The Norwegian government has focused on continuing education for teachers. Since 2015 there has been an increase in the proportion of teachers with sufficient subject qualifications. The proportion of teachers who meet the subject qualification requirements in home economics (HE) is still the lowest formal subject competence among those who teach in Norwegian schools. The research question was: What´s the reason for a teacher in HE to take formal education through education for teachers? Teachers (n= 239) who attended education for teachers in HE at three educational institutions in Norway (2021 – 2023) were invited to participate. Data (n=81) were collected through a quantitative survey while the teachers were students. The top two answers were "I myself believe there is a need for this expertise in my school" (n=43) and "I would like a more theoretical basis for my teaching of the subject" (n = 39). Only a few justified their choice by wanting to pursue a master's degree in the long term (n=3) or that the rector asked them to apply (n=6). A common feature for why the teachers wanted more formal education in HE was mainly personally related, not justified by the principal or school owners' needs.

As part of 21st century skills the importance of technology skills has been heightened in the Ghanaian educational system. This can be implemented for example through introducing hybrid to teaching and learning. Home economics is one of the subjects in the Ghanaian curriculum having practical components which is a challenge for hybrid education. Despite this, the need for hybrid in home economics education is not to be overlooked: having multiple options for supporting learning is imperative in contemporary education and home economics needs to continue to evolve to meet the needs of different learners and learning situations. This study explores University student teachers’ perspectives about using hybrid education to support teaching and learning in home economics in Ghana. We present three summarising cases reflecting different educational actors’ perspectives: Senior high school student, University student teacher and teacher working at school. We use data collected in June 2023 from Home economics University student teachers (n= 32) from Ghana through focus group discussions. The main challenge of using hybrid in HE is to broaden the mindsets of both students and teachers towards the possibilities with using hybrid in practical lessons. This study contributes towards offering more grounds towards overcoming this challenge.

Objective:
This presentation aims to explore the concept of Assessment for Learning (AFL) in the context of Home Economics education and provide examples of effective assessment strategies that can be applied in this discipline.

Description:
Assessment for learning is an important aspect of education that allows students to actively participate in the learning process and take ownership of their learning. In the context of Home Economics, AFL can be particularly beneficial as it offers students the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills to real-life situations.
Drawing on current research and best practice in assessment, we argue that effective assessment methods can improve student learning outcomes in Home Economics, while also promoting critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Our analysis highlights the importance of using assessment as a tool for feedback and improvement, rather than a means of evaluation. We also discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with implementing assessment for learning in Home Economics classrooms and provide recommendations for practitioners wishing to improve their assessment practices. This presentation contributes to the ongoing conversation about effective assessment education, while also highlighting the unique contributions that Home Economics can make to this important area of study.

Introduction: A new, national curriculum for Food and Health (FH) was launched in Norway in 2019. Subsequently, one culinary centre created a one-day inspirational course focusing on sustainable food habits, flavours and taste for lower secondary school teachers. The aim of this study was to examine whether the course had an impact on teachers' teaching practice in FH.

Methods: The course was offered five times in June and September, 2022. Data acquisition consisted of participants’ replies to two questionnaires, one administered immediately after course completion, the other six months later.

Findings: 50 teachers participated to the course in total. 40% stated that course participation led to changes in how they worked with their annual teaching plan in FH, while 56% said participation led to changes in how they carried out their practical teaching. No changes in teaching practice was explained by lack of equipment / time / space, little financial resources or student requirements.

Conclusions: Our results indicate that even a short, one-day course may impact teaching practices in FH. Hence, such courses may be considered a useful supplement to the teacher training provided at universities and colleges, and may be a valuable tool to update FH teachers’ competence.

Lesson planning is the core task of teachers work and it is taught to student teachers in initial teacher education programmes worldwide. Despite this, empirical research on students’ lesson planning is scarce.

The aim of the study is to examine the starting points of teacher students' lesson planning and characterise the student's planning process. We analysed the data gathered from the qualitative survey (n=55). The data was collected in the spring of 2023 in Finland.

The results showed that student teachers’ lesson planning processes ranged from reflective to technical planning. In the reflective planning process, the goal of teaching was an effective learning of pupils, and the teaching event was considered in its totality. Here, the curriculum objectives and contents were often used as the starting point. The technical lesson planning appeared as the construction of a survival plan to ensure workable classroom performance where the selection of teaching practices was not logically justified. The starting points of the technical planning were the schedule, learning materials, student’s experience, or a single food preparation task. Moreover, the study revealed that student teachers had difficulties in connecting theoretical research knowledge with lesson planning and applying curriculum for planning.

Vocational didactic knowledge has a high value in vocational teacher education (Becker, 2013). This includes knowledge about the professions and the vocational field itself. This kind of knowledge can be promoted through didactic work analysis (Niethammer, 2006). Therefore, in vocational education and training (VET) it is assumed that a focus on work processes in teaching-learning settings will add value for future teachers (Rauner & Ahrens, 2021).
In the vocational field of nutrition and home economics, empirical evidence is lacking for service-oriented occupations in the accommodation and catering sector. In order to pro-mote digital, reflexive, occupational and field-related didactic competences of future teachers using occupational-didactic work analyses (Niethammer, 2006), a teaching concept was developed. The following questions were addressed:
- Can occupational-didactic work analysis be transferred to service-oriented occupations in the hotel and restaurant sector?
- How do teacher students evaluate the use of these job analyses for lesson preparation?
- How do educators and learners in the VET system evaluate the created digital teaching-learning settings?
First results of a qualitative evaluation of the use of the developed digital teaching-learning settings and the teaching concept will be presented.