Background
Judith and students
Remuera Intermediate School is a decile 9 school in Auckland. Year 7 students have four six-week Technology rotations as part of their specialist programme – Food Technology, Electronics, Hard Materials and Soft Materials. Year 8 students select three Technology subjects – from these four options plus Multimedia Technology – which they take for two hours a week over a twelve-week rotation.
Remuera Intermediate is one of six schools involved in a Growth and Innovation Fund (GIF) - Technology Education initiative – The Resource Development and Facilitation: Years 7-10 Technology Project. The Technology team has been exploring the two new strands (Technological Knowledge and Nature of Technology) and trialling them in their classrooms.
When Judith Sigglekow arrived at the school in 2008, Food Technology was still at the beginning stages – some aspects of Technology were starting to come through but the programme involved mostly cooking.
Judith had originally trained in Home Economics which she taught for some years. She started making the shift to Technology when the first Technology curriculum was introduced, followed by the completion of a postgraduate Diploma of Technology Education through Massey University. In 2003 she continued her learning in Technology during a Royal Society Teacher Fellowship year when she worked as a product development assistant at Hubbards Foods Limited. After deciding to leave teaching, Judith worked full-time at Hubbards, further valuable experience in the food industry which she was able to utilise in her programmes when she returned to the classroom.
