Quality of Teacher Instruction, Laboratory Learning Environment and Student Engagement in Food Waste Management: Implications on the Students’ Key Skills in Bread and Pastry Production

Food education plays a vital role in developing skilled culinary professionals, with effective instruction and appropriate learning environments being crucial factors in student success. This study investigated the interrelationships among the quality of instruction, laboratory learning environment, and students’ engagement in food waste management on their key skills in bread and pastry production. Data were collected through validated questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics and canonical correlation. Results revealed that students rated the quality of teacher instruction as generally high across teaching behavior, instructional clarity, and engagement strategies. The laboratory learning environment quality was also rated as generally high, with peer interactions emerging as the strongest aspect. Students demonstrated high engagement in food waste management, particularly in the affective dimension. Their key skills in bread and pastry production were rated very good, with presentation skills receiving the highest scores. The study found significant interrelationships among teacher instruction quality, student engagement in food waste management, and laboratory environment quality with students’ bread and pastry production skills.