised regarding the relationship between pupils ‘learning to cook’ and food technology. Ofsted (2006: 5-6) noted confusion about the basic aims of food technology “in essence, a tension exists between teaching about food to develop skills for living and using food as a means to teach the objectives of design and technology”. This illustrated a fundamental difference between those who believe that children should be taught the ‘life skills’ of cooking and those who believe that a wider perspective is required (Rutland, 2018).

‘Licence to Cook’ (DES, 2008) was introduced for pupils aged 11-16 because of rising incidents of obesity in the community. It aimed to teach pupils how to cook and make informed decisions about diet and nutrition, health and safety and wise food shopping. However, it was confusing for some food teachers as it required all pupils to learn basic cooking skills through dedicated lessons in food preparation techniques, diet and nutrition, hygiene and safety and wise food shopping (Rutland, 2008) and appeared to question what was taught in food technology.

These dual, and sometimes conflicting views between food education for well-being and food education as part of an academic curriculum, became key issues in the Review of the National Curriculum for D&T in 2013 (Lawson, Wood-Griffiths, 2022). Food was retained within D&T for pupils aged 5-14 years (DfE a, 2014) and included terms such as ‘ingredients and food’ with pupils expected to design and make with food ingredients while working in the home and wider industrial contexts. A new separate ‘Cooking and Nutrition’ section was included, and ‘learning to cook’ was described as a ‘crucial life skill’.

All GCSE and A Level Examinations were reformed (DfE a, 2014) and a GCSE Cooking and Nutrition was introduced, with a name change later to GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition (DfE, 2015). This focused on ensuring students acquired a good understanding of food and nutrition together with excellent cooking skills (ibid: 6-7). The draft GCSE Subject Content for D&T (DfEb, 2014) did not include food as material. All the range of former food courses, such as home economics, hospitality, catering and food technology were removed. A new A Food Technology level course, providing progression to higher education degree courses, was not developed as it was argued that there were several high quality vocational qualifications such as ‘confectionary’ and ‘butchery’ available (DfEa, 2014).

Current situation

Food remains within D&T in England for pupils aged 5- 14 years. There is GCSE Food and Nutrition but there is no A Level (post-16) food course available for pupils wanting to progress to higher and further education food-related courses. Though, “there are talks of it being reviewed shortly” (Davies, Ballam, 2023: 3). The Design and Technology Association in ‘Reimagining D&T’ show “some reluctance to let ‘Food and Nutrition go from the D&T suite” (Design and Technology Association, 2023:6).

The Future?

Just teaching children ‘to cook’, though an important aspect of food education, is not sufficient in the mid-21st century; a wider perspective considering food production outside the home is needed. Lifestyles and women’s roles in many countries have changed since food education was first introduced in the mid-19th century. The current lack of progression and an A Level Food examination are major issues for the future of the teaching of food in schools. There is a need to revise the current GCSE and for communication and discussion with Higher Education, as has been done in the past (Rutland, Owen-Jackson, 2014) and Further Education Institutions. This would ensure the development of a new A Level Food examination suitable for progression to food related qualifications (Rutland, 2020).

Such food education courses needed to be taught through an experimental, sequential, and integrated methodology and require a robust, theoretical framework that addresses:

• socio-cultural issues
• product design
• scientific theory (food science)
• technological understanding
• environmental issues
• nutritional knowledge
• the development of basic food preparation and cooking skills.

This will ensure that children develop the important food related knowledge, understanding and skills required for their future health and wellbeing. It also provides a pathway to a wide range of food related career opportunities in the food industry, teaching and food related professional occupations such as hospitality, health and social care and nursing (Rutland, 2024).

References.

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DfEb, (2014). Design and Technology: Draft GCSE subject content. London: Department for Education

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Rutland, M. (2008). ‘Licence to cook: The death knell for food technology?’ In E. W.L. Norman & D. Spendlove (Eds.), The Design and Technology Association International Research Conference), Wellesbourne: Design and Technology Association, Loughborough University, July 2-4^th 2008.

Rutland, M. (2017) ‘Food in the School Curriculum: A Discussion of Alternative Approaches’. In M.J. de Vries (ed) Handbook of Technology Education, Springer International Handbooks of Education, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-38889-2_25-2.

Rutland, M., (2018) ‘Food Education in the School Curriculum: A discussion of the Issues, Influences and Pressures on the Teaching of Food’. In PATT36 Research and practice in technology education: Perspectives on human capacity and development, pp.461 – 467. Athlone Institute of Technology, Co. Westmeath, Ireland 18 -21st June 2018.

Rutland, M. (2019) ‘The academic study of food in the English curriculum for pupils aged 16-18 years: its demise and prospects’. In PATT 37 - Conference 2019: Developing a knowledge economy through technology and engineering education, pp 373- 380. University of Malta, June 3-6^th 2019

Rutland, M. (2020) ‘Food Teaching in Upper Secondary English Schools: Progression into Food-Related Undergraduate Courses in Higher Education’ In Food Education and Food Technology in School Curricula- International Perspectives, Rutland, M., Turner, A. (eds), Contemporary Issues in Technology Education. Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

Rutland, M. (to be published 2024) ‘Food as an aspect of technology education in the 21^st Century’. In J. Dakers (Ed) Festschrift for Marc J de Vries, Brill International Educational Studies.

Rutland, M., & Owen-Jackson, G. (2014). ‘Food technology: an initial exploration into its educational purposes’. In H. Middleton (Ed) Technology Education: Learning for Life (Vol. 2, pp. 62- 70). 8th Biennial International Conference on Technology Education Research, Sydney, Australia: Griffith University

Rutland, M. & Owen-Jackson, G. (2015a) ‘Food technology education: preparation for life and work?’  In Plurality and Complementarity of Approaches in Design and Technology Education. PATT 29, pp.349-356 Marseille: France 7-10^th April.

Rutland, M., & Owen-Jackson, G. (2015b). ‘Preparing to teach food technology’. In G. Owen-Jackson (Ed.), Learning to teach design and technology in the secondary school (3rd ed.). Abingdon: Routledge.

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Accessed 10^th May 2024.