Gobsmacked about daughter's food tech lesson

[dottybooboo22]

I've just been informed by dd that she's cooking next week in her food tech class. I have to buy the ingredients. I don't mind that but then she said they have to practise at home so they'll be able to make it in class
She then got all stroppy when I pointed out that it would cost twice as much for the stuff and wasn't it the whole point of the lesson to teach them how to make it??? Am I missing something here?

[mathanxiety]

I am assuming banking means cheques and not a typo for baking.

Many parents are equally clueless, and there is a high level of ignorance about issues like interest, compound and simple, APR, different types of life insurance, and even basic bookkeeping. I firmly believe schools should be teaching this instead of cooking individual dishes that you could easily find online. It is vital in this complex society and economy that people can understand all of this. Basic economics wouldn't hurt either.

GoldFish - not in my DCs' school - prep work is done under the eye of the teacher because the prep work in art (and early editions of writing whether creative or analytical) are considered to be teaching opportunities. They do a huge amount of their actual work in school and really only bring home the final draft to work on, always with suggestions from the teacher ready to be incorporated. The approach is very much that the whole process is important, not just the finished product.

[Longlost10]

you've completely missed the point, this is known as flipped, the whole idea that children learn the bulk of their education totally independently, maybe with resources provided by the school, and class time is not wasted on learning, rather on solving problems, and mastery, so children come to class already knowing what they should know. They should have assessed themselves, and accurately judge their strengths and weaknesses, and class time is exclusively for asking questions, getting the teacher to help with weaknesses, and practicing mastery.

Its one of those new big ideas that come and go constantly.

It happens in all subjects, but is maybe more obvious in food tech.

[SylvieB74]

To quote Sue's mum on 'Rita Sue & Bob too' - "if that teacher wants you to make fucking buns tell her to give you t' money' 😂😂

[mathanxiety]

Hopefully it is an idea that will be out the door soon.

[April241]

I had home economics in 1st and 2nd year (Scotland) which would be a cookery block followed by a block of sewing/knitting etc (I remember having to iron and fold one of my Grandas shirts for an exam!).

Not sure if that cookery section is the same as food tech but we were taught to cook the food during the lesson and didn't need practice runs, I also can't remember having to take in my own ingredients. Then again it was 1997/98 and I can't remember what I made for tea last night.

[KitKats28]

People need to let go of the idea that DT Food at GCSE level is anything like domestic science or cookery that we did at school.

It is a design subject. Find out which examining board your child is doing and read the syllabus. It will explain what they will do over the two year course.

Also, I don't know how the ingredients for meatballs are costing £10. Are you using minced fillet steak? All that's in them is mince, onion, herbs, maybe an egg. That shouldn't cost more than a couple of quid surely.

[yummumto3girls]

Surely we all should do whatever we can to support our children's education, what is the issue with practicing at home, if you supervise it can be the family meal. Also meatballs do not have to cost £10 unless she is planning on feeding a family of 10!

My DD is in year 11, doing GCSE food tech but all through school they have had a double period once a fortnight where first part teacher demonstrates and second part kids do it. Depending on what it is we would prefer not to have to eat something that has been at school all day and then on a bus (unless it's cake!) as her lessons are in the morning they tend to eat the results for their lunch - works great!

[mathanxiety]

If you have to buy a new container of dried herbs, or if the herbs have to be fresh, or your family has a diet based on religious or ethical principles or allergy issues and you don't normally buy such items, then you might incur quite a lot of extra expense.

[FeelingSmurfy]

In one of my last food tech lessons, year 9 so 14, we made pasties. That doesn't sound too bad, but we had to bring in ready made and ready rolled puff pastry, and a pie filling! Most were along the lines of a tin of all day breakfast

[dottybooboo22]

Where is everyone getting the figure of £10 from???? I never mentioned £10!!! If it cost that much for meatballs then she certainly would NOT be practicing OR making them in school!!!

[dottybooboo22]

Anyway, thanks for everyone's input, advice, and opinions,I'm off to bed now, shattered. Most probs dream of giant fecking meatballs

[Longlost10]

Hopefully it is an idea that will be out the door soon. flipping? Yes, I admit i tend to cling to the old, discredited, obsolete idea that teachers should be there to teach........

[charliethebear]

I did food tech to GCSE and I loved it. This thread has made me oddly grateful to my food tech teacher though as we had all the ingredients bought for us (paid a small amount at the start of the term) loads of tea towels/aprons etc provided. And the kitchen was spotless.
I remember doing profiteroles too.
I think for gcse, which I'm guessing she's doing if she's 14, then I would make sure she can cook it at school, so if she's a capable cook and can follow a recipe there's no need to practice, if she cant then practice and have it for tea. For less than gcse then expecting practice is ridiculous!

[notangelinajolie]

DD is now in year 11 and ingredients shopping has changed with each teacher. Her lessons are so short (40 mins) so they barely have time to make anything. TBH I don't think she has brought anything home I would feed the dog .

Years 7&8 we paid a pound a week and the teacher went out and bought all the ingredients.

Year 9&10 were a pain in the butt, spent silly money buying stuff we could barely afford.

Year 11. First week back and she has to make something at home and take photos. Gives them more class time for theory and the food (with a little lot of help from me) was actually edible Works for me!

[Unicorn1981]

I still remember making a shepherds pie for the first time in food tech. My mum bought the ingredients and I really enjoyed it. We ate it for tea that night and it was really nice. I still make it to this day. She even (my mum) bought me a Pyrex dosh which she gave me when I moved out! My point is it gave me my love of cooking and I really enjoyed it.

[Lunde]

Please feel free to send your daughter over to my house as I would love to have a freezer full of meat balls - I have even purchased all of the ingredients for Swedish meatballs; beef mince, pork mince, sourdough breadcrumbs, milk, thyme, salt and pepper - but have sadly injured my wrist and cannot "roll" them.

It is great to have some in the in the freezer to eat the traditional way with mash/boiled potatoes of put them in a tomato pasta sauce and eat them with spaghetti.

My DDs cookery assessment was much more technical - she had to make a scratch paella including jointing the chicken, dealing with the seafood and veg and making the saffron rice.

I guess I was lucky that she did Swedish GCSEs as they are not allowed to charge for anything that happens during school time - but they also taught them to cook cheaper meals as well: stews, soups, fish, pasta and breads etc.

[ItsABanana]

DS (high school) does food tech and I've never heard of having to cook it at home as practise as well, that sounds bonkers!
You buy the ingredients, they weigh them out and take them into school.
Then they cook the dish at school in their lesson.
As for those who reject perfectly good food that there children have cooked, not only is that ridiculously wasteful, but incredibly hurtful!
Effectively saying their food is shit if you refuse to eat it.
Mine loves to come home and proudly shows us what he's made and we all try a piece.
Can't imagine refusing to let anyone eat it and then presumably chucking it in the bin!

[notangelinajolie]

Just remembering the look of horror on my DS Teacher's face when the Lemon Meringue I'd just made fell off the window ledge ... all down the back of the radiator. Happy days.

[seven201]

" I'm sure a secondary school aged child is more than capable of following a recipe." Oh how wrong you are. I have had the misfortune of having food appear on my teaching timetable some years. Of course most kids can follow a recipe but there are always at least two in every class who do the most bizarre random things. Every lesson is a constant chorus of "what do I do now?" and my reply is always "read the recipe" then i often subtly watch them and often catch them missing steps just in time. To be fair a lot of practicals are now in 50 min lessons. If they've been held up and arrive late then everyone is in a stress mainly me.

I've had to teach kids how to use a can opener, turn an oven on, boil a kettle, how to wash up, not to put tea towels on a hot hob, not to microwave metal, the difference between a tea spoon and a table spoon. All things you'd expect or hope kids would have been taught at home. Year 7 is particularly tricky as you get the kids who have been cooking lots at home and others who's parents never cook with them or without. I witnessed a girl (not in my class) who's dad is a chef try and cook spaghetti by boiling a kettle and putting it in a saucepan, adding the pasta but then turning the hob off and not pushing the pasta down. She ended up with one soggy end and one solid end. She was in year 9!

It does sound a bit odd for the teacher to ask pupils to do a full practice cook at home. I have asked in the past that students bring their onion in already diced due to time constraints, or asked them to ask their parents if they can practice using a knife with them etc., but never to cook a whole dish.

[EBearhug]

I remember my mother ranting on about wasting time on cookery lessons, I could learn everything I needed at home - and to be fair, I did learn a lot at home, particularly things like preparing veg and soft fruit for the freezer, and making jams and chutney, and a lot of traditional home cooking. Did choux pastry and proper swiss rolls at home, too.

My first cookery lesson was to make cucumber sandwiches - this was a revelation to me, because we peeled the cucumber, and cut the crusts off, and they had to be cut in triangles, not squares. Then we had to wash up properly (and I am much better at washing up than my mother was, partly because of school.)

Later, we did fruit salad, which involved cutting up real fruit rather than opening a tin, and making a sauce out of fruit juice thickened with arrowroot - which was a new thing to me. We thickened sauces and gravy with flour or cornflour at home; arrowroot wasn't something I knew about. There is a tub of arrowroot in my cupboard right now, and that's a direct result of learning about it at school. So I did learn things from school cooking, while other things were more from home. And cupcakes I did at home and school. School stuff was usually edible, despite my mother's complaints.

But if you have to do it all at home - well, that's fine if you grew up in a cooking household, but what if you're in a household where no one does cooking? How will they be able to show you how to rub fat into flour or cream butter and sugar together? Where do you learn basic techniques? People in a household with proper cooking are going to have a massive advantage. There's plenty in the press about people unable to cook proper meals, but if you're meant to learn it at home - well, how can you learn if that knowledge isn't there?

[Ericaequites]

Students of all genders should learn simple home repairs,; basic home maintenance; basic cookery skills; how to sew and knit; financial literacy; simple drawing and sketching; and group singing. Teaching theory should come well after useful skills.

[MidniteScribbler]

We live in times where most women don't unpaid housework full-time anymore, and therefore have no time (or skill) to teach their children how to cook, but schools haven't yet taken over the job.

Or perhaps we should realise that it is not the school's job to teach children how to cook, tie their shoelaces, and all the other basics of life that parents should actually be teaching their children.

[jellybeans]

I hated my daughter doing gcse food tech. The expense was ridiculous. She had to make 2 or 3 dishes in one day more thab once and sometimes grading was cancelled so we had to buy it all again the next week!!! Also much of it was last minute 'by the way am cooking tomorrow/today". It often wasn't stored correctly so we couldn't eat it when we got it back. Huge waste of money. I steered my younger DC away from it.

[Totallypearshaped]

I didn't do home econ after o level equivalent, and got an b in a level by reading the books and turning up at the exam. Bit of a non subject indeed.
I'm a fantastic cook and baker, and know all about nutrition, and can sew from, design and make patterns. Home ec isn't rocket science: it's easy to pick up.

Same as flower arranging, religion, art and languages- they're not rocket science either.

Most of these 'soft' subjects are best studied at home with text books, DVDs and YouTube/ iTunes imho.

Plenty of time left then in the school day for face to face contact teaching of maths, science (experiments and dissections) and to a certain extent, business subjects, like negotiation and mediation which are essential, and more difficult impossible to crack on your own as they're experiential.

[5moreminutes]

Group singing Eric? when is such hideousness ever a useful skill - it's a hobby, no more useful than teaching them any other random hobby.