New Zealand's post-pandemic education system is striving to elevate student achievement. Textiles education faces two primary challenges: limited access to digital technology and a lack of cultural context. To tackle these issues, the curriculum now places a strong emphasis on Māori principles and practices, beginning with the Year 11 Textiles course.

Students are immersed in understanding how textiles impact individuals and communities, fostering critical thinking and challenging entrenched beliefs. Projects are oriented towards addressing real-world needs within personal, familial, or community settings, thereby promoting cultural empathy and understanding. This approach equips students to create textiles that are both contemporary and socially impactful, utilising a range of digital tools in the learning and project creation processes.

In pursuit of enhanced student achievement, I have drawn upon insights from my Master's research, which melded Māori and contemporary educational methodologies. A participatory research pilot involving collaboration with fellow Fashion/Textiles educators to refine and distribute resources via the HETTANZ platform nationwide. Central to the data collection methodology will be comprehensive feedback from students and teachers, supplemented by tangible evidence of learning and external assessments. This amassed data will play a pivotal role in iteratively refining the educational resources moving forward.

The Martha Organization is a Finnish non- profit association, founded in 1899. It gives advice on home economics and promotes a functioning and sustainable everyday life.

Financial literacy is a skill comparable to reading and writing, it is almost impossible to survive in today's world without those skills.

According to studies, young people usually have the least financial knowledge and often also other areas of Financial competence are weaker.

In Finland, financial counseling is provided by many different actors, such as schools, authorities, banks, the Central Bank of Finland and associations.

Marthas is one of these associations improving financial literacy around Finland. We hold workshops and cooking courses for young people, utilizing functional methods. We cook together and discuss the economics and we might also play games during the workshop. We have found these methods very helpful in getting the young people engaged in learning and we also reach those young people who would not apply for financial literacy lectures.

We need coordination of financial literacy teaching, more research on behavior and joint forums to share best practices to improve financial literacy.

The objective of the work of the Martha Association is
• to nudge consumers towards more sustainable everyday consumption choices
• to teach cooking skills

Description

The Martha Association is a Finnish home economics organization that promotes sustainable everyday life in households. Our strategic goal is to be experts in carbon-neutral living, eating and consumption.

Our home economics professionals organize workshops for 90 000 consumers all around Finland every year. Our website is visited 5,4 million times per year, and our social media has 160 000 followers.

The Martha Association has extensive experience in organizing cooking courses. During the coronavirus pandemic, we noticed that there is also a need for online cooking courses. In recent years, we have been creating the concept for and piloting our digital cooking courses: for example how to set up a digital course, what kind of material and techniques to use.

We are evaluating the quality of the digital cooking courses by gathering feedback from the participants. There are still some problems to solve: marketing, finding the right target groups and how to teach the participants the necessary digital skills to participate. So far, we have received mostly good feedback which encourages us to continue.

This year-long case study explored a Canadian middle school’s experience using a hydroponic shipping container farm (HSCF). HSCFs are an emerging tool employed in both commercial and educational settings with potential applications within home economics (HE). Limited studies have explored HSCF’s educational potential. Using naturalistic observations and semi-structured interviews, this study found that participants focused on using the HSCF to impart business skills, vocational agricultural skills, and insights into the future of farming. Less emphasis was placed on global food systems issues or sustainability, both key components of many HE curricula.

This study underscored challenges that arise when repurposing commercially designed tools for educational use as the learning goals indicated revolved around operating the HSCF as a business. An emphasis on commercial aspects risked overshadowing essential learning outcomes related to sustainable food systems and food citizenship. This study raised concerns over using commercially orientated tools in HE as they could reinforce the narrative that food is a commodity rather than foster critical thinking about broader food systems issues. Overall, this study highlights the importance of carefully selecting tools in HE education to ensure alignment with the overarching goals of the field as they relate to food.

Addressing food waste is a major thrust in education on sustainable living. This study sought to explore the food waste management needs of Maltese households and then develop a holistic educational resource targeting adults and youth on the cusp of independence. The study drew inspiration from Bronfenbrenner's socio-ecological theory to initially conduct a survey via online questionnaires identifying the perceptions, challenges, and practices of Maltese household managers regarding food waste management. The findings from the 52 completed surveys revealed a lack of awareness, knowledge and skills related to food waste, particularly its prevention and its negative environmental and societal consequences. These findings informed the creation of an original educational handbook, following andragogy principles, with a learner-centred approach. Key features included sections on food storage and preservation, a collection of seasonal recipes, and multiple practical, motivational tips interspersed throughout the book. The book was evaluated with household food managers of different ages to gather insights for refinement. In alignment with national policy on lifelong learning and with foundational Home Economics objectives, this booklet can be used as a tool for community-based, in-person, and/or online workshops to help nurture individuals with competencies to minimise food waste and promote sustainability in their households.

This project contributes to existing research on textile sustainability, specifically slow fashion and repurposing. Slow fashion incorporates sustainable production including repurposing, and also ideas about quality materials, local markets, cultural diversity and traditional textile crafts. The latter was selected as proof of concept for this project. Understanding the historical importance of such techniques and how they inform the construct of slow fashion will allow us to connect with generations past and promote a more sustainable future.
Seven categories of traditional textile techniques were identified and three phases of research followed; 1) researching the eight traditional textile crafts to understand their historical importance, usage and associated meanings, 2) identifying and individually interviewing collaborators with expertise in each of the identified techniques regarding their experiences utilizing their technique, 3) collaborating with the participants to design and construct eight garments paying homage to each of the traditional textile techniques and telling the story of each collaborator, while also incorporating repurposing. Results revealed that there is a lack of understanding amongst the participants as to how traditional textile crafts connect to sustainability and slow fashion. Future research could focus on increasing awareness of these concepts and developing a clearer understanding of slow fashion.