Our partners at The Royal Highland Education Trust have developed a brand new suite of resources to help bridge the skills gap between food technology and STEM

Anew online teacher training resource for Scotland's schools and colleges aims to boost Scotland's knowledge of Good Food. It provides a suite of resources to empower educators to teach secondary pupils about food, STEM and sustainability.

Launching the new portal is the Good Food Champions partnership, involving four organisations supporting food and drink education, skills and careers:

• Food and Drink Federation Scotland (FDF Scotland)
• Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET)
• Quality Meat Scotland (QMS)
• The Rowett Institute at the University of Aberdeen

Education Scotland, the national body for supporting quality and improvement in learning and teaching, has funded development of the online teacher training programme.

The new training zone highlights for teachers the importance of food and nutrition, and how food education can go far beyond what we eat and cook. The training modules show that the way we produce food, the technologies we use, the waste we generate and the nutrition of the food we consume all have far-reaching implications for the planet. Modules support them to teach SQA units in Maths, Biology, Geography, Environmental Science, and Health and Food Technology, across levels from National 4 to Advanced Higher. Materials include presentations, quizzes, and online learning modules that provide career-long professional learning opportunities.

The resources also aim to show teachers the variety of career options in food and nutrition. Food, drink and farming is a £15 billion industry for Scotland, and a major export sector, employing around 120,000 people in roles that span STEM, finance, business, marketing, production, research and innovation. These provide a wide range of careers, progression routes and pathways for school leavers and graduates.

Access to the programme

Previous support from the Good Food Champions programme includes in-person CPD trainingvand events for education professionals, showing them how food-related learningvcan support schools to deliver the curriculum. Teachers from the Central Belt to the north east have taken part in the programme, praising its content and delivery. Changes they had implemented in response to the programme included outdoor learning, growing of food, and cooking and healthy eating topics.

The new online Food, STEM and Sustainability learning zone from the Good Food Champions initiative can be accessed by pre registration only HERE

The Good Food Champions partners are also holding a series of webinars for educators through February and March on health and wellbeing; maths, big data and food; and food and climate. In addition to Good Food Champions resources, each of the partners also offer their own education, skills and careers initiatives