The teaching of food technology in secondary schools

This paper presents findings from a recent Australian study that investigated perceptions of 'food technology' by teachers in secondary schools compared to a wider professional view. While 'food technology' has been well established in most Australian secondary school curricula, a contradiction has emerged between the 'school view' of the Food Technology label and the 'professional view' of the same. The use of identical language to describe different approaches is causing a significant problem for the food profession. A framework known as Technacy Genre Theory was used to analyse data from a survey of 382 relevant stakeholders to define the nature of the extent of agreement between the two forms of technological practice. The results confirmed that the label Food Technology is perceived significantly and substantially differently between school teachers and the wider food profession.