Lower down the school it's not always that bad- but GCSE is a nightmare, the kids just don't want to do the big project. We've moved to Catering from this year for that reason. Unfortunately, it's me that's copped for finishing the Food Tech course with the Y11s and it's been horrendous.
I work in a biggish comp, not overly academic, and we've had more than a few take Food because they think it's going to be easy and just 'cooking.'
Come the Controlled Assessment they have a hell of a shock.
Our NQT started in September and she's thinking about leaving teaching already. Don't forget, you see about 250-300 kids a week. In technology at KS3 it's usually taught on a 'carousel' so every 6 -8 weeks your class will change. For every child you teach at any one time, you have to know their current level, their target level, what they need to do to get to their target from where they are now, whether they have FSM, are LAC, G and T or have any SEN. If so, you need to know what intervention is taking place and what your part is. Every single one of them needs to be enagaged at all times, so if you have a lesson like me on Tuesday where 10 y9s didn't bring their ingredients then you're goosed.
And no, you can't just provide ingredients because nobody has any money, and if you don't have a technician you'll have to do the shopping, store it, measure it out and charge a token payment for it which will need collecting and handing to finance. I quite often can be found in Tesco at 10.30 pm shopping for school, and that's after a parents or governors meeting and a day's work.
Admittedly, I've been doing this for 12 years and I'm tired and a little bit bored, but everyone seems to think we have an easy job 'just teaching kids to make buns', and yet it's getting harder every year. Assuming there will be a next year because parents are talking kids into doing the e-bacc and I know lots of D and T departments are having to make people redundant.
I openly admit I really don't care if little Freddie is hitting a level 7 for D and T, I just want him to be able to cook something safe, tasty and nutritious for himself and his family. Not whether he designed his dish using a sharp pencil and can explain why what he has designed is suitable for his target market and how it would be packaged. And don't forget you need evidence of all of this, which needs light touch marking every other lesson and milestone marking every 6 weeks. I repeat, for 250-300 kids.
Whatever you decide, good luck, and I'm assuming you'll go to Didsbury, which is where I trained and the course was brilliant!! Just think carefully about what comes after!!