Teaching my 12 year old GCSE Food Tech

[Charliesunnysky10]

Am I being over-ambitious, thinking I could teach my 12 year old GCSE Food Tech?
She will have to drop it next term if she wants to take on another language, and she's upset about that. I took it myself at evening class a few years back and found it straightforward. She gets very little homework at present, and I could cover the syllabus in two 45 min sessions a week before their GCSE work kicks off in Y9.
We cook and bake most evenings and weekends together and chat about receipe/ingredient options.
How realistic is this though?

To cover the content likely not difficult but to get it examined may be harder. (I am NOT a food teacher). Surely there are some practical exams that need to be examined by a qualified teacher or examiner etc? I know that for maths, english etc you can just sit it at a local school but I am unsure if you can do that logistically for food tech.

If it were me I would forget about the GCSE and just bake and cook fun things with her, what would she get out of the exam side of it?

Did you take the new 1-9 gcse as the syllabus has changed ?

Yes echo that from posey, new syllabus may be very different and probs harder.

Worth asking the school if she could do the practical exam and indeed the written one in school - presumably other students will be taking it at school so they may be on board.

@poseysbobblehat No, I took it before they changed. I'd need an up to date syllabus. Thanks for the heads up.

@sd249 Yep, I have a feeling it would differ from say maths, in that assessment would be required from a qualified source - thanks.

She's s bit down that she is missing out on the chance to get a qualification in something she's good at. I suspect there's a bit of kudos/bragging rights attached to working towards a qualification early too, though the reality of studying nutrition theory might full that somewhat

TBH I would forget the GCSE and look at developing her interest in other ways. Things like bread making and knife skills courses would be far more fun. Anyone I know who has taken the GCSE recently has found it as dull as the dish water they had to wash up in. It has moved on from designing a pizza and box, but your DD would need to find somewhere to do a 3 hour practical assessment.

You could, but just spending the time cooking and baking without being constrained by a syllabus would be far more interesting.

Thanks so much for your input. I'd rather have an honest opinion now than get 3 months in and we're both regretting it.

My y11 DS is doing AQA Food & Nutrition. It's pretty challenging and likely to be one of his lowest grades (he's predicted 8's and 9's for everything else, but so far only a 7 for F&N and pushing for an 8 at most).
He just did his practical exam last week - a 3 hour assessment where he had to make and present 3 complex dishes and clear up within the time too. By complex I mean dishes that incorporate as many complex skills as possible like filetting, piping, caramelisation, sauce reduction, knife skills, pasta making, decorative toppings ... it's more like Master Chef than a home baking session. On top of that he has to do a 20 page written project with lots of research and analysis in it. Your 12 year old wouldn't be able to do that at home because it has to be done under controlled conditions to make sure its their own work. This assessment is worth 50% of their final grade, and there was an earlier shorter project too, which is worth a smaller percentage.

Thanks...It's changed so much in 15 years. Don't get me wrong, there was a fair bit of theory, but even if she got past that (and at 12/13, she wouldn't, even with heavy coaching, which is counter- productive ), the assessment rules it out.
I'm glad to have good reasons for not persuing this though.
And I wish your son all the very best with this, and his other studies, I hope he gets that 8.

Can't you just cook and learn all about food tech with your child 'for fun'?

I don't know what the syllabus entails, but your child will have so much on their plate with compulsory GCSEs that I would not put them through another - I already think children take too many GCSEs.

I think you're right. There are some options I'm looking into mentioned further up the thread. Thank you!

I am a food tech teacher, it’s not called food tech, it’s food preparation and nutrition. I think you’d struggle to assess it, 50% of the course is internally assessed. The exam can be fairly scientific also, it’s not just an easy GCSE.

Thanks @Cat1nthehat
No, it doesn't sound easy, but she is very drawn to it, and it's such a shame she is forced to abandon it because it clashes with a subject she has an aptitude for.

Could your DD continue with the Food GCSE and take the language outside of school? It might be easier to find tuition and external assessors for a language.

Honestly food tech GCSE is painfully dull and she’d be better off just pursuing it for fun

@dancinginpurplerain that makes sense. Though we'd have to see how laden with work she is by Y9.
@Demigoddess90 Hahaha...let's hope Latin is less so, then!!!

I used to teach food tech and am very disillusioned ex secondary teacher!!
I can see you’ve decided to continue for fun, but consider competitions like future chef or young chef that are delivered outside of school :) might add an extra element to it!

Ds has just dropped it as he ws very lilkely to fail. Its very scientific and there are as previous posters have said controlled assessements that have to be done under supervisions along with the accompanying research. There is a technical assessment set by the exam board eg investigating bread making so what happens if you use the same recipie but different kinds of flour and why (it's pretty much a science practical using food) Then the presenting a meal for a specific purpose under timed conditions demonstrating as many complex techniques as possible.

@Blackbelt Those are excellent suggestions - thank you

@Comefromaway I'm sorry your son had to drop it - wish him all the best with the other subjects. Your post really reinforces why it's definitely not a teach-at-home subject. I'm grateful for your advice.

It is sad because at his previous school "home ec" was one of his favourite subjects.

Some schools do food tech qualifications as a BTEC instead, so that might be worth looking into ... for example: qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/myskills/btec-home-cooking-skills.html