School of Hospitality Otago, Polytechnic

"Their enthusiasm and talent for culinary education shines through"

Stephen Ellwood, David Gillespie, Antony Heptinstall, Daniel Pfyl and Adrian Woodhouse.

The Bachelor of Culinary Arts (BCA) teaching team at Otago Polytechnic are five chef tutors with a combined ninety-six years of teaching experience. Despite high completion rates for the level 4 professional cookery certificate, the team instigated the development of a new programme to meet industry trends and needs for skilled, creative and entrepreneurial culinary professionals.

The team have developed a highly innovative learner-centred undergraduate programme framed by reflective practice, experiential learning, design-led thinking and authentic work projects. The team contributed collaboratively to develop delivery to assist students to learn how to think in a ‘designerly way’. Students are equipped with skill sets empowering them to contribute to the future culinary landscape.

A year two BCA student summarises the impact of the programme through this statement “thank you for what you taught me last year in the Introduction to Kitchen Management paper, I am now working in -----, this is a fantastic example of how not to run a café – however, I think I wouldn’t have realised how much if I hadn’t done your paper”.