Background
Jenny Baker is Head of Department of the five-teacher ICT Department at Hillcrest High School, a decile 9 co-educational secondary school in the southeast sector of Hamilton, very close to Waikato University. The school has approximately 1,600 students.
Jenny joined Hillcrest High School in 1990 where she has been responsible for the development of the school computer network and the expansion of the ICT department.
During her time at Hillcrest, Jenny's capability and enthusiasm have been recognised at both a regional and a national level. She was a finalist in the (EiTA) National Excellence in Teaching Awards in 2002. Two years later, she received a Royal Society of New Zealand Teacher Fellowship to research technological practice in commercial and tertiary ICT. She has also been involved in external assessment for NCEA technology and in tutoring trainee teachers at the University of Waikato. ICT is a Technology choice at Year 9, and an Option subject from Year 10 to 13. Three pathways are available to students from Year 10:- 'ICT Programming', where students are assessed against technology achievement standards at Years 11 and 12, and the Waikato University Computer Science Scholarship examination at Year 13;
- 'ICT Applications' is assessed similarly - with the Technology Scholarship at Year 13; and
- 'Computing', which is assessed against computing unit standards at Years 11, 12 and 13.
Hillcrest High School worked with Katikati College in the Bay of Plenty in the Hamilton/Katikati Beacon Practice partnership which focussed on teaching technology in an ICT context.
