Abstract:
The aim of this research project was to investigate the attributes of a 21st century technological food literacy in order to build a model of technological food literacy education that may enable foods teachers to develop their pedagogy. An interpretivist research methodology framework was adopted that utilised research instruments of semi-structured interviews, Likert questionnaires, a Delphi methodology and document analysis. The Food Technology Literacy Model development was based on the premise that food is a technological outcome. This model illustrates how the essence of the philosophy of technology can be linked with underpinning components of new nutrition science. This model was tested when the data contributions from food experts was added, in order to see if this data could be linked to these underpinning perspectives. The research explored food experts’ opinions of what were the essential elements of food literacy. These essential elements provided the information to populate the food technology literacy model that ultimately provided a template for a technological food literacy education programme. How teachers interpreted the food technology literacy model for their classroom programmes and their pedagogy was examined to provide illustrations of how practising teachers translated their understanding of the components of technological food literacy into their pedagogy. The teachers were able to express ways in which the components of technological food literacy could be actioned and accessed in the classroom. They found that the components of technological food literacy offered an authentic context upon which to scaffold learning experiences. It was found that the model provided the capacity to conceptually frame the foods teacher’s pedagogy in a way that recognised the many components of teacher practice and the components of technological food literacy. This capacity has been expressed as a pedagogical content knowing model for food technology education (PCKgft). The findings demonstrate that the pedagogy of food technology teachers can be analysed through this model and will contribute to the pedagogy for an education for food literacy for the 21st century.