I taught them to cook vidya4 - Flipbook - Page 9
Autumn Term
7
‘Jenny. The head wants a new name on your door. What are
you called now? Let me know and I’ll get a sign made up.’
So am I the Cookery, Home Economics, Domestic Science,
Housecraft, Food and Nutrition or Baking teacher?
I wonder if any other teachers have been asked to rename their
subject doors. Chemistry could be Blowing things up, Biology –
Cutting things up, Woodwork – Sawing things up, History – Old
stuff, Art – Colouring stuff, Physics – Boring stuff.
Why do I work in a subject with at least five different names?
If a magazine changed its title this often it would have gone bust,
out of print and defunct long ago. And it feels as if the future of
food teaching is equally dodgy and undervalued.
It doesn’t help that the cookery exams in the seventies have
different titles. In the sixth form of my high school I begged to
study Domestic Science. Sadly the subject was not accepted as
an A level for university entrance and I had to take three other A
levels as well. My headmistress said I’d never get work if I learnt
about cookery. How wrong she was.
Now in this comprehensive school, I have to teach two types of
exams – O level for the cleverer ones and CSE for the rest, which
is the majority of my classes. And they’ve got different names
too. Cookery, Domestic Science, Home Economics, Housecraft ….
Bah.
But for the start of my new job I’ve got to be fast off the
starting block to keep classroom order and my first tactic is
to tell everyone that they’re doing the EXAM. This is a daft
decision, as my end of year results are judged on exam passes
and rely upon students turning up for lessons. This is a Senior
High School and their last chance to get any qualifications
before many of them leave education for good, so exams are
important.
But back to my door name. What is it? I am teaching them
how to cook.
So let’s make a sign called Home Economics. Bah.