Food and wellbeing
Overview
The Australian Curriculum addresses learning about food and wellbeing in two ways:
- in content descriptions as in Health and Physical Education (HPE), Science and Technologies, noting that in HPE there is a food and nutrition focus area and in Design and Technologies there is a technologies context (food specialisations)
- where it is identified in content elaborations in other learning areas, such as Mathematics.
The scope of learning in food and wellbeing reflects relevant content from across the Australian Curriculum.
The Australian Curriculum Connection: Food and wellbeing provides a framework for all young Australians to understand and value the importance of good nutrition for health and wellbeing both across learning areas and specifically within the Technologies learning area as a technologies context in core learning across Foundation to Year 8 and as additional learning opportunities offered by states and territories in Years 9–10.
The food and wellbeing connection is presented in bands of schooling. In Foundation – Year 6, the connection is described as nutrition, health and wellbeing. In Years 7–10, it is described as home economics.
To maximise the effectiveness of any nutrition, health and wellbeing or home economics program delivered in schools, learning should be sequential. The dimensions of this learning are:
- individuals, families and communities
- nutrition and food specialisations
- materials (textiles) and technologies specialisations (Years 7–10 home economics only).
Concepts
Within each of these dimensions the following concepts can be addressed:
- Becoming independent – Developing independence by making decisions and taking action
- Connecting with others – Understanding how to interact and live with others and understanding how decisions impact on others
- Taking actions towards preferred futures – Understanding of, and sense of responsibility for, decisions and actions that promote preferred futures
- Creating designed solutions – Creating designed solutions using design processes and production skills
These dimensions of learning have been developed in consultation with Home Economics Institute of Australia (HEIA).