Taste Council Summer School
Presentation of Transition year (TY) Unit
– The Future is Food
May 3 2013
Cáit Noone
The Future is Food – why this project ?
 Taste Council members have always and continue to consider
food education as a crucial component of our food industry.
 October 2012: Taste Council met with Minister Coveney and
discussed possible projects for the coming year – the
development of a food unit for transition year students was
considered a worthy development
 November 2012: Taste Council members met to start work on
this development in conjunction and with the support of
colleagues from Bord Bia.
Next Steps
 Nov 2012: Literature review
 Met with other parties to seek view points on this development- e.g.
producers, home economic teachers, colleagues in IOT sector
working in culinary education,
 Council members provided input to help shape the unit content
 December 2012: met with colleagues in the Dept. of Agriculture,
Food & Marine to share work to-date and seek feedback
 Feb 2013: Opened discussions with NCCA – National Council for
Curriculum & Assessment. Organization devoted to improving
the quality of education at primary and secondary levels.
Next Steps
 March 2013 – today:
 Developed the unit content – has been shared with various partners
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to seek feedback with a view to improving the unit.
Developed a teacher resource pack with lesson plans and teaching
material.
Developed student toolkit to help all learners better engage with the
unit and record their work and progress. This will also serve a useful
tool at later career stages.
Continue to work closely with NCCA regarding content and
development of unit material to order to gain final approval.
As part of the quality assurance process stages of the work was
shared with various partners for constant input and feedback.
Proposed Unit Content
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Introduction to ‘The Future is Food’.
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Introducing the Mini Company Unit
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Teamwork and Communication
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Investigating the Origins of Irish Food.
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Ireland’s Artisan Food Industry
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Food Sustainability
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The Irish Food Industry and Ireland’s Food
Entrepreneurs
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Hygiene and Safety in the Food Industry
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Product Development – explain
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Product Marketing
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Preparing for Production
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Pilot Production
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Product Packaging, Labelling and Launch
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Production Process
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Sales Event
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Evaluation of Sales Event, Self-Evaluation, and Team
options
Evaluation.
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Sales Event - Letter of Permission to Parents
Student Toolkit
 Interactive, educational and fun !
 Provides students with tools to record their work and achievements.
This will aid learners capture their learning experiences and will also
prove useful when evaluation of the unit is required. See sample
Next Steps
 Pilot the unit in a number of schools in the next academic year
 Taste Council will work closely with all pilot schools to monitor all
aspects of the unit
 Training sessions will be organised for all involved in the pilot –
schools, producers, third level providers etc.
 Period of review and evaluation with all the schools involved and
NCCA to enhance the unit and ensure it meets the original objective.
 Expectation that this will be available to all schools throughout the
country by September 2014.
Acknowledgments
 All Taste Council members
 Bord Bia
 The Dept. of Agriculture, Food & Marine
 Institutes of Technology
 Food producers
 NCCA
 Secondary schools