The mismatch between teaching practices and curriculum goals in Norwegian Home Economics classes: a missed opportunity

Abstract

Current curriculum guidelines emphasise the importance of both nutrition education and the development of practical cooking skills in the school subject Food and Health (FH). This study aimed to explore teachers' and students' perspectives and experiences of current classroom practices in FH. Focus group discussions (FGDs) with teachers and students at three schools in Southern Norway were conducted and thematically analysed. Our findings suggest there is a mismatch between curriculum guidelines and teaching practices. Although teachers understood the benefits of nutrition education, practical cooking activities were prioritised. Three key themes were identified; students and teachers value cooking and limited time, which both explain this mismatch from the perspectives of students and teachers, and pedagogical solutions to resolve the mismatch, which summarises novel learning activities suggested by students and teachers as a solution for this mismatch. There needs to be a focus on comprehensive nutrition education in FH classes, to improve its pedagogical implications and meet the demands of the curriculum. These findings can be used to inform educators and policymakers on how to strengthen nutrition education in FH.

Does food and health education in school influence students’ everyday life?

“…This study was undertaken as part of the LifeLab FH project at the University of Agder (UiA), Norway, which aimed to develop and evaluate different learning tasks in FH (Beinert et al, 2020(Beinert et al, , 2021. Data for the study consist of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), investigating how students experienced the subject, and the ways they believed it impacted on their everyday lives.…”

“…While a recently published study has investigated teachers' and students' experiences of the FH subject in Norway (Beinert et al, 2020), how and to what degree FH education impacts students' actual lives is unexplored. As FH has an ambitious curriculum which aims to promote public health and which often requires behavioural change of some sort, the aim of this study was to investigate students' experiences of how the school FH influences their everyday lives, here defined as their day-to-day actions relating to food.…”

“…That said, although the national curriculum may have changed to engage with new priorities, Bjørnstad (2003) and Holthe et al (2013) report that traditional practice in the field of FH remains intact. Most of the teaching in FH today remains teacher centred with a strong focus on cooking (Beinert et al, 2020; Espeland et al, 2013; Veka et al, 2018) despite the fact that the curriculum highlights broader competencies relating to nutrition, sustainability, food labelling and critical thinking (Directorate for Education and Training, 2019). Hence, today’s education in FH does not seem to follow the curriculum to the degree expected (Veka et al, 2018) and, as a result, students’ knowledge, skills and attitudes have not changed in the manner expected (Øvrebø, 2014).…”

“…Bjørnstad (2003) questions whether this academic freedom, which might be expected to create diversity, in fact causes a narrowing of the subject, as traditional values and practices prevail. It has been argued that FH needs to shift to a wider concept of developing students’ knowledge, attitudes and skills relating to both theory and practice as part of its concern for health promotion (Beinert et al, 2020). In Sweden, Höijer et al (2011) interviewed 25 teachers about Home and Consumer Studies, a subject similar to FH in Norway, and which is also referred to as home economics (HE) internationally.…”

“Is there any sugar in bread?” A qualitative video analysis of student activating learning tasks in Home Economics

“…This study reports findings from the "LifeLab Food and Health" project (see also Beinert, Palojoki, et al, 2020). LifeLab aimed to develop and evaluate different student-activating learning tasks for the FH subject, aiming to increase students' knowledge and skills regarding the association between diet and health.…”