Background ...
St Margaret's College is a composite (Years 1-13) single-sex, private girls' school in Christchurch, with a roll of around 740 students. Senior Technology was progressively introduced into the school, as NCEA Technology units became available - Technology Level 1 was introduced in 2002, Level 2 in 2003 and Level 3 in 2004.
After the introduction of Year 11 Technology in 2002, it was clear that some students found the move from Year 10 to 11 a challenging one (at least initially). Students found the Level 1 curriculum demanding – it required a greater depth of learning and understanding, and ongoing documention. In 2005, a Peer Mentoring programme was established to help the new Year 11 class come to grips with the coming year. It was decided to use Year 12 students to mentor Level 1 students and share their knowledge of technology processes and practice, NCEA and the documentation it required.
In 2004, Head of Department (Technology) Claire Wood and colleague Terry Wood adopted a team-teaching approach to the Years 11 and 12 Technology classes, taking joint responsibility for the design, delivery and assessment of both Levels 1 and 2 Technology programmes.
