Researchers call for mandatory cooking lessons in schools

Practical cooking lessons should be made compulsory throughout secondary education and basic home economics should be introduced in primary schools, researchers have recommended, arguing that hands-on experience can help children develop healthier eating habits.

The recommendation was made in an article published in a new issue of the Malta Review of Educational Research, dedicated to nutrition education and the broader role of home economics in promoting health, wellbeing and sustainable living.

Cooking linked to healthier eating

The study by Marie Therese Pavia and Sylvia Caruana examined the relationship between childhood involvement in meal preparation and eating habits among 101 Maltese adolescents aged 13 to 15.

Some 53.5% of participants said their childhood involvement in preparing meals had positively influenced their eating habits.

Among these, 63.9% said they ate more fruit and vegetables, 58.3% reported greater awareness of food and health, and 52.8% said they had better cooking knowledge.

Around three quarters of the adolescents had been involved in meal planning or preparation as children, most commonly by chopping ingredients, shopping for groceries and choosing recipes.

Parents or guardians were identified as the main people encouraging this participation by 93.4% of respondents.

The researchers said practical experience was important because nutritional knowledge alone did not necessarily translate into healthier behaviour.

Some 67.3% of the adolescents also considered compulsory home economics lessons in years 7 and 8 useful for developing food and nutrition knowledge.

Pavia and Caruana recommended introducing basic home economics education in all primary schools and making practical cooking compulsory throughout secondary education. They also called for greater awareness among parents of the benefits of involving children in meal preparation.

Gender stereotypes

A separate study by researcher Lorraine Portelli traces the persistent gender associations surrounding home economics to its origins as a subject designed primarily to prepare girls for domestic life.

Portelli’s study, Unpicking Gender: The Long Journey of Home Economics from Tradition to Transformation in Malta, shows how subjects such as domestic economy, housecraft and needlework were historically embedded in a Maltese education system that assigned different roles to boys and girls.

The Housecraft School, established in Floriana in 1931, taught girl’s practical skills including cooking, laundry and housekeeping, with the stated aim of preparing them for their roles as wives and mothers. Boys, meanwhile, were directed towards technical subjects such as Woodwork.

The gender divide persisted for decades. Home economics and needlework were removed from the compulsory curriculum for younger students in 1981 as part of an attempt to create a more uniform curriculum for boys and girls. But following lobbying by teachers and education officials, the subjects were reintroduced for girls in 1983.

A major shift came with the 1990 National Minimum Curriculum, which paved the way for boys to study home economics in state secondary schools from 1992. By 2013, male students accounted for around half of those sitting for the SEC examination in home economics.

Portelli argues, however, that formal gender equality has not fully erased the subject’s feminine image. Male students and teachers can still face stereotyping, while some parents and students continue to associate home economics mainly with catering or traditionally female roles.

She concludes that curriculum reform needs to be accompanied by wider cultural change to redefine the subject’s social and vocational value.

Teachers call for wider rethink

The call for curricular reform is echoed in a study by Suzanne Piscopo and Karen Mugliett which surveyed 34 home economics educators.

The study, “Review, Rethink, Renew: Educators’ Perspectives on Home Economics as a School Subject in Malta”, found that 85.3% of educators considered home economics extremely or very relevant to students' current needs. This rose to 94.1% when considering students' future needs as parents or family members.

Teachers identified nutrition, healthy lifestyles, financial literacy, consumer awareness, budgeting, childcare, household management and sustainability as important skills for independent living. They also expressed concern that young people were increasingly lacking practical skills traditionally acquired at home.

‘High relevance, low status’

Despite its perceived relevance, the subject was seen as having relatively low status.

While 61.8% of educators rated its status in their school as moderate, 52.9% considered its status in Maltese society to be low or very low.

Teachers said home economics was still sometimes viewed as simply a cooking subject, an easy option, or a subject mainly intended for girls or lower-achieving students.

They called for the subject to be streamlined and modernised, with less theoretical content and greater emphasis on practical learning.

Among the areas they suggested adding were mental health and digital wellbeing, taxation, bank loans, home buying, social media, sustainable consumption, the Mediterranean diet and digital literacy.

Experiments, cooking, simulations, projects and problem-solving were among the teaching approaches most favoured.

From cooking to financial literacy

Teachers also pointed to practical constraints, including an overloaded syllabus, limited lesson time, inadequate facilities and equipment, and insufficient funding.

They called for greater promotion of the subject, stronger career guidance and better public awareness, with several advocating that home economics should be available throughout compulsory schooling.

The wider issue of the subject's role is explored in an editorial by Mugliett and Piscopo, which argues that home economics has evolved beyond its traditional domestic role to encompass food, health, financial, consumer, environmental, technological and social literacy.

The editorial calls for continued curriculum renewal, innovative teaching methods, stronger advocacy and greater visibility, as well as closer collaboration between home economics and nutrition educators.

Taken together, the studies present home economics as a subject extending well beyond traditional domestic skills, with a role in developing healthier diets, financial capability, sustainable consumption and practical skills for everyday life.