Teachers skill up to nourish next gen foodies – and save lives - CQUniversity

By Mary Bolling

Aspiring and experienced teachers have flocked to the kitchens at CQUniversity Rockhampton, for unique training to teach Home Economics and Hospitality in high schools.

Senior Lecturer, Home Economics and Hospitality, Dr Jay Deagon welcomed 21 participants to the Food Technology Residential School in April, for four days of intensive workshops at CQU's Trade Training Kitchen.

CQUniversity's Bachelor of Education (Secondary) is a rare Australian teaching degrees that offers a specialisation in Home Economics, and the residential school included students from Bachelor and Diploma degrees, pre-service teachers, and experienced educators.

Dr Deagon said the workshops focused on safety, and inspiring young people for a lifetime of food preparation.

"As many out-of-field teachers quickly learn, it is one thing to know how to cook, but teaching young people how to cook is quite a different story," she explained.

"Busy school kitchens are high-risk learning environments that need efficient and skilled teachers to lead the way."

To attend, participants travelled from as far as Darwin, Melbourne, Normanton, Roma and Brisbane to join local Central Queensland students, and Dr Deagon said most were new to the Home Economics discipline.

In line with the new Australian National Curriculum, training included kitchen safety and organisation routines, precision knife skills, inclusive education, and behaviour management.

"In a world of online learning, this practical hands-on workshop is an essential key to becoming a confident and competent school-based cookery teacher," Dr Deagon said.

A project to teach safe fried rice preparation was a particular highlight, as participants realised the multifaceted learning potential to include the design process, food waste reduction and left-overs use, allergies and gluten free cookery, cross-contamination and food poisoning prevention, understanding of carbohydrates and healthy eating, cultural awareness and Australia's engagement with Asia, agricultural rice growing practices, sensory testing, and experiments with different rice varieties.

Dr Deagon said the experience could also be life-saving.

"If not handled properly, cooked rice left at room temperature can be deadly - I explained "fried rice syndrome" identified by microbiology experts, and potential for food poisoning from a bacterium called Bacillus cereus," she said.

"As the teachers responsible for passing on knowledge about 'the danger zone' of room temperature food and microbial contamination, we explicitly teach safety and prevention strategies, we must ensure that current and future generations have the foundational knowledge and life skills that Home Economics offers - to keep them safe, healthy and alive!"

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