Ms Maria Hickey:

The Association of Teachers of Home Economics welcomes the consultation by the Committee on Children and Youth Affairs on tackling childhood obesity. We are grateful for the opportunity to present our submissions on behalf of our members who are home economics teachers. I am the president of the Association of Teachers of Home Economics and my colleague, Maria Barry, is its vice president. We represent 700 teachers and student teachers of home economics. Being faced daily in schools with the health of our young people, we are acutely aware of the challenges that exist around overweight and obesity. The fact that one in four children is obese is alarming.

This rising level of childhood and adult obesity is placing an ever-increasing burden on individuals and society. We propose that home economics, as a school subject, is ideally placed in the context of the school setting to work towards addressing this alarming health issue facing our society.

The new junior cycle home economics specification starting in schools in September 2018 has a strong focus on health and well-being and will teach young people essential life skills in a practical way. A key strand of the specification is food, health and culinary skills, which focuses on developing a healthy, sustainable attitude and positive relationship with food through practical, experiential learning. The student will apply his or her understanding of nutrition, diet and health principles to adopt a healthy lifestyle and make informed decisions that impact the health and well-being of themselves as individuals as well as within their families.

Unfortunately, this is still only an optional area of study. As a collective group of home economists, the Association of Teachers of Home Economics, ATHE strongly calls on policymakers to make home economics compulsory for all post-primary students in Ireland. This would put the food literacy of our young people at the forefront of the agenda.

Home economics is the only school subject that teaches young people how to cook and prepare food, which are essential life skills for young people. Being able to cook for oneself ensures a dependency culture does not develop whereby people rely on processed and takeaway foods. Research demonstrates that if a young person can cook, it can have a positive impact on their health, diet quality and confidence. Internationally, in countries such as Korea, Iceland, Japan and Finland, home economics is compulsory for students to junior cycle equivalent to teach young people nutrition and food skills. These countries have superior health standards and prioritise home economics as a food education intervention.

The ATHE shares the view of the Department of Health that childhood obesity and health inequalities are critical issues that must be addressed. Therefore, the ATHE recommends as vital the investment in making home economics a compulsory subject on the school curriculum for all students in their junior cycle school years. Home economics is the only school subject on the Irish school curriculum that teaches young people food literacy and culinary skills. It is critical that all citizens of Ireland have the food and culinary skills and knowledge to provide nutritionally balanced meals for themselves and their families.

I thank the members for listening on behalf of the Association of Teachers of Home Economics.