Teaching Food Technology in a Middle School

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I am extremely proud to say I am the Food Technology teacher at Berkley Normal Middle School.

Straight out of University I secured a job in a very supportive High School working with a dedicated mentor – Liz Reinsfield. She has a deeply embedded ethos for continued professional development and passion for the Technology curriculum. That meant I was included in the same training as registered teachers and given every opportunity to be the best teacher I wanted to be.

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In 1999 I completed a Certificate in Professional Cookery at Waikato Polytechnic. For around thirteen years I worked my way to becoming a Head Chef and received reviews in the Waikato times. I occasionally dabbled in catering private dinner parties for customers like Sir Patrick Hogan and the late Sir Paul Holmes. Working in the hospitality industry was really rewarding because it involved working and learning alongside creative and talented chefs. There is nothing like seeing customer’s faces when they receive your food and good customer feedback is something you set out to achieve.

Thirteen years on, and a break from the hospitality industry, I was at home with our two girls when I saw an advertisement on television. I watched with anticipation about a possible path into teaching for New Zealand career changers who had trade experience. This involved a two-year course developed by Waikato University which enables applicants with industry- based qualifications to achieve a graduate diploma of teaching and a graduate diploma in either engineering tourism or hospitality.

I then applied and was awarded a two-year scholarship in 2009 through Teach NZ. I developed knowledge about the current technology curriculum with thirty other applicants from around New Zealand.

My experiences and commitment to the profession placed me in the position where I was offered a place sharing my expertise with pre-service teachers doing the same course as I did. University of Waikato student teachers complete the Diploma of Teaching and are required to submit a specialist project, which addresses Technology Education [NCEA level 1] Achievement standards. Supporting these adult learners has provided me with an amazing insight into education. I discovered very quickly that education becomes a passion; I constantly challenge myself because I love what I do and am completely hooked!

Technology at Berkley

Berkley is a decile 9 state, co-educational composite school that provides learning programmes for students in Years 7-9. Approximately 720 students attend our school and each has 19 sessions in both Food and Materials Technology. This is no mean feat as our programmes are structured to embrace all the strands of the New Zealand Technology Curriculum. We deliver the New Zealand curriculum through the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP). PYP learners strive to be inquirers, knowledgeable thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers (courageous), balanced and reflective.

I chose to teach Food Technology because students don’t just ‘make things’; our learners have the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding by addressing needs and realising opportunities when thinking about developing a food product. Adaptation and innovation are at the heart of this subject and quality outcomes result from thinking and practices that are informed, critical and creative.

While at Berkley, our learners use modern facilities to develop a number of skills. They learn how to analyse and investigate, how to create new foods, about the role of marketing in food development; they learn how to develop their own ideas, produce and test food products, and how to work as a team during practical projects.

For each year level students are given a brief to develop just as you would in industry. We like to think we keep it authentic by trying to replicate the food industry as much as possible.

Within the brief, students must adapt a recipe to make it healthier. They practice cooking skills like weighing and measuring, basic knife skills, oven use and reading recipes. Students are introduced to sensory analysis of food sampling activities which helps guide them around food tasting. They use specific and diverse learning tools that allow them to develop the necessary literacy skills for success.

We design our programmes to suit the needs and wants of our students as well as expanding their experiences. We aim to promote pathways from secondary school through to tertiary study and careers in the food industry, such as a food technologist, chef, product development, marketing, purchasing or health and safety or a teacher. We want to change attitudes around Food Technology as a subject. A lot of Food Technology students opt for Hospitality in Year 11-13 at high school. This means Year 11–13 Food Technology classes are so small that they have to be taught as a combined class. We hope that by moving our junior students towards a more investigative approach in developing food will add to their enjoyment, raise their level of knowledge and better prepare them for senior Food Technology when they head to High School.

Berkley students embracing Technology

Last term Year 8 students were asked to explore a given brief and follow a list of specifications to develop the brief within 9 weeks.

Berkley has a diverse number of different cultures and while working in groups, student trialled concepts that reflected ‘who they are’, and researched recipes that connect to their Turangawaewae.

Students learnt that understanding about family heritage is really important because it helps identify ‘who you are’. Not only did students find out things they didn’t know before, they learnt how to make and adapt a favourite family dish, and sometimes they had to inquire into how to fix a problem if the recipe didn’t go to plan.

Eight Café days had finally arrived and all our students and stakeholders were excited and curious as they dressed the tables appreciating the different cultures of other people. They had planned their time and resources well. The past 9 weeks had come together, and students were at a point of managing this session on their own. Guests arrived at lunchtime; they were greeted and seated by each student. Students then left to leave the stakeholders to enjoy their dishes. The feedback forms gathered from students, teachers, student teachers and parents were one of the highlights of this project. It was really neat to see our stakeholders practicing technological literacy, which is the language specifically used in Technology as a subject. This was evident when I read a stakeholder evaluation (Year 8) which read, “Yes I think this Beef and Vegetable Empanada is ‘fit for purpose’ because it is café quality. It’s crispy on the outside, golden brown and I would buy it in a café because it is a good size, healthy and it is cheaper to produce than buying a pie. “ “These have two vegetables and we make our own pastry, so I know it’s good for me,” said another student.

Our next cycle will produce another café but the transdisciplinary theme ‘Sharing the planet’ will be included as part of our students brief. Students will be given their own individual seedling envelope which they will learn to propagate and grow in our class garden (which is being developed by our materials technology academy group). They will inquire into the limited nature of our earth’s resources and we will be weighing our food wastage during our trials toward our Café.

Technology has a real place in the lives of each student; not only is the subject fun, it helps equip them to participate within society as informed citizens for our future.

Berkley students are taking Technology to the next level!

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Irma Cooke


Irma Cooke, a former Chef and now puts to good use her skills and passion for food as the Food Technology teacher for Berkley Normal Middle School. When she isn’t judging Waikato’s restaurants or working with students teachers for Waikato University, she’s having fun planning her next project for her middle school students at Berkley Normal Middle School.