It is well recognised that what teachers do in the classroom directly influence students learning. The SCoTENS EAT-HE project is a collaborative cross-border research study that documents experiences and perceptions of post-primary Home Economics teachers across the island of their execution of food practical lessons at Junior Cycle and Key Stage 4. The project had two main aims. First, to provide a forum for practising Home Economics teachers to share their experiences of conducting practical food lessons with a view to identifying the challenges of combining nutrition theory and culinary skills in a meaningful way. Second, to afford Home Economics teachers the opportunity to debate issues surrounding best practice in facilitating Home Economics food practical lessons and to learn from each other, thus enabling the sharing of best pedagogical practices. The study’s findings highlight a strong level of teacher enjoyment in their teaching of Home Economics Food Practical classes in both NI and ROI. The findings also revealed that the teachers experienced similar challenges, regardless of their location. A key challenge was the issue of time paucity which impacted on pedagogical practices. Other challenges which came to the fore included a decline in learning of life skills in the home and in particular practical culinary skills, and the issue of food poverty which impacted on recipe selection and modification in instances where ingredients were not provided by schools. Consequently, it could be argued that the remit of Home Economics as a mission-oriented field which seeks to apply learning to issues experienced in everyday life has never been so crucial for families across the island as it is today. 5Section 1: Introduction It has been highlighted (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations [FAO], 2019) that school-based food and nutrition education is a key strategy for improving the diets and wellbeing of school children. Lavelle et al. (2016) posits that learning cooking skills during childhood or adolescence is linked to better cooking habits, more positive attitudes toward cooking, and improved diet quality in adulthood. Home Economics classes, within which food and nutrition education is a key focus, are widely regarded as important in educating young people in the key life skill of preparing food for themselves and their families (Lichenstein & Ludwig, 2010; McCloat & Caraher, 2016; McCloat et al., 2017). On the Island of Ireland (IOI), that food education in secondary (post-primary) schools sits firmly within home economics is viewed as a benefit (Mc Cloat and Caraher 2020a). They argue that ‘the pedagogical approach utilised in Home Economics education in both the Republic of Ireland (ROI) and Northern Ireland (NI) facilitates the subject to play a key role in developing practical and theoretical food competencies in young people’ (p.8). It is well established that what teachers do in the classroom directly impacts students’ learning (Kolb, 2015). Post-primary Home Economics (HE) teachers on the IOI teach practical food lessons which are an integral element of this second-level subject. The intent is that practical food lessons will integrate knowledge and skills in a meaningful way, in keeping with the remit of Home Economics as a mission-oriented field which seeks to apply learning to issues experienced in everyday life (Smith, 2017). 6 Due to the dearth of information pertaining to HE teachers’ experiences of executing practical food lessons, this project aimed to explore teachers’ perspectives and experiences on strengthening the divide between nutrition theory and practical culinary skills to ensure best practice in teaching practical food lessons on the IOI. Therefore, taking an island of Ireland perspective, this collaborative research project aimed to:‒ Ascertain the perceptions and experiences of Home Economics teachers on their execution of food practical lessons at Junior Cycle and Key Stage 4. ‒ Provide a forum for practising Home Economics teachers to share experiences of conducting practical food lessons with a view to identifying the challenges of combining nutrition theory and culinary skills in a meaningful way.‒ Afford Home Economics teachers the opportunity to debate issues surrounding best practice in facilitating HE food practical lessons and to learn from each other, thus facilitating the sharing of best pedagogical practices. This study adds an IOI perspective to the growing body of work which addresses international best practice in teaching and learning in HE.
