Secondary Teachers - DT options - advice please!

[niftyfifty]

DS is going into year 9 in September. He has brought home a list of 'specialist areas' within Design and Technology which he has to put in order of preference, and he will hopefully be able to concentrate on his top two choices in year 9. Can anyone tell me if food technology actually involves any cooking? Or is it all designing the packaging etc? His thinking is that it will stand him in good stead for looking after himself when he's older but I'm not so sure!

I teach DT with Food being one of my areas. Food Technology should involve students cooking at least once a week. Yes we have to cover the other areas like packaging and labelling (people need to be able to read these and make informed decisions) although hours should not be given over to making a pretty package!! We cover sustainability, air miles and some industrial understanding.
Out of a 22 hour DT course in Y9 for Food Tech my students cook for approx 16 hours of this. They make a wide range of mains and desserts and I like to hope they will keep their recipe booklets and make use of them.
The bottom line is ask the Food Tech teacher for a breakdown of what they will be covering, there is no reason they won't tell you (unless they don't want to!!).
If your DS's school don't have a specialist teacher or facilities then that may affect the amount of practical work.
Hope this helps

I don't see any subjects as easier, unless they particularly suit you. So Mats might seem easy to some one gifted in it.
My son actually often struggles in technology because of all the refection, and self analysis involved. So recently he made biscuits by 3 different methods, and then had to choose one to make for his finished product, whic was then iced.

Also a long long time ago, I also had to choose which two DT subjects to keep into year 9. Then it was between Needlework, Woodwork, Metalwork, Domestic Science, Typing and Technical drawing. So it isn't exactly a recent phenomena.

Nifty has he not been cooking this year? My dd in Y8 is doing food tech this term (has had one term each of textiles and resistant materials too) and has cooked several things so far...

There's not been very much cooking - a pizza, a sort of cheesecake type thing (which was lovely!), fruit salad and a sandwich is all I can recall. Mind you my memory is not what it was!

mummytime I think he may see it as an easier option because he will happily do the practical cooking, but not be bothered about completing the research etc that goes with it.

If he is just wanting to cook Food Tech is a bad option to take. At KS3 most schools are running licence to Cook, Which is not a true reflection of the paperwork at KS4.