Compulsory cooking classes will need extra funding

Government plans to make cooking a compulsory school subject for 11 to 14 year olds across England will not be successful without extra funding, experts have warned.

With only one hour per week for one term being available for the class and the pupils having to pay for ingredients themselves, critics worry that the plan is impractical.

Larger class sizes and a deficiency of trained food technology teachers will also contributed to the difficulties, they warned.

Brian Wisdom, chief executive at People 1st, the sector skills council for hospitality, said "We fear that schools have neither the resources nor the expertise to teach this vital life skill."

Current cooking facilities, such as ovens, microwaves and utensils, are either outdated or not even in existence in many schools, according to Clarissa Williams of the National Association of Head Teachers.

Joanna Collins, policy manager at the school food campaign group Food for Life Partnership, said food education was more important than theory.

"Food growing, cooking and farm visits linked to fresh, local and organic food in schools will do far more than classroom theory to capture young people's imaginations about food and to change their eating habits," she said.

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By Jo Chapman

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