GCSE and a Level Reform D&T Food Technology, Catering and Home Economics

June 2014

CONSULTATION RESPONSE

GCSE and A level reform – D&T Food Technology, Catering and Home Economics

We suggest that you get as many employers, parents, pupils, schools and teachers to let their views known. You can use any of the point below to support you, and show the impact of reducing these pathways for your pupils. This is a consultation, and we believe that people are listening. The new reformed qualification (D&T Technology GCSE) that OFQUAL suggests that these are overlapping with – does not yet exist – as it is being drafted before public consultation. This makes it difficult to comment on what they are proposing.

We encourage you and others to submit the form and also email [email protected],

[email protected], [email protected] [email protected] (for Michael Gove)

[email protected] (Elizabeth Truss)

1. If Catering and Home Economics were to be discontinued – the reformed GCSE D&T would need to take account of this in its title, content and assessment. The current awarding organisation developments have been based on reviewing D&T Food Technology, rather than all food examination routes as a coherent process.

2. The variety of contexts established at KS1-3 should provide clear progression routes to KS4/KS5.

[KS3] They should work in a range of domestic and local contexts [for example, the home, health, leisure and culture], and industrial contexts [for example, engineering, manufacturing, construction, food, energy, agriculture (including horticulture) and fashion].

3. Current D&T Food Technology provides a clear and effective industrial context, as it focuses on product development and large scale manufacture, but poorly serves those domestic and local contexts.

4. The 2014 KS1-3 curriculum has a clear focus on cooking and nutrition, this is poorly served by a single route based on current GCSE D&T Food Technology.

5. All specifications that are reformed should include a greater focus on nutrition and health in the core content than is currently examined in the controlled assessments.

6. Over the last 5 years, teachers have followed the lead set by the government under the School Food Plan and other initiatives to teach local and domestic contexts and a significant number have moved away from or added additional course options to D&T Food Technology, for example to GCSE Catering and GCSE Food and Nutrition. (see chart below) These routes offer different contexts, assessment strategies that both match the content they wish to teach, and

Louise Davies, Lead Food Technology Consultant [email protected] June 2014

the needs of their pupils better. Many teachers have expressed concern that the current D&T Food Technology does not allow them to develop a repertoire of cooking skills and that the lengthy coursework project on a single food item is limiting learning about a range of foods.

7. Catering and Home Economics are popular courses that recruit significant numbers, they cannot be compared to engineering and manufacturing GCSE options being absorbed into D&T. There are currently almost 53,000 candidates for Catering and Home Economics, compared to 44,000 D&T Food Technology

Catering 20,891 DT: food technology Home economics 32,064 DT: food technology Full course entry

Food Technology 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 AQA 52,201 47,884 46,086 41,939 39,610 35,183 Edexcel 3,364 2,807 2,521 3,493 3,539 2,743 WJEC 17,603 15,191 13,518 8,537 6,592 5,360 OCR 2,753 2,345 2,300 1,809 1,667 1,356

75,921 68,227 64,425 55,778 51,408 44,642 23.5 22.9 23.0 21.9 21.3 20.5

8. Teachers also consider the current D&T Food examination style (based on generic D&T criteria, is not well suited to testing food knowledge and skills. The AQA 2014 paper is an example where candidates are asked to draw products

Louise Davies, Lead Food Technology Consultant [email protected] June 2014

9. Careers options should be kept open in this General Certificate - Whilst the food industry is a big employer with skills shortages, this is also true of the catering sector. Potential career routes into catering, and provision for those who simply would like to be able to design and make food for themselves and their families should be safeguarded, in addition to those who seek higher education opportunities in the Food Sciences and in Home Economics. All of these areas of study are intellectually demanding, are valued by employers and have higher education routes based upon them.

10. The provision for Home Economics: Child development appears to have been ignored

11. Options

a. Keep GCSE Food Technology, GCSE Home Economics and GCSE Catering as separate, distinctive and equal GCSE awards.

b. Review the criteria being established for D&T Food Technology, and offer three routes within D&T Food – Home, Catering and Food Technology. The content would need to be reviewed significantly and assessment model would need to match the practical nature of the subject content. It is likely that one generic D&T model for assessment may not meet the needs of the three practical pathways.

Louise Davies, Lead Food Technology Consultant [email protected]