Outcomes
The presence of a professional food technologist in the classroom had a direct affect on the participation, concentration, and achievement of the class.
From the outset, it was clear that Rachel got on well with the students. As a role model, she appears made-to-order: she was young enough to relate to the students and her job at Heinz Wattie's gave her a measure of credibility.
"They thought she was great. She made them really relax."
Rachel's participation and having Heinz Wattie's for a client made the class's working scenario much more realistic for the students, Kate says.
"The students took their work more seriously because they were working for a 'real' client outside of the school."
The factory visit introduced a similar note of reality and challenges into the technology lessons. The students discovered that documentation had an important part in real life, not just in the minds of technology teachers. Kate describes the class watching a worker measure sugar into a mix and carefully record the details, including times, immediately afterwards.
Kate suggests the students enjoyed the status accruing from working for a 'real' client.
"They took more pride in their work and really listened to the client brief."
Kate and Rachel also go on very well. Kate describes teaching alongside Rachel as "quite a relaxed process." From a teaching perspective, just having a different person in the room made a difference. One of the pleasures of having Rachel in the classroom, Kate says, was her preparedness to admit to the students when she didn't know something.
"She would go and find the answers. The take-home lesson was if you don't know something go away and find out. She taught the value of research and that it's OK to go back to the drawing board."
Another outcome of involving an outside technologist was the access this provided to equipment, that otherwise would be only accessible through a visit to a laboratory or not at all. For the students to see one of their developed recipes taken through the pilot plant to a finished product brought the whole project through to a positive conclusion.
Kate says she was wary about imposing on the company's time. It is important that an understanding be reached very early on about the rules of engagement between teacher and the guest technologist, she says. From the outset, it was understood that Kate would be more than welcome to contact Rachel and the rest of the Food Technology unit at Heinz Wattie's whenever she liked, but she had to understand the company had the right to put off helping when it wasn't convenient. Kate really appreciated the time and expertise that Rachel gave to her class and the support by Heinz Wattie's. She hopes a foundation has been laid for future interaction between the company and Havelock North High School.
