Teacher Wins National Technology Award

Nov 19, 2007

Teacher Wins National Technology Award

Hamilton’s St John’s College teacher Steve Andrews has won an Outstanding Teacher in Technology Education Award.

This national accolade from Technology Education NZ (TENZ) and IPENZ Engineers New Zealand recognises outstanding service to technology teaching and acknowledges the regional and national prominence of a teacher’s work and their students’ achievements. TENZ is a professional network committed to supporting technology education in NZ.

TENZ Trust Board council chairperson and Waikato School of Education Dean, Professor Alister Jones says when Steve’s name was announced as the winner, there was absolute agreement on the worthiness of the award.

Steve, who was a former motor mechanic, before completing a Diploma of Teaching at Hamilton College of Education (now School of Education), has been teaching technology in the Waikato for approximately two decades.

St John’s College principal Ray Scott says Steve is fully deserving of this award. “Steve is part of the Technology faculty at St John's who have fully embraced the Technology curriculum. He has always provided opportunities to students in this field, which interest and challenge them.”

Ray says students enjoy being in Steve’s classes and he uses his community networks to assist students with projects. Many of Steve’s senior students complete projects for real clients. “Steve’s work in the "Beacons Project" over the last two years has allowed him to develop and share his technology teaching philosophy and ideas with the wider educational community. He is highly regarded within the school community and amongst technology teachers.” The Beacons Project involves developing examples of best practice in Technology Education and sharing this information nationally.

Steve, who has an interest in Materials Technology, enjoys the problem solving aspect of technology. “The process used (Technological Practice) is robust enough to be applied to most decision making we encounter, whether it is as an educational tool, or used in every day situations.

He believes Technology, fits well within the new NZ curriculum. “The values and key competencies, as explained in the new document, go hand in hand with many of the values and ideas that underpin Technology Education.”

He says over the past five years teachers have worked hard to accommodate the new curriculum, so it benefits students and prepares them for a future outside of school. “Because of this hard work, our subject is now slowly being given the recognition it deserves, however because it is new, we have still got a lot of work to do.”

ENDS

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