Level 7 home economics
Achievement objectives
Home economics predominately derives learning contexts from strands A, C, and D.
Achievement objectives from these strands can be woven together to set directions for teaching and learning programmes that lead to national qualifications.
Teachers will design programmes guided by The New Zealand Curriculum, that meet the unique learning needs, interests and strengths of their students and make sense of the many connections within and across these strands, and with learning in other areas.
Strand A – Personal health and physical development
Students analyse factors which influence individual, whānau/family, and community well-being and learn to apply appropriate actions to enhance and sustain well-being.
Strand C- Relationships with other people
Students analyse their understanding of meaningful relationships (in independent or caring situations with others) and apply this understanding to selecting, preparing, and serving appropriate food.
Strand D – Healthy communities and environments
Students evaluate the ethical decisions made about food choices, based on their knowledge of current issues in food and nutrition and their understanding of factors that influence preferences and behaviours at school, community and societal levels.
Teachers will design programmes that meet the learning needs of their students and make sense of the many connections within and across these strands.
Home economics programmes involve both academic inquiry and development of practical food and nutrition skills related to personal and community health and well-being.
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Indicators
Indicators are examples of the behaviours and capabilities that a teacher might expect to observe in a student who is achieving at the appropriate level. Teachers may wish to add further examples of their own.
The following indicators have links to level 7 achievement objectives for the appropriate strand (for example, A1, B1, C1, etc) and achievement standards (for example, AS1.1).
These indicators show what learning at level 7 could look like for students, and may include curriculum learning beyond what the achievement standards assess.
- Analyse how the well-being of New Zealand society is challenged by our current food environment (A1, C2, D3, D4; AS91299 2.1, AS91300 2.2).
- Analyse the issues faced by people with specific nutrition needs and contributing factors that can lead to these issues. Relate your analysis to the determinants of health, for example, cultural, economic, lifestyle, and environmental factors (A1; AS91299 2.1).
- Use credible nutrition tools to analyse and compare the nutritional needs of different groups in New Zealand. Adapt and prepare meals that address their specific needs. Groups could be based on age, health status, ethnicity, sporting pursuits, or socio-economic status (A1; AS91299 2.1).
Learn more:
Health Ed - Health Resource Search
- Analyse the beliefs about and attitudes towards food and nutrition of different groups in New Zealand. Groups could be based on age, ethnicity, sporting pursuits, or socio-economic status (A1, C2, D3, D4; AS91300 2.2).
- Explore attitudes, values, and expectations about the provision of food (food security) for New Zealand families. Use information to identify myths and challenge assumptions (A1, A3, A4, C2, D1, D2, D3, D4; AS91300 2.2, AS91301 2.3).
- Plan, prepare, and serve meals that demonstrate knowledge and understanding of nutritionally sound food choices for groups in New Zealand (A1, C2, D2, D4; AS91299 2.1, AS91300 2.2).
- Analyse and evaluate strategies to help a chosen group (for example, vegetarians, sports teams, or elderly people) meet their nutritional needs (A1, A3, C2, D1, D3; AS91299 2.1, AS91304 2.6).
- Use locally sourced, seasonal foods to evaluate sustainable food-related practices and justify using these foods, for example, by considering the impact of using them on the well-being of the community and the environment. Apply this knowledge to meal planning and food provision, including preservation (C2, D4; AS91302 2.4).
- Research local care organisations and identify, compare, and analyse the health-enhancing strategies they use to promote well-being (A1, A3, A4, C1, C2, D1, D3, D4; AS91303 2.5, AS91304 2.6).
- Demonstrate understanding of, and tolerance for, other people’s beliefs and food choices (A1, C2, D3, D4; AS91300 2.2).
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Possible context elaborations
Context elaborations are possible contexts for learning. The contexts start with a link to a relevant achievement objective, however, each context could support the learning for several achievement objectives.
The listed context elaborations are examples only. Teachers can select and use entirely different contexts in response to local situations, community relevance, and students’ interests and needs.
- Analyse the issues faced by people with specific nutrition needs and the contributing factors that can lead to these issues. Relate your analysis to the determinants of health, for example, cultural, economic, lifestyle, and environmental factors (A1, A3, A4, C2, D3, D4; AS91299 2.1, AS91300 2.2).
- Adapting recipes: Many long-used, popular recipes include ingredients unsuited to specific dietary requirements. Investigate and adapt a traditional recipe to suit the nutritional needs of an individual who is, for example: gluten free, vegetarian, lactose intolerant, low in iron, low in calcium, or vitamin D deficient.
- Explore a nutrition-related problem: Select a problem such as obesity, anaemia, heart disease, diabetes, or goitre. Explain how for certain groups in society (for example, the elderly or people from less affluent socio-economic communities) the determinants of health may contribute to this problem. Use specific examples to explain the impact of this problem on New Zealand society.
- Use credible nutrition tools to analyse and compare the nutritional needs of different groups in New Zealand. Adapt and prepare meals that address their specific needs. Groups could be based on age, health status, ethnicity, sporting pursuits, or socio-economic status (A1; AS91299 2.1).
- Promote healthy eating: Investigate different food tools or models used in health promotion in New Zealand and analyse their strengths and weaknesses. Options could include the
Ministry of Health’s food and nutrition health education publications; the
healthy plate model; or the
5+ a day model.
- Meeting specific nutritional needs: Adopt a school sports team. Plan a menu that they could use when they are away at tournament week.
- Addressing cultural food needs: The Meals on Wheels service provides nutritious food for individuals in their own home. These meals are often based on traditional western food. Identify an elderly person from an Asian, African, Pasifika, or South American background. Plan and prepare a meal that would be appropriate for this person (nutritionally and culturally). Explain your choices.
- Analyse the beliefs about and attitudes towards food and nutrition of different groups in New Zealand. Groups could be based on age, ethnicity, sporting pursuits, or socio-economic status (A1, C2, D3, D4; AS91300 2.2).
- Conflicting messages about health: Investigate the nutritional implications of selling chocolate for sports fundraising or the use of sports drinks and take action, where appropriate, to promote attitudes and behaviours that support well-being.
- Shared food: Many countries have a name for shared snacks, for example, yum cha (Chinese), tapas, (Spanish), or mezze, (Greek). Research the background of one such shared snack and explain how and why it has influenced food choices and eating patterns. Find a recipe for a healthy finger food to serve at a class international banquet.
- Changing trends and eating patterns: Are New Zealanders eating out more and buying more takeaways? Why is this happening and what are the implications for a family’s well-being? Why do families choose to eat takeaways rather than home-cooked meals?
- Plan, prepare, and serve meals that demonstrate knowledge and understanding of nutritionally sound food choices for groups in New Zealand (A1, C2, D2, D4; AS91299 2.1, AS91300 2.2).
- Healthy food at home: Plan and cook a healthy family meal. Digitally record (still or moving images) each stage of the process. Ask family members to evaluate how the meal went.
- Safety management: Describe the food safety preparation required when going on a picnic or outdoor excursion, for example, on an Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC) camp.
- Analyse and evaluate strategies to help a chosen group (for example, vegetarians, sports teams, or elderly people) meet their nutritional needs (A1, A3, C2, D1, D3; AS91299 2.1, AS91304 2.6).
- Promote well-being: Identify a group at your school or community who are nutritionally at risk. Describe the factors contributing to their problems and brainstorm possible solutions.
- Community resources: In your school or local community, evaluate an existing health strategy that promotes nutritional well-being. Suggest ways to improve the effectiveness of the strategy.
- Rights, responsibilities, and laws: In New Zealand, the National Administration Guidelines state that boards of trustees must ‘promote healthy food and nutrition for all students’ (NAG 5b). Evaluate the impact of this legislation at your school and, where appropriate, develop a strategy to address an issue.
- Explore attitudes, values, and expectations about the provision of food (food security) for New Zealand families. Use information to identify myths and challenge assumptions (A1, A3, A4, C2, D1, D2, D3, D4; AS91300 2.2, AS913012.3).
- Food security: Research the myths and assumptions about people who don’t have the resources to feed themselves and their families. What is the reality for these people?
- Hunger in a land of plenty: Why do we need food banks in a rich country like New Zealand? Visit a local food bank to investigate issues related to food security for people who require support to feed their families.
- Use locally sourced, seasonal foods to evaluate sustainable food-related practices and justify using these foods, for example, by considering the impact of using them on the well-being of the community and the environment. Apply this knowledge to meal planning and food provision, including preservation (C2, D4; AS91302 2.4).
- How green is our food supply? Compare and evaluate the impact on the environment of producing and transporting selected foods commonly eaten in New Zealand, for example: potatoes, rice, and pasta; bananas, apples, and oranges; or cheese, fish, beans/pulses, and meat.
- Food for free: Find out which plants growing in the wild can be gathered for food uses. Investigate recipes to prepare these. Go on a foraging hunt around your school or home to collect wild food and then prepare it.
- Research local care organisations and identify, compare, and analyse the health-enhancing strategies they use to promote well-being (A1, A3, A4, C1, C2, D1, D3, D4; AS91303 2.5, AS91304 2.6).
- Contribute to the community: Keep an electronic journal to record your contribution to care provision in your community and evaluate the impact you have made.
- Healthy eating behaviours: Compare and contrast the nutrition policies of two local early childhood education services and the strategies they use to ensure children are developing healthy eating habits.
- Demonstrate understanding of, and tolerance for, other people’s beliefs and food choices (A1, C2, D3, D4; AS91300 2.2).
- Celebrate difference: Interview a person who has different attitudes to food than your own (for religious, cultural, health, or personal reasons). Invite them to share in a meal you have prepared that will fit with their beliefs and food preferences and also be nutritionally balanced.
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Assessment for qualifications
Consider how student learning could be assessed using the home economics achievement standards. Consider alternative linkages between the achievement objective and achievement standards.
- AS91299 Home economics 2.1 Analyse issues related to the provision of food for people with specific food needs; Internal, 5 credits.
- AS91300 Home economics 2.2 Analyse the relationship between well-being, food choices and determinants of health; External, 4 credits.
- AS91301 Home economics 2.3 Analyse beliefs, attitudes and practices related to a nutritional issue for families in New Zealand; Internal, 5 credits.
- AS91302 Home economics 2.4 Evaluate sustainable food related practices; Internal, 5 credits.
- AS91303 Home economics 2.5 Analyse practices to enhance well-being used in care provision in the community; Internal, 5 credits.
- AS91304 Home economics 2.6 Evaluate health promoting strategies designed to address a nutritional need; External, 4 credits.
At the time of publication, achievement standards were in development to align them with The New Zealand Curriculum. Please ensure that you are using the correct version of the standards by going to the
NZQA website.
The NZQA subject-specific resources pages are very helpful. From there, you can find all the achievement standards and links to assessment resources, both internal and external.
Learn more:
Aligned level 1 achievement standards were registered for use in 2011 and level 2 for use in 2012; level 3 will be registered for use in 2013.
Full information on the draft standards and the alignment process can be found on
TKI: Alignment of NCEA standards with The New Zealand Curriculum.
Last updated August 28, 2020
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