Ready Steady Teach

In Ready Steady Teach, an experienced chef changes his demonstration style to boost the confidence of his catering students and begins to ask more direct questions to assess their learning.

Former chef, Neil Cruickshanks, has over twenty years experience of teaching. Here he practices differentiated teaching of patisserie skills to different ability levels.

His students at Runshaw College, Lancashire, appreciate this approach and explain why. They also like his sense of humour and feel it helps them remember his teaching points.

Mentored by head of vocational studies, Jill Gray, Neil is encouraged to allow the more experienced students to demonstrate cookery techniques to the less experienced students rather than demonstrating everything himself.

Jill feels this will help boost the self-confidence of his students. She also encourages him to ask more direct questions to assess his students' learning at the end of the lesson. Neil carries out these ideas, but he still finds it difficult to let go during the demonstrations.