Teachers’ perspectives of a new food literacy curriculum in Australia

Abstract

Purpose Implementation of a new food literacy curriculum provides multiple health and social benefits to school students. The success of any new curriculum execution is partly determined by teachers’ perceptions about the new curriculum contents, and barriers and challenges for its delivery. The purpose of this paper is to explore teachers’ views of a new food literacy curriculum named Victorian Certificate of Education Food Studies for senior secondary school students in Victoria, Australia. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative study design was used in this study. In total, 14 teachers who were planning to teach the new curriculum were individually interviewed in October-December 2016. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using the template analysis technique. Findings The majority of teachers appreciated the inclusion of food literacy and nutrition concepts in the new curriculum. However, half of the teachers had doubts about their readiness to teach it. Most teachers mentioned that they needed more training and resources to increase their confidence in teaching the curriculum. Practical implications These findings reveal that teachers need more awareness, resources, and guidance to increase their confidence in delivering the new curriculum. Provision of more resources and opportunities for training in food literacy concepts and instructional methods could facilitate its implementation. Originality/value These findings serve as an important first step to gain the perspectives of secondary school teachers’ opinions about the new curriculum. Moreover, these opinions and suggestions could inform the future design and implementation of similar food literacy curricula in Australia or elsewhere.