COOKERY Creative in the kitchen


Denise Bevan talks about how giving her students the


freedom to innovate is helping them to develop a passion for cooking


move from year 7 to 11, develop a real passion for cooking and take a huge amount of pride from the work that they present in class. We know a key reason for this is the number of


A Cooking on gas: Chef James Martin with Aylesbury High student Sophie Copping


Moral support: National Children’s Bureau The GTCE vs The Teaching Agency


The GTCE is closed and the Teaching Agency up and


running.Dr Hilary Emery outlines three concerns at this development


THE GENERAL Teaching Council for England (GTCE) has formally closed, bringing an initiative which caused strong debate to an end. The Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 established the GTCE, and a separate Council for Wales, long after Scotland – which established theirs in 1966. It represented the achievement of a long-held


ambition that the teaching profession should form its own regulatory body in line with other professions. Holding its first meeting in 2000, the early stages of the GTCE saw much negotiation, particularly in relation to the role of union representation on the GTCE. Was the GTCE a super-union or an independent voice? The funding and control of the registration


of teachers was the function which brought the GTCE to the attention of teachers, but it was other functions that were more keenly contested and which may have a more enduring legacy – namely, the GTCE’s excellent evidence-based work on assessment and its work to encourage greater diversity in the profession. The GTCE recognised that a wide group of


stakeholders took an interest in the profession, such as organisations like the National Children’s Bureau, as well as faith organisations, equalities bodies and representatives from business and higher education who were all invited to the table. The decision by the coalition government to close


the GTCE was met with mixed reactions. Many saw a need for more reflection on its evolution, rather than a kneejerk reaction to the perceived limited effectiveness in removing poor teachers. But now that the GTCE is closed and the


Teaching Agency is up and running, what are the concerns for those with a stake in education, in this new world? I think these are threefold. First, the GTCE was mandated by statute to provide


government with independent, evidence-based advice on teaching and learning on behalf of the profession. The Teaching and Learning Academy was developing a body of evidence comprising informed, professional knowledge to challenge the view of teaching as little more than common sense and knowledge of a subject. For obvious reasons, this work may prove to be a loss that the profession comes to miss. Second, although the GTCE’s own evidence


suggested that 92 per cent of parents wanted professional registration and 78 per cent of teachers felt that being registered with an independent professional body was important, the Teaching Agency is required only to hold a database of those with qualified teacher status. Indeed this was a concession made late on to ensure that teachers who applied for posts were appropriately qualified and had a “clean record” in the profession. There is something of an irony that a government


which criticised the GTCE for a lack of teachers being sanctioned or disqualified, has removed all disciplinary sanctions except prohibition for matters of serious misconduct issued through the secretary of state. This puts admirable faith in the conduct of


teachers and performance and disciplinary procedures in schools. However, the number and range of misconduct cases that the GTCE has dealt with over the years suggests, sadly, that this could be an optimistic view. There is a risk that, since sanctions are no longer managed in a consistent way, some teachers will be unfairly treated and others will move from school to school rather than addressing weaknesses. Finally, the profession no longer has its own


body charged with raising its standing. With the coalition ending the social partnerships’ regular dialogue of employers, unions and government, the GTCE would have been the obvious candidate to become an informed and powerful voice for the profession. Sadly we will never know if it could have taken on that challenge. But we do know that teachers are increasingly concerned about the pressures the system changes are bringing to bear. These concerns will impact on the quality of teaching and the retention of our best teachers which is not good for anyone, least of all our children.


• Dr Hilary Emery is chief executive of the National Children’s Bureau, a national charity which works in partnership with educational charities to improve the lives of children. Visit www.ncb.org.uk


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practicals we do – something that the students really love. It makes a huge difference to them; both in terms of their understanding of each concept and their ability to put learning into practice. The two are never mutually exclusive. Another key area is product and recipe


development. Giving students the freedom to devise their own recipes, play around with ingredients and be a little bit creative is vital. We don’t just give them a recipe and ask them to cook it. We challenge them to be innovative and imaginative. Though this can lead to the odd cooking disaster, with cakes that sink in the middle, biscuits that spread on the baking trays and the odd lumpy sauce, we are often blown away by the dishes our students create. One thing that really pushes our students to


continually improve their work is our focus on presentation, which enjoys the same status as the recipe development itself. We make a real point of ensuring pupils don’t


finish cooking and then just put the final product is a plastic box to take home. They have to present it attractively and put it on display for the group to evaluate during a plenary session. What results is an air of healthy competition, with


the pupils keen to produce the best dish and impress their fellow classmates.


Giving students the freedom to devise their


own recipes, play around with ingredients and be a little bit creative is vital. We don’t just give them


a recipe and ask them to cook it – we challenge them to be innovative


The food placed in front of us is regularly


presented to us at restaurant-standard with all the drizzling of sauces and garnishes you would expect to from a top London eatery. Making sure to photograph each student’s dish


also gives them a record of what they have done and looking back over the year’s work at the end of term gives them an even greater sense of pride in what they have produced. Crucially, they annotate and evaluate each dish


alongside their photographs to look at how they could improve and what they would do better. They also assess their work with what we call a


star profile, based on a set design criteria – so for example if it includes one of their five-a-day, is high in dietary fibre, aesthetically pleasing, or a light, even texture. We instil this attention to detail among our


students when they join us in year 7 and at GCSE level we add a bit of an extra challenge and keep things interesting by entering them into national cooking competitions, such as the Make it with


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tAylesburyHigh School cooking is a hugely popular subject among our students and every year we have two full classes studying food technology to GCSE in both years 10 and 11. We see our pupils, as they


Mince Challenge run by Red Tractor – a farm- assured food quality standard. We introduce the competitions to our new cohort


of GCSE students at the start of the year. It fits with our scheme of work, allows for recipe development, introduces environmental messages by encouraging discussion on the Red Tractor scheme and makes pupils focus on their food presentation skills. It is also a good competition for pupils of all levels


as entrants must cook with mince, allowing more talented students to do something quite complex, while others can put together a twist on a simple dish. By incorporating the competition into the syllabus


students have time to really think about their entries and what follows is a really high standard of recipe development. It shows – in 2010 one of our students, Olivia Spurrell, was named the national champion and enjoyed a day in London with the competition’s head judge, the chef James Martin. It really was a once-in-a-lifetime prize which saw


her go behind the scenes to watch Saturday Kitchen filmed live, followed by lunch and dinner at two different Michelin-starred restaurants with James. Last year five of our pupils reached the


competition’s regional finals and were placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Our first place winner, Sophie Copping, won the national finals of another national cooking competition last month. To provide a bit of inspiration for your classrooms


and to showcase just what students can achieve when left to their own devices, I have included one of our pupil’s winning recipes below.


• Denise Bevan is subject team leader for food technology at Aylesbury High School in Buckinghamshire.


Further information


For details on the Make it with Mince Challenge and to access a range of classroom resources, visit www.simplybeefandlamb.co.uk/mincechallenge


Meatballs, ratatouille and creamy ricotta rice cake


One of the Aylesbury High School winning recipes in the Make it with Mince Challenge


Serves 2. Preparation time: 20 minutes. Cooking time: 35 minutes


Ingredients


200g beef mince, 1 large brown onion, chopped, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1 tbsp tomato paste, 3 teaspoons of ground coriander, 25g stale breadcrumbs. ½ teaspoon grated lemon zest, 4 teaspoons olive oil, ½ green pepper, ½ courgette ½ finger aubergine, 200g crushed tomatoes, 60ml vegetable stock, 1 tablespoon polenta or fine cornmeal, 200g ricotta cheese, 20g grated Parmesan cheese, 55g cooked long grain rice, 1 egg, separated, 1 tbsp shredded fresh basil


Method


1. Combine beef, half the onion, half the garlic, tomato paste, coriander, breadcrumbs and zest in a large bowl; mix well. Using floured hands, roll level tablespoons of beef mixture into balls; place on tray.


2. Heat oil in large pan; cook meatballs in batches until browned all over and cooked through. Drain on absorbent paper.


3. Ratatouille: heat oil in large pan; cook the rest of the onion and garlic, stirring until vegetables are soft. Add tomato paste, undrained tomatoes and stock; simmer uncovered for roughly 10 minutes or until sauce thickens.


4. Ricotta Rice cake: Preheat oven to 200°C. Oil base of 20cm round sandwich cake pan; line base with foil, grease foil. Sprinkle polenta over base and side of prepared pan. Combine ricotta, Parmesan, rice, egg yolk and basil in large bowl. Mix well. Whisk egg white in small bowl until soft peaks form; fold egg white through cheese mixture. Spread into prepared pan; bake, uncovered for about 30 minutes or until firm.


5. Cool for 5 minutes before cutting into wedges; display with ratatouille and ricotta rice cake.


SecEd


SecEd • April 26 2012


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