Producing a food and nutrition textbook for form 1 Maltese home economics students

Abstract

Over the years, it has been stated that there is a need for the development of local Home Economics (HE) textbooks, since teachers are using books that are culturally irrelevant, or are creating their handouts. The purpose of this research was to produce a food and nutrition HE textbook targeted at Form 1 students. The authors strove to design a book which was culturally relevant, gender sensitive and, ideally, catered for different ability students. Different methods of inquiry were utilised to obtain the information required. These included consulting documentary sources, conducting a telephone survey on HE textbook use in schools, textbook and fiction book analysis, as well as interviews with different HE teachers as part of a process evaluation of the chapters in the textbook. From this research it was evident that the new textbook was appropriate for average to high-ability students, was gender sensitive and culturally relevant. Moreover, the textbook was comprehensive, attractive and logically sequenced. The latter characteristics made it ideal for both Maltese boys and girls. It not only covered the nutrition-related Form 1 topics but also contained activities that could be used for schoolwork. The authors produced a Teachers' Guide so as to make the textbook a more user-friendly and effective resource. Although this textbook is one step forward there is still a need to address more gaps in textbook provision for different ability students, for the other Forms, and also for the other sections of the HE syllabus.