GCSE Food and Nutrition - Teaching from 2025

The GCSE Food and Nutrition qualification will support the Curriculum for Wales by:

• Supporting the statements of what matters by giving learners the opportunity to:
• understand the factors that affect physical health and well-being that promote healthy bodies and healthy minds. This includes health-promoting behaviours such as following a balanced diet
• develop the confidence, motivation, physical competence, knowledge and understanding that can help them lead healthy and active lifestyles which promote good physical health and well-being by studying nutrition and good health
• enable learners to develop the critical-thinking skills necessary to consider their decision-making in terms of possible implications when preparing food, including risks, for themselves and others
• engage critically with these social influences within their own culture that influence diet and health choices

Supporting the principles of progression by encouraging learners to:

• deepen learning in a wide range of concepts within the statements of what matters across a wide range of topics and aspects of food and nutrition
• develop their independence and agency in matters relating to nutrition and good health: resulting in a growing responsibility for their own health and well-being
• putting what they have learned about food and nutrition into a practical context, developing conceptual knowledge
• develop practical skills such as food preparation and cooking that also support learners in their health and well-being

The construct of GCSE Food and Nutrition qualification is based on the Welsh Government Subject Specific considerations for Food and Nutrition. The qualification will:

• provide opportunities for learners to understand the journey from ‘field to fork’, explore the economic, ethical and environmental influences of food availability and consider sustainability, production and processing of food
• provide opportunities for learners to make healthy and informed food choices for themselves and others, make links between diet, nutrition, health and well-being, explore the influences of diet and health choices and explore the function and nutritional benefits of food and drinks on the human body
• provide opportunities for learners to develop an understanding of the functional properties of food within the body and the ingredients used within a recipe
• equip learners with the skills to effectively and safely prepare, process, store, cook and serve food, modify existing recipes and develop their own dishes, analyse and evaluate a range of food and dishes made by themselves and others, explore the sensory qualities of ingredients within a recipe
• provide opportunities for learners to appreciate how food connects us to the world around us, explore the contributions and cuisines of Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and individuals, explore a range of ingredients, and cooking methods and techniques, from local, national, and international cuisines, and socio-cultural influences on food availability