Site visits in Home Economics : a resource pack on hospitlity services for secondary school children

Abstract

The experience of learning by doing has been acknowledged by various academies within the education sphere. This dissertation focuses on site visits which are related to some topics tackled in Form 4 by Home Economics students. The main theme of these site visits shall be Hospitality Services. Using interviews with teachers and focus group with students, the researcher wanted to investigate their perceptions on educational site visits. The findings show that teachers and students regard this pedagogical tool as beneficial and should be included as part of the syllabus. Teachers even suggested a number of site visits which could be organised with Form 4 students. Yet even though teachers have opportunities to organise site visits, it was also evident that teachers do not organise them regularly. This is due to the various constraints which impede the teacher in the implementation of site visits. Students expressed the wish to participate more in these site visits. The results also show that when organising site visits, few teachers tend to plan pre- and on-site activities for students. The majority of teachers organise post-visit activities, using traditional resources. Students expressed the need for more innovative and interactive activities. Following these results, a resource pack consisting of a software programme using Illuminatus, a set of activity sheets and a teacher's guidebook were developed. The resource pack was then trialled with Form 4 Home Economics teachers and students, concluding that the resource pack is original, interactive, and beneficial for students.