Home Economics - National Moderator's Report

Insights

91299: Analyse issues related to the provision of food for people with specific food needs

Performance overview

This standard involves analysing issues related to the provision of food from personal, interpersonal, and societal perspectives and exploring health-enhancing strategies to address these issues.

Evidence that met the requirements for Achieved (analysis):

• Investigated and analysed a specific dietary need that required significant modifications to a standard diet, such as those for toddlers, pregnant individuals, high-energy users, vegans, or people with food intolerances and allergies.
• Analysed issues typically encountered by people with the specific dietary need/condition. For example, the specific food needs of hockey players were analysed, rather than the poor eating habits and food pattern of an individual who plays hockey.
• Focused on a single specific food need, e.g. the needs of vegans, rather than the needs of athletes (high energy users) who are also vegan.
• Clearly linked the issues identified with strategies and considered how the strategies would help to overcome or reduce their effects/influence and enhance wellbeing from the different perspectives (i.e. personal, interpersonal, and societal), such as:
  • Personal perspective: Strategies proposed aimed to address personal barriers such as inadequate intakes of key nutrients, lack of nutritional knowledge, and lack of access to appropriate foods.
  • Interpersonal perspective: Strategies proposed considered the role and influence of others such as family, peers, and community support groups in enabling better food choices and access. 
  • Societal perspective: Strategies addressed issues arising from the wider community that impact on food availability, such as limited public awareness and the influence of social media.

Evidence that met the requirements for Merit (in-depth analysis) clearly explained how and why the proposed strategy or strategies would help address the issues and enhance well-being. For example, in addressing the high cost of gluten-free food, the explanation demonstrated how educating individuals could improve access to food and enhance wellbeing for those living with limited income.

Merit level evidence also explained how strategies (personal, interpersonal, and societal) addressed issues and enhanced wellbeing across these perspectives. 

Evidence that met the requirements for Excellence (comprehensive analysis) provided more complex and convincing reasoning to explain how and why the strategies were effective, demonstrating a deeper understanding of how each strategy addressed issues at the personal, interpersonal, and societal levels and enhanced wellbeing. For example, explaining how a community cooking initiative helped individuals and contributed to raising public awareness and driving societal change.

Practices that need strengthening

• When an individual case study or interview was used as stimulus material, the analysis often focused too narrowly on the individual’s personal needs. While interviews can highlight relevant issues, the focus for analysis must be common challenges people face due to the condition/need, rather than the poor food choices and eating habits of the individual from the interview or case study.
• When health issues like excess body weight were selected as the specific food need, the supporting evidence often lacked detail, relying too heavily on general dietary advice from the Ministry of Health Food and Nutrition Guidelines (F&NG) rather than addressing specific nutrients of concern. The condition of excess body weight does not require significant changes to a standard diet as recommended in the F&NG, therefore it is not a suitable context for analysis.
• Complex medical issues such as obesity and diabetes types 1 and 2 are not a suitable focus for this standard for the following reasons:
  • Dietary needs for people with these conditions can vary significantly depending on age, severity of the condition, medication use, co-existing health issues, and personal preferences and circumstances. When used as the context for analysis, students struggled to identify specific dietary issues common to all people with these conditions and to propose strategies to address these without oversimplifying or misrepresenting their complexity.
  • Obesity and Type 1 and 2 Diabetes are complex medical conditions influenced by genetics, lifestyle, socioeconomic status, and psychological factors. Understanding the relationship between diet, insulin production/resistance, blood glucose regulation, and wellbeing requires biological and nutritional knowledge beyond that which is taught at curriculum level 6 in Home Economics.

91301: Analyse beliefs, attitudes and practices related to a nutritional issue for families in New Zealand

Performance overview

The standard requires an analysis of beliefs, attitudes, and practices related to a nutritional issue for families in New Zealand.

This involves explaining beliefs, attitudes, and practices of people expressing the viewpoint and/or the people affected.

A point of view is based on the beliefs and attitudes of the people or the group expressing them. Practices are the way people display their beliefs and attitudes.

Evidence that met the requirements for Achieved (analysis):

• Selected a societal viewpoint related to a current nutritional issue affecting New Zealand families and explained where it had come from or how it had developed.
• Explained the nutritional issue linked to the viewpoint and its implications for wellbeing for those directly affected.
• Identified people or groups who have/express the point of view.
• Explained the beliefs, attitudes, and practices underpinning the viewpoint and showed how these influenced and shaped it.
• Analysed beliefs, attitudes, and practices in relation to the causes of the issue (factors), rather than explaining the influence of contributing factors as a separate discussion. 

Evidence that met the requirements for Merit (in-depth analysis) included detailed reasons supported by evidence to explain:

• Why people have/express the chosen viewpoint.
• Factors contributing to the nutritional issue, particularly those linked to the selected point of view.
• Values, experiences, and feelings of those directly affected by the issue.

Evidence that met the requirements for Excellence (comprehensive analysis) used credible supporting information and data related to the factors to support or challenge the validity of the viewpoint.

Practices that need strengthening

A viewpoint needs to be chosen that is current and broad enough to allow for meaningful analysis of the underpinning beliefs, attitudes, and practices that influence and shape it. For example, the viewpoint "Food insecurity is only a problem for people who don’t work" enables exploration of beliefs about personal responsibility, food budgeting, and moral judgments around food habits, alongside the realities of working poverty in society today and the misconception that employment guarantees food security. 

The analysis must clearly explain how beliefs and attitudes and practices have contributed to and shaped the point of view in relation to the causes of the issue (factors).

It is expected that current and credible data related to factors be used to support or refute the viewpoint and/or the beliefs, attitudes, and practices that underpin it, rather than the students own opinion.

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