To tell dd she is not to take Food Tech for GCSE

[Chopstheduck]

dd is quite keen to, options coming up. I don't want her to, because I feel the standard of teaching for it is appalling. The recipes are dire, the methods are terrible.

I can cook, dd can cook very well too, but she is picking up bad habits now from school. I feel she would be better off picking another subject and continuing to cook at home. DD is keen because she enjoys cooking and she is getting top marks in the subject at school. Mainly because we have been adapting the recipes at home.

I know we could continue to adapt, but she doesn't have much control over the method, and it is gutting to have good food wrecked by over or under cooking at school. They cooked burgers last week, and half the children had stomach upsets because they baked them in the oven and not for long enough.

I will be chatting to the teacher before the options evening, at parents evening and will raise my concerns. (tactfully ) but AIBU to have an opinion over what is ultimately my dd's GCSE choices?

Despite my previous damning post on food tech, I still think that tech subjects have a place. I was a bright, academic student who happened to love cooking and considered a catering career. It was definitely worthwhile for me.

My daughter wasn't at all academic and practical subjects like food tech were potentially a confidence booster. Pity it didn't work out that way in our case. Of course core subjects are vital, but nurturing a child's wider interests are also very important.

I think YABU probably. It's her choice.

At my school we had to do a technology and food tech is the only one I could have passed! It was a bit of a chore but I have an A* as oppose to the D or E I would have got in one of the others. It doesn't count for much sure and it certainly doesn't mean I can cook (I can't!) but it's better than a poor grade in something else.

I never had to take a tech subject at GCSE but my school specialised in languages and I did 2 languages at GCSE - is this why? I believe doing a tech subject was compulsory when I did mine (2005) and I've always been puzzled as to why I never did one!

However, I am more puzzled by people considering D&T soft subjects, they are absolutely not. They are STEM!

DS2 is doing GCSE in Food tech, there isn't all that much cooking involved and what there is is pretty much ancillary to the design, make , evaluate cycle.
They choose their own recipes
also food tech is DT.

At gcse food tech my dd had to design and plan her own recipes showing how to adapt them etc. Never used any ready made ingredients even down to making fresh pasta. It is worth discussing with the teacher exactly what would be expected before making up your mind as it does seem to differ wildly between schools.

Littlebaby - it's because it's MN no mnetter should ever allow their DC to study something that is not a traditional, academic subject...maybe this is where Gove gets his ridiculous ideas

Op - it's your DD not you who has to study it; advise yes,forbid no.

Everytime I hear complaints about Home Economics, I thank my lucky stars that we pay £88 a year to cover the cooking ingredients. Dd has made a variety of things from different things with different pastries made from scratch such as flans, tarts, pasties, sausage rolls as well as budget meals such as pasta dishes, curries, and today and beef crumble. I'm impressed with what she has done and they do have a good Home Ec team who progress them. At christmas they made christmas cakes which they had to design then make the actual figures etc on the top. I was very impressed.

But friends have said they've taken in fajita kits and other ready made jars which really surprises me. Mind you when I was at school we only ever baked. There was no proper cooking skills like dd has done.

I see your problem OP and sympathise, but they are your dc options, not yours.
You have to let them go and now is the time. It would be unfair to try to prevent her.
Have your own say obviously we should guide them, but the choice has to be their own imo

ooh dd made Xmas cake. We could have used it to hammer nails in!

dt is design and technology I thought

I'm not against her taking a non academic subject at all, just food! She is also keen on Drama, which I think will be lovely as she will enjoy it and I think it will be good for her.

Everyone bar me loved dd's cake. It was very moist and went down well on boxing day. For me her chilli is gorgeous.

I think it's important to provide guidance as at this age I don't think they really have any idea of the implications and potential limitations of their choices. It does really depend on what her other options are, and how it complements the other subjects she's taking, but agree the final decision needs to be your DD's.

Also, I've seen lots of people on threads say that actual subjects studied at GCSE have little relevance after applying to sixth form, however as a graduate recruiter, I can assure you that I carefully look at each candidate's whole CV, including GCSE results to get as full a picture of the individual as possible. So whilst I'd never make a decision based on GCSE results alone, it is something I definitely take into consideration. So if your DD can get good grades in more traditional subjects, then they are more attractive, if not then she would be better off doing subjects in which she can get good grades.

I don't know about all schools, but I work supporting a GCSE student in tech, and A LOT of the students in that class took it because they (mistakenly) thought it would be an easy subject with little writing involved. So actually most of the time they should be researching, designing, writing up on ideas etc, ie, doing a lot of non-practical work.

Many of the students (in the main boys, I am afraid to say), responded very badly to this sedate and academic process. Most of the time the teachers and TAs were trying to put out 'fires' like frantic wack-a-moles. At one point my fellow TA and I were actually intimidated and afraid not only for ourselves but also for our disadvantaged students, while dealing with bored students who refused to do academic work, and therefore started mucking around with equipment (hammers, nails, etc) and disrupting the work of the few students who actually wanted to learn.

I would not want my DS or DSD to take any tech subject TBH. I would worry that they would not be able to reach their full potential in this kind of environment, not to mention the obvious danger of injury.

Yanbu to have an opinion and discuss it with your daughter.

Yabu to dictate to her what she can and can't take - she is the one who will have to put the work in, and she's old enough to make the final decision herself - of course she should take your opinion into account, but the ultimate call is hers.

Well I teach Textiles. Generally the class is all girls, and they are absolutely delightful. A joy to teach

Textiles does tend to be mostly girls, but IME food tech is more evenly spread between the sexes. I have also supported food tech lessons in the past and a lot of the kids there couldn't be bothered either. Less danger of accident I suppose, but still not a good environment for learning.

Aww I would be sad my mother didn't support my choices. YABU

Missy - that might be at your school; certainly not at the schools I have worked in

YABU because it should be her choice.

YANBU
Food tech is a bilge syllabus and needs replacing
if she likes cooking, cook at home
if she likes writing boring "articles" about the palm oil industry, do food tech

sadly many of the "tech" subjects became paper oriented over the last few years
and the sooner they revert to being practical, hands on, DOING not "writing" the sooner they will be worth taking again

Glad to hear it Cricketballs! However, I have had this bad experience and I would only let DS take a tech subject if he really really wanted to and if he excelled at it.

YANBU to be involved in this decision. If your kids fail academically the failure falls back on you, so why shouldn't you have some say, while obviously taking DCs wishes into account? They are still minors. You are an adult. besides you don't want them living in your house into their 40s because they failed in school

Again, check the syllabus properly and talk to her potential teacher. Much of the information that people are giving here is nonsense based on the GCSEs that they did when dinosaurs roamed the earthyears ago.

There is more than one GCSE syllabus out there: check which one she'd be following, discuss with teacher and your dd, then let her make up her own mind. There's no point in making her do a different subject that she might not like.

I've been in the Food classrooms and seen students who think it's a soft option really struggle. Granted, it's not a traditional academic subject, but it's a valid option, and if your dd enjoys it and puts the effort in she'll have every chance of getting a better grade than she would in a subject that she hates.

My dd3 is doing food tech for gcse, and to be fair she is really enjoying it. BUT I hate it, it causes no end of arguments in our house, it costs a fortune, ( there have been several threads recently about the cost), half of the preparation has to be done at home and Im sure someone somewhere with a wierd sense of humour looks up obscure very expensive herbs and sticks them onto the compulsory ingredients list She would say it is the better one of the options and she had to choose one from that 'block'.

There are currently a lot of well paid jobs in Food Science. The students at my uni have no problem getting jobs when they graduate which is pretty good going in this day and age. Maybe Food Technology GCSE is the first step in that direction!

DS is planning on choosing to do food tech. We have options evening next week.

If she wants to take it, I don't see the problem. She is the one who has to do it, has to put the effort in. If she likes it over the other choices then whats the matter?

If she has to choose a tech, I would let her choose whichever one she likes best. She'll know more about which subject is more interesting to her and has the more inspiring teachers etc than you from her studies over the past few years. If it was food tech v maths or food tech v Latin then it would be a different matter.