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In Swedish schools, the subject Home Economics (HE) is the formal setting for teaching and learning about food and how to cook. All students are obliged to learn HE, but in schools for students with mild intellectual disabilities (ID) students are offered four times as much teaching in the subject than students in regular schools. However, this learning context is underexplored. This thesis aims to create an understanding of what cooking in HE is by studying the teaching content in regard to HE cooking practices for students with mild ID through a sociocultural standpoint. Accompanying observations and qualitative semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. The observations included 16 lessons in HE in schools for students with mild ID. The interviews were conducted with 22 qualified and experienced HE teachers. Field notes from the observations and transcripts from the interviews were analyzed using a thematic analysis. A sociocultural perspective, along with the concept of cuisine, constituted the theoretical framework. The findings reveal that the teaching of cooking in HE is focused on one particular artifact, the recipe. This causes difficulties for the students concerning skills related to the design, purport and arithmetic of the recipe. The prominent role of the recipe in cooking in HE was hence captured in a novel concept, recipe literacy. The teachers also reported using a task-centered approach to teaching certain techniques and methods, such as frying, kneading and simmering. The cuisine that is represented in the data from the observations and interviews is framed within baking, primarily sweet baking. The focus on sweet baking and the students’ various difficulties when using recipes limited the possibilities for students to learn how to cook proper meals for everyday life. Thereby, a conscious choice of dishes and attention to didactics is necessary to improve the validity of the subject. By overcoming such obstacles, opportunities can therefore be created for students with mild ID to learn how to cook.

The aim of this study was to explore what arithmetical understanding is needed when students with mild intellectual disabilities use recipes during practical cooking lessons in Home Economics. The settings were compulsory schools in Sweden attended by students with intellectual disabilities. Sixteen lessons in Home Economics during which cooking took place were observed. In total, 37 students and three teachers participated. All students had a mild intellectual disability. Their ages varied, but most were between 13 and 14 years old. The sociocultural perspective on learning, combined with a literacy framework, was used as a theoretical foundation for the study. Main findings are that students need an arithmetical understanding of (i) how to interpret numbers, (ii) how to interpret and use units, and (iii) how to compute when using recipes. The knowledge and skills needed to be able to use a recipe are featured in the concept recipe literacy, capturing both theoretical, declarative knowledge and the more practical, procedural knowledge. Recipe literacy can be used to theorize the use of recipes when learning to cook, as in Home Economics.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore which elements of cooking skills Home Economics (HE) teachers in schools for students withmild intellectual disability (ID) consider important for their students to learn.

Design/methodology/approach - In total, 22 qualitative interviews with HE teachers of students with mild ID were conducted. The transcripts were analyzed thematically using the sociocultural approach on learning and knowledge as a theoretical framework.

Findings - The elements of cooking skills that were emphasized included mastering the language of cooking, measuring, following recipes, representing an instrumental and task-centered - knowledge on cooking.

Practical implications - The results of this study provide an insight into cooking lessons in HE in schools, not only regarding the focus that teachers give to cooking skills, but also to how cooking skills can be understood on a theoretical level. This has implications for both regular schools and schools for students with mild IDs since the elements that teachers consider important then guide what the students are given to learn. Teachers should be conscious that the planning of lessons should also be based on the students' specific circumstances and context.

Originality/value - To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that provides knowledge about how HE teachers reason regarding which cooking skills they consider important for students to learn. HE is taught to both children and adolescents, and it is important to investigate teachers' perceptions about the subject and how the teaching is organized, including cooking skills.

Introduction

In Sweden, the school subject Home Economics (HE) is a potential context for children to learn how to cook and to master artefacts in the cooking practice. The learning process entails a number of events that can be coupled to the children themselves, to the teachers and to various learning tools, like the recipes.

Aim

The aim of this study is to investigate various aspects of the process that occur when children with mild intellectual disabilities (ID) learn how to cook in the subject of Home Economics.

Methods

Data was collected using two different methods; firstly, using an ethnographic inspired design, sixteen accompanying observations were implemented at lessons in HE. The observations were carried out in kitchen classroom settings where teaching and learning about cooking took place. The field notes were thematically analyzed.

Secondly, in total 22 qualitative interviews with HE teachers of students with mild ID were conducted. The transcripts were analyzed thematically using the sociocultural approach on learning and knowledge as a theoretical framework.

Result

The findings reveal both that recipes are central artefacts during the cooking lessons and that the students have various difficulties using the recipes. Regarding the teachers, it was found that the skills that they emphasized in relation to learning how to cook included mastering the language of cooking, measuring and following recipes.

Conclusion

The results provide an insight into cooking lessons in HE in schools, not only regarding the focus that teachers give to cooking skills, but also to how cooking skills can be understood on a theoretical level. Attention was drawn to the complex set of knowledge needed to be able to use and understand a recipe in order to learn how to cook. We therefore suggest that the knowledge needed to make use of a recipe can be conceptualized in the novel concept of recipe literacy.

Introduction

The school subject Home Economics is a potential context for children to learn how to cook and to master artefacts in the cooking practice. Recipes, used as leaning tools, are part of the Swedish syllabus of Home Economics and an integral part of today’s cooking culture. Despite being a central artefact during cooking lessons, it is known that children have various difficulties using recipes.

Aim

The aim of this study is to investigate what kind of barriers that occur when children with mild intellectual disabilities (ID) use recipes in order to learn how to cook in Home Economics.

Methods

With an ethnographic inspired design, sixteen accompanying observations were used at lessons in Home Economics. The observations were carried out in kitchen classroom settings where teaching and learning about cooking took place. The field notes were thematically analyzed. 

Result

The findings reveal that there were many barriers in the children´s use of recipes. Foremost, attention was drawn to the complex set of knowledge needed to be able to use and understand a recipe in order to learn how to cook. The design and the purport of the recipe has to be comprehended, and in addition, it´s interpretation requires arithmetical knowledge. We therefore suggest that the knowledge needed to make use of a recipe can be conceptualized in the novel concept of recipe literacy.

Conclusion

Recipes turned out to be difficult for the children to use and this must be taken in consideration by the teachers. The concept of recipe literacy can be useable when discussing the use of recipes as learning tools in cooking in Home Economics.

Food and Meal Science is an interdisciplinary research and education field at Kristianstad University with a vision to create a sustainable and healthy society. Here gastronomists (BSc in Food and Meal Science) and teachers in home and consumer studies (MSc in Subject Education) are educated. The field include the areas “Nutrition and Health”, “Food Science” and “Food Culture and Communication”. The BSC-programme comprise science, craftsmanship and creativity. Theory is turned into practice through laborative exercises and working life placements. In 2014, the programme was evaluated to be of “Very high quality” by the Swedish educational authority. Approximately 25 gastronomists graduate yearly and find work opportunities within industry, eg innovations and product development and within the public meal sector.Currently, efforts are made to develop a Masters degree programme for students interested in higher education. The research group MEAL was founded 2013. One of the aims is to reach a holistic understanding of food and meals. Research projects include sensory, consumer and nutritional aspects in relation to age, culture and health. Food habits and behavior are of interest as well as sociological aspects. Further key concepts, such as “cooking” and “meal“, are explored from different angles of the field. The research is a key factor in the academisation of the field and will lay a stable ground for education at MSc-level. Food and meal science has a great opportunity to combine and use aspects from the different areas in order to form a holistic understanding within research and education.

This study examines if interdisciplinary teaching can be said to facilitate the learning and use of fractions by Swedish 12-year-old pupils. Home and Consumer Studies is well suited to interdisciplinary teaching, and young people can therefore find it interesting to study maths since the setting is relevant to them. Building on variation theory and a learning study, we examined pupils' (n18) ability to double fractions greater than ½ when using a recipe. The general results show that what is to be learned benefits if it is presented in different ways, that teachers should not take pupils' knowledge for granted, and mathematically that it is not necessary to divide something to be able to double it. We argue that the study shows that genuine problems based on pupils' interest and life world can enhance motivation and, in turn, learning.

Recipes are not only part of today's cooking culture, they are also part of the Swedish syllabus of home economics. The aim of this study was to investigate what kinds of difficulties students with mild intellectual disabilities have using recipes during cooking lessons in home economics. We conducted an ethnographically inspired approach, with a total of 44 h of accompanying observations. Three compulsory schools for students with intellectual disabilities were enrolled in the study, and 37 students and three teachers were included. The socio-cultural theory of learning has been used as a theoretical framework. The findings reveal both that recipes are central artefacts during the cooking lessons and that the students have various difficulties using the recipes. The difficulties vary, and they concern both how the recipes are designed and the purport of the recipes. Difficulties in relation to the design included, for example, the separation of ingredients and instructions in the text and the large amount of information given in both the whole and the parts of the recipes. The difficulties in relation to the purport – that is, the meaning or sense of the recipe – were the ingredients, the kitchen utensils and the knowledge of how to perform a specific task. These difficulties can be considered special in relation to the use of the recipes. We suggest the concept of ‘recipe literacy’ to capture the complex knowledge of using recipes.