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?

[Sunnymeg]

DS gave up cookery at the end of year 9 thank goodness. He had 50 minute lessons in which to cook. He can cook well, but likes to take his time and was frequently told off in lessons for being slow. We would practice at home and look for short cuts so that he could complete the recipe in the allotted time.

[chocolatemuppet]

5moreminutes I can assure you it is usual. As a teacher myself I often ask students to research a topic before covering it in detail in a lesson. And I know many of my colleagues in both my school and other schools who do the same.

Independent learning. It works really well.

[chocolatemuppet]

Plus, when they then arrive to the lesson, they have ideas, thoughts and opinions already. It's a great way to learn, and really motivating too.

[Italiangreyhound]

chocolatemuppet presumably it doesn't work so well for kids who get very little support at home and whose parents don't know how to cook.

[Italiangreyhound]

chocolatemuppet re "should schools be responsible for everything now?"

No, of course not. But if they have chosen, or the government has chosen to put something on the curriculum then yes they should teach it. Clearly this is what parents think is happening when they are asked to supply ingredients for a dish that will be cooked at school. If the kids are just to follow the recepie then that could be done at home.

Ditsey "We have said why don't they just bring a matress and we'll look after them 24/7!" I hvae no desire at all for my child to be in school 24/7. But what I do expect is that if there is a subject they are learning about at school, then the school will be doing the teaching, the example of cooking something first at home seems to go against that. How does that suggest at all that parents want their kids in school all the time?

battgirl re "seems daft thirty parents buying the same thing when teacher could order it then share it out" I agree. Also transporting items like oil or liquids to school must be hard and messy. And a recipe may call for 200g but you can only get 500g or whatever so that means that some is wasted.

Punt "I can't see how it is ever a school's responsibility to teach cookery. That is parenting." well that is up for debate isn't it. If it really is parents responsibility why are kids being asked to bring in ingredients? BUT I think schools should teach cooking, lots of parents can't cook and don't want to. They never learnt as kids and don't feel confident passing on 'skills' they do not have.

For those whose mums and dads guided them in the kitchen this must seem strange but it is a fact, not all people like to cook.

I think it would be great for schools to teach healthy eating, budgeting skills, cooking etc as part of skills for life and I think that would be excellent. We never got that at school and I hope my dd will. Of course, some of that is my job too, but I also think many kids will have parents who are very clueless about cooking and they do need help.

Middle - ""design a sandwich" in Year 7" YIKES that is basic, what a shame. Our school did a brilliant evening for kids in Year six where they made a very basic meal and waited on the parents to serve them. They were so proud and excited and food was mostly nice! It was a great activity.

One of the points of school (IMHO) is to teach but also to teach all, equally, or at least to give equal opportunities. It is it is a leveler, whether you are from a wealthy or poor background you all get taught the same. If there needs to be lots of input from home this basic leveling 'quality' is lost!

[Italiangreyhound]

punt by "well that is up for debate isn't it" I meant whether schools should teach cookery not whether they should teach everything!

[chocolatemuppet]

Italian I get what you are saying. And yes you are most definitely right in that there is a huge difference between the children who's parents are able to be supportive at home (for whatever reason - sometimes they have enough on their plate) and those who have parents who can support. It makes a massive impact on their progress, it really does.

Unfortunately we can't do a great deal about that - other than be as supportive as we can at school.


I think what some posters are trying to say (myself included) is that there are an increasing number of parents who expect the school to provide everything by way of education, and that it almost devolves them of any form of responsibility. That if anything goes wrong, they will immediately blame the school.

I'm not saying for a minute that the OP feels that - I am sure she doesn't - but I am seeing it increasingly year on year.

My colleague, who is a head of year, had a phone call a couple of weeks ago from a parent asking my colleague if he would tell her son he had to eat his tea!

[GoldFishFingerz]

5more - no a teen will have basic recipe reading skills, knife skills and such already developed in school in years 7 and 8. OPs year 9/10 DD is just on the next step, having already got the basic skills under her belt.

[Italiangreyhound]

Thank you chocolatemuppet, very good points.

[maddiemookins16mum]

Back in my day (the late 70's!!), we had theory on Monday morning when the Home Economics 😊 teacher would demonstrate that weeks recipe and we'd take notes sitting on stools around her top desk/large table. On Thursday (last two periods) we made the food. It was purely through these lessons I learnt to make a roux sauce (for macaroni cheese), all pastries, scones, rice pudding, victoria sponge, sausage meat pie, bread with live yeast, quiche and best of all a swiss roll. I loved cookery at school, my O level cookery exam in May 1980 (practical) consisted of carrot soup, quiche lorraine and salad and a chocolate and raspberry swiss roll all in 3 hours, served at a properly laid and decorated table (with the place mats I'd made in needlework). Those were the days, I was 15 I think (August baby). I still use the same methods I learned then today.

[PterodactylToenails]

I remember at school in the 90s we had to make coleslaw and had to always pay towards the cost of the ingredients. We also made a topping for a jacket potato, some biscuits and some profiteroles which all collapsed. We used to always have to take photos of our food using a camera and tripod. I quite liked those lessons!

[MaddyHatter]

i alway thought food tech was stupid, all we ever got asked to do was to adapt recipies for dinner parties

i learned all my cooking skills from my mum and then my DH and through trial and error.

I do have friends who never learned to cook and who really struggle.. so IMHO, food tech needs to be given the elbow and we need to go back to the basics of learning how to cook.

[ThreeMusketeers123]

I come from a family of Chefs and we grew up cooking my mum. It gave us confidence in the kitchen. My DS (12) isn't very confident and so get V nervous. It helped him ALOT to practise at home.
For the first few weeks, he was always last to finish and it turned it out he was scared of the ovens at school + their Oven Gloves had holes in !
I realised that even though they both baked with me, I would always do the measuring & oven stuff. (Guilty mummy)
So, I made him practise turning on & off the oven, hob & using Oven Gloves to put trays in & out the oven and weighing ingredients. I even bought him the same Oven Gloves that we hv at home for him to take in.

May seem silly but he came home with the biggest grin ever ! Turns out he had the highest mark in his class & his Tutor was amazed at how much more confidence he had in the kitchen.
He made things like Muffins, bread rolls, pasta sauce, ratatouille so we always ate them.
If like my DS, your DD may just be nervous.

[ThreeMusketeers123]

Cooking 'with' my mum !!!!

[5moreminutes]

Chocolate giving all the kids the same recipe and telling them all to learn how to make it at home then reproduce it in class is pretty weak independent learning... The kids are learning independently at home but the class task adds nothing. A useful independent learning task would be to use class time to teach a technique, discuss it's uses, then set homework to research other recipes using that technique and choose one to practice at home and make in class - then in class the students can learn by comparing all the different dishes produced with that technique and discussing the merits etc.

Giving the kids all the same recipe to learn how to make at home then reproduce in class is akin to setting rote learning of a poem as English homework then having all the kids recite it in class - the class task achieves nothing except checking whether the kids did their homework.

[5moreminutes]

Gold are you saying the kids have already had all the teaching they will get and the lessons are now just giving them a recipe which they practice at home then reproduce in class? What are they learning in class? Nothing because there is nothing more to learn if they can read a recipe and have learnt some basic skills? I doubt any teen can't learn more about cooking otherwise there would be no culinary schools!

[WankingMonkey]

Food tech was useless when I was at school. One of our 'projects' was making a chocolate log at xmas time. However we weren't to make it properly..oh no. We had to buy a readymade one, melt chocolate down, and decorate it. And then write an entire assignment on it

Same with flans and such. We had to buy the readymade bases and just decorate with jelly stuff and cut up fruit...

[Chocolatemuppet]

5more if that were the case then yes. But I strongly suspect that isn't what has been asked. We all know that what is said at school is often misrepresented at home - often accidentally.

A teacher cannot demand that a child produce this food at home - more likely is that they will have said - it might be a good idea to practice. Or for those who love cooking - give it a go. That would be excellent independent learning.

Always good to check the facts of what has been said with the teacher.

[CatNip2]

Is this thread still going on?

[TondelayaDellaVentamiglia]

our school provided the ingredients but we had to pay so much a term.

My lot were all taught to cook by me, so the teacher was not best pleased when they queried her choice of Basmati rice for risotto, and soft spread for pastry.
...along with many other very odd choices.

dd was also told off for breaking an egg by tapping it on a flat surface as opposed to crashing it down on the edge of the bowl.

Pretty sure my name was mud in food tech lessons "my mum says...."

[Strongarmy]

My experience in 1970s was just like Maddiemoo's. I learned to make all pastries, cakes, yeast cookery, scones, crumbles,jam,Christmas cake with my own marzipan and fondant and Royal icings, plus meals. I built on what I knew from home. And my family always enjoyed my offerings on a Thursday. I still bake/cook well now and have fond memories of school Domestic Science lessons and O level cookery.

[BackwardElephants]

Perhaps they a re experimenting with flipped schooling? It is an interesting idea that is gaining ground.

Personally, I think kids should be involved in food prep and cooking from a young age, but I understand there are both parents and kids who aren't interested or don't have the time.

[Biscetti]

I teach cookery/nutrition. Last week they made mini frittata. This week they're making calzone from (almost) scratch. I will have to make the dough to allow it time to prove, but they'll be kneading, making the tomato sauce, and putting together. Next week they're making apple crumble muffins, which they will do completely, following instructions/recipe provided.

At the end of term each year group plan, shop for, prepare and cook for their parents and carers with minimal help from me. Hygeine and safety are taught and reminded of each lesson and the only thing the pisses the parents off is the fact that they rarely get to try anything, apart from at the end of term.

They are Reception to Year 3. I'm staggered at what they are (not) teaching in Y7 upwards.

[Philoslothy]

Two of mine loved food tech and would practise at home, I encouraged it and enjoyed watching/ helping them.

They were encouraged to adapt recipes do we have would try out ideas at home before finalising the recipe for the lesson.

[Sweetpeamummy]

As a parent, it is your place to teach your child to cook. Just because they have food technology in school, doesn't mean it is solely a teacher's role otherwise it would be in primary curriculum too.