Importance of home economics compared to other secondary school subjects: Australian parents' and young adults' views

The secondary school home economics subject provides life skills for students. Exploration of different stakeholdersu0027 opinions of this subject is important for identifying its status in schools. Accordingly, the present study examined young adultsu0027 and parentsu0027 opinions of secondary school home economics education. An online survey was administered to 1,086 Australian respondents drawn from a commercial research panel. The key questions included: u0027How important is home economics compared to other secondary school subjects in the following years: Years 7-12?u0027, and u0027In general, how would you rate the importance of the following subjects in the middle years of secondary school?u0027 The respondents were asked to rate 14 secondary school subjects including home economics. More than 50% of the respondents (53-60%) rated home economics as u0027one of the most important subjectsu0027 or u0027the most important subjectu0027 in years 7-10 and this was 45% in the case of years 11-12. Visual examination of respondentsu0027 ratings of the different subjects revealed that home economics was believed to be of similar importance to health, physical education, and digital technologies. These findings suggest that there is widespread support for home economics education among young adults and parents in Australia.