Open AccessThe Role of Home Economics Education in the 21st Century: The Covid-19 Pandemic as a Disruptor, Accelerator, and Future Shaper
Author(s) -
Donna Pendergast
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
ceps journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.372
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 2232-2647
pISSN - 1855-9719
DOI - 10.26529/cepsj.1205
Subject(s) - framing (construction) , futures contract , economics education , literacy , public relations , economic growth , political science , sociology , economics , higher education , engineering , structural engineering , financial economics
This paper explores the role of home economics education in the 21st century. It commences with an explanation of the disruption to the five predicted future global megatrends – globalisation, urbanisation, digitisation, cybersecurity, sustainability – as a consequence of the global Covid-19 pandemic. The place of megatrends framing home economics is explored by presenting a textual analysis of a literacy publication created as an acceleration point for framing the next one hundred years of home economics and underpinned by global megatrends, published prior to the pandemic. Using the Voyant Tool, visualisations of the book Creating Home Economics Futures: The Next 100 Years are presented and compared to other key literary documents informing the field. The paper then turns to the ways in which education and learning have led to the repositioning of home economics as a field and home economics literacy as the key strategy for ensuring the field continues to remain relevant into the future. Priority areas for education include food literacy; individual, family and community well-being; and the reconstitution of the place of the home.