HOSPITALITY EDUCATION & INDUSTRY :BRIDGING THE GAP: A Conversation with a Hospitality Educator

In this second post to acknowledge the efforts of educators in hospitality and to celebrate them, GH-H hosts Mrs. Lucy Eyram Agbenyeke, a holder of M Phil Tourism management and a senior instructor at Koforidua Technical University (KTU), Ghana.  

She insists I address her by her first name, so I will be addressing her as ‘Lucy’.

A common ground Lucy and I share is that both of us worked in the industry before settling on teaching in the classroom.

GH-H: Thank you for granting me this opportunity to have a one-on-one with you as an educator of the hospitality industry. Looking at a profile of you, you have been in the teaching profession for 18 years. Congratulations!  

I realize you worked in the industry before going into the teaching profession. Kindly give a brief of your work experience in the industry.

Lucy: During my internships in hotels while a student, I got the opportunity to work in almost all the departments; front office, housekeeping, restaurant, kitchen and human resources.

The hotels I worked in included M-Plaza, Accra, Capital View and Koforidua Guest Hotel, both at Koforidua. I also worked on the Onipanua Hospital ship. The duration of an internship ranged between one and six months.I worked in the positions of a room attendant and later as a waiter at Volta hotel for one year.

GH-H: I must say I find it quite adventurous for a young lady to work on a ship (referring to the hospital ship). How did you get this opportunity and what did working on the ship involve?

Lucy: My father was working with Volta River Authority (VRA), thus I ceased the opportunity to carry out my internship with them.  The hospital ship was under the management of VRA in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. I asked the supervisor, if I could join in the voyage as an intern, my request was granted and that’s how I got there; becoming part of the catering team.

We were cooking for the medical team and other members of the crew.

Follow-up Q: That’s interesting; I have heard about interns not benefiting much from their internships. Were you mentored during the internships? How different was the internship program then, compared to current times?

Lucy: I was attached to a particular staff on duty. In the kitchen, for example, the staff, a cook, demonstrated and explained what portioning and diet foods were all about.

Currently, the duration of internship is 8 weeks/ 3 months; in my opinion it is short. Interns are usually made to perform tasks not requiring much skill. They are also hardly placed in positions which involve direct contacts with guests. Subsequently interns may complete their internship but still lack confidence when they are put to the task in the industry.

GH-H: You were a Trainer for three months at the Volta Hotel; was it part of your internship?

Lucy: Yes. I was then an HND (Higher National Diploma) student.

GH-H: What do you miss about the industry?

Lucy: Meeting different levels of people.

Follow-up Q: Kindly expatiate that.

Lucy: In the industry one meets different people with different needs and with people of different spending power; for example one afternoon we had a tip of 200 dollars. At a different occasion, in rendering service at the presidential lodge at the Volta Hotel we met the president (of Ghana). We also served vegetarians and people with other dietary needs.

Meeting these different people and working towards meeting their needs ‘opened me up’.

GH-H: Indeed, I can relate to that; I was quite shy but had to kick it out of my system.  The industry is quite exciting and feels like a complete world. Like you, I worked in the industry before stepping into the classroom. However, I found the classroom very challenging.  How demanding is teaching in the classroom?

Lucy: I found both the industry and classroom challenging. In the classroom there is need to explain theories to the understanding of students with different levels of understanding; in industry the work requires constant attention as mistake recovery is difficult. With students, there was always an opportunity to correct mistakes made.

GH-H: Tell me some specific challenges you had to deal with as a trainer in the classroom?

Lucy: In the classroom a whole lot of preparation is required; reading and studying more about a subject before classes begins. Often, in a class of first year students, it is critical to establish a common understanding of what is being taught. I draw scenarios from industry as case studies to make the teaching relevant.

GH-H: Why did you enter the teaching field? How has it changed your life?

Lucy: I entered teaching for two reasons:

1.       Constant stress of the work schedule in industry did not give me much joy and there were challenges on my health.

2.       I love the classroom because it has given me an opportunity to impart. The transformation I see in my students make me feel very fulfilled.  Seeing my students grow and mature or my students performing tasks they could not do earlier and exhibiting professional attitudes is always a joy.

How teaching has changed me…I used to have a perfectionist attitude, get it right all the time; now I am more relaxed, more tolerable.

GH-H: What changes have you observed during the 18 years of teaching and how are you coping or what efforts have you been making to overcome the general challenges?

Lucy: Over the years I have realized that my interpersonal relationship with my students has improved since naturally I am an introvert. In overcoming the general challenges every lecturer faces I am building a relationship which is more personal with students and this affords me the opportunity to relate better with them well; I am able to identify what unique challenges or interest they also have so I will not treat them all the same.

Follow-up Q: You have just done a brief assessment of yourself. I admire teachers who are constantly assessing themselves. Kudos! What changes have you observed about status of students enrolled, text books in use and other teaching and learning resources, curriculum etc.

Lucy: Students read wide, they use the internet a lot and they may challenge certain aspects of subjects being taught. Some students, for instance view preparation of certain foods on U-tube and they ask questions on the methods I may have used which is different from what they observed on the Utube.

Many students who are focused indicate how we are doing as educators; their successes, however,  is not the only area I look at. I try hard and bring the lowly ones up; this is where the real assessment is. Just last month a past student sent me a video of a salad she had made and served in an earthenware bowl (ayuwa bowl) this is the caption: “this is the result of the confident you placed in me, I would have changed my course to pursue that I did not like, thank you madam, this is my own creation” . I was happy reading that. 

GH-H: Great! As a Senior Instructor \ lecturer (Mphil Tourism Management ) are you restricted to teaching only level 3 students?

Lucy: No. I teach level 1 students as well as level 2 and 3 students.

GH-H: How different is your delivery style when handling the different levels of students?

Lucy: Students in level 1 need much attention and encouragement while the 2^nd and 3^rd level students need guidance and praise. Letting them know they have improved helps them to forge ahead more. Engaging 2^nd and 3^rd years’ through brain storming, discussions on best practices have been very useful.

GH-H: What undermines your efforts to excel in teaching?

Lucy: Classroom climate. The conditions in the classroom are sometimes not favorable and I need to constantly adjust to be able to teach well; lights, P A systems and projectors not working, are just a few .

Follow-up Comment: Classroom climate could also refer to the prevailing mood, attitudes, standards, and tone that you and your students feel, everything from the color of the walls to the arrangement of the desks sends impressions to students and can affect the way a student learns. A negative classroom climate can feel hostile, chaotic, and out of control. A positive classroom climate feels safe, respectful, welcoming, and supportive of student learning.

With this understanding, What are some of the challenges in teaching Hospitality subjects such as: Menu planning, Cookery theory, First aid and safety , Sanitation and safety and Food Production Practical

Lucy: Challenges include getting projectors and PA systems to be functional, unavailability of gas to cook, unavailability of first aid kits, storage facilities and bureaucratic processes in acquiring items for teaching and learning.

GH-H: What is the largest class size you have handled?

Lucy: 170

GH-H: That must have been a nightmare! Tell us about it.

Lucy: This was a level 100 class. The course was Food production

Instilling professional behavior was very challenging. In such situations I employ the assistance of my Teaching Assistant for monitoring.

For practical sessions students are placed in groups of ten. This works well as it affords me the opportunity to see what each student is doing, however it is time consuming as each set of dishes or menu will last for a month before each student has a chance to try out the menu on their own. With ten students instilling the professional behavior becomes less cumbersome.

Follow-up Q: Professional behavior is quite broad; most of them are soft skills (personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people). They include commitment, interpersonal skills, acting as a team player, problem solving, time management etc. Are these what you are referring to?

Lucy : Yes such as  interpersonal skills

GH-H: Sorry, I interrupted you earlier. You made mention of classroom management

Lucy: Yes, with the aid of a PA (public address) system and a teaching assistant, large classes can be managed. Attendance is taken at each session and it forms part of the continuous assessment so students usually attend classes and they are usually punctual.

Imparting my beliefs(particularly having worked in industry for sometime before entering full time teaching profession); it is most of the time very interesting as students have weird expectations about work schedules, salaries, types of work which are entirely different from what the industry is.

Follow-up Q: True. There are lots of misconceptions out there. Is that a signal for professionals in industry to team up with hospitality educators to come up with a series of events such as mini ‘EDUfairs’? These could provide better orientations for the youth and career seekers in the industry.

Lucy: Yes, the just ended IH conference brought industry and classroom on the same platform; we need to do more.  The ‘edufair’ concept for the hospitality industry is a good idea.

GH-H: For a long time now, and indeed generally, industry experts criticize educational establishments for not being attuned to industry needs. In Ghana, the industry is lurking behind the origin of the text books we use to teach our students.

Lucy: This is true to an extent.  The classroom environment is different from the industry environment, we are not able to bridge the gap as expected; that is why the technical universities make provision for industrial placement.

Equipment, portions and environmental settings are quite different, what is in the text books are not found in the teaching institutions, for example the two basic books: theory of catering and the practical cookery  by Kinton et al., 2008are all industry 

Follow-up Q: Generally what changes would you like to see in industrial placement to make students more ready for to work in industry?

Lucy:There is the in-school training where students go for industry training while still in school; a pilot project we are doing now at KTU,

GH-H: Learning is an active process rather than a passive one; how do you generally involve students beyond the all too familiar lecture and test regimen? How are you able to engage students for the duration to the different levels of students?

Lucy: I engage students a lot in discussions and on case studies.

GH-H: It doesn’t matter how well students excel in class, I have observed that when they get to the industry they tend to develop low morale due to diverse poor working conditions. How do you impart self motivation into students particularly in 1st year and 3^rd year students respectively?

Lucy: In the first year students  are very enthusiastic and optimistic about  the job opportunities and how they will turn the status quo around, however I help them to understand it is a gradual process and in the third year after the industrial attachment and internship, their orientations change

Follow-up:  Kindly describe how the third year students perceive the industry.

Lucy: They are generally very optimistic and want to experience the world of work.

GH-H:What suggestions would you give fellow educators towards integrating real service situations in the classroom?

Lucy: Change the bad and unprofessional attitude, keep up to the standards if nobody else is doing.

GH-H:Thank you, Lucy and once again, congratulations for sticking to the teaching profession despite its ups and downs.

CELEBRATING HOSPITALITY EDUCATORS

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HOSPITALITY EDUCATION & INDUSTRY :BRIDGING THE GAP: A Conversation with a Hospitality Educator

GH-Hospitality (GH-H) is dedicating the first quarter of the year to educators in ‘hospitality’ as indicated in her post of 11^th January, 2019; her way of acknowledging their efforts and celebrating them.

Teaching hospitality courses involves imparting knowledge, skills and attitudes simultaneously to learners. It is an art that takes practice and dedication to master. It takes patience, empathy and above all passion to care for each student/learner, to understand learners’ abilities and to uncover their hidden potentials.

In this post GH-H hosts Ms. Esther Aryee, a retired hospitality educator.

Ms Aryee’s exposures to the industry abroad were in three different establishments. These include a Hospital, a Staff Canteen, and a College Refectory( dining hall), all of which were in Edinburgh, Scotland.

After her study of Institutional Management (IM) she worked in the Sick Kids Hospital, beginning as a staff cook, then was promoted to Assistant Catering Officer.

   

She was later employed by Ferranti Ltd Edinburgh. She started there as a cook. Again she earned a promotion to Assistant Canteen Manageress. Her responsibilities included supervision of the kitchen, processing invoices and controlling the stores.

Her last position before leaving Edinburgh was with Napier College of Science and Technology where she started as an Assistant Refectory Manageress and later acted as the Manageress supervising 23 personnel.

GH-H: Thank you, Ms Aryee, for granting me this opportunity to have a one-on-one with you.  I know we are both in the same ‘boat’ of retirees, but like the message depicted on the cup (picture on the left), “We may be on retirement but we are always educators at heart.”

Do you think this phrase is an empty slogan or does it express a reality?

Ms Aryee: It is a reality to me.  I have been a teacher all my life and sometimes I am embarrassed when I see myself correcting something said or done by an acquaintance.

I watch TV and I observe short falls in pronunciations, the misuse of certain words or phrases, then I start correcting although they can't hear me. It seems people do not know the difference between watch and clock.

GH-H: We will discuss your last statement but not on the platform. Have you visited Accra Polytechnic since it became Accra Technical University? What changes have you observed or heard about?

Ms Aryee: Accra Polytechnic (now ATU) has changed in size and number of buildings (physical structures). Unfortunately I have not had much interaction with the staff. I am told that class sizes are phenomenal... 150 plus and lectures go on over the weekend and evenings. This has to be because of the class size.

GH-H: That must be a nightmare!           

Follow-up Q: What was the size of the largest class you handled?

Ms Aryee: 40 …that’s why I described the current large sizes as ‘phenomenal’

GH-H: In an earlier discussion you indicated you also taught in Ho Polytechnic, now Ho Technical University. How did you get into the teaching career and how many different institutions have you taught at?

Ms Aryee: After my return to Ghana I planned to work in the food service industry as a Manager or a Catering Officer, or in a hotel.

My job search revealed that managing canteens was not what I was willing to do especially when they cooked with fire wood and charcoal.  A hotel with “Fine dining" was what I desired most. Unfortunately all the hotels were fully staffed- no vacancy anywhere. Eventually I settled for a job as a teacher in a Technical Institute at Ho in the Volta region.

After a few years at Ho Tech., I was employed as a Catering Officer, stationed at Accra Poly Demo (Accra Polytechnic Demonstration) Block, catering for the then Ghana Education Service (GES) Council and its appendages.

I enjoyed this, but since I was not under the HOD (Head of Department) of Catering, I had stiff challenges which I was able to surmount. 

During this time I also taught City and Guilds students on part time basis.

In 1981, I traveled to Nigeria where I taught Hotel and Catering Management courses at the Benue Polytechnic. It was pleasant imparting knowledge to students willing to learn.

There were no challenges because everything was available... books, equipment, above all cash. I was however lonely during the long vacation since I was the HOD.

I returned to Accra Poly to continue teaching Hotel Catering and Institutional Management courses.

After my Master's I continued my work at Accra Poly., but this time, I was more involved with drafting syllabus for B-Tech for my Department (Food and Beverage).As Chairperson for the Syllabus Planning Committee I also supervised the syllabi of other hospitality courses.

Follow-up Q: Had you been trained to teach before teaching at the technical institution at Ho?

Ms Aryee: No, but during the time of teaching. GES (Ghana Education Service) organized a workshop for new teachers in technical institutions which I participated.

GH-H: In one of my introductory articles I indicated that I found teaching in the classroom to be more challenging than training in industry (on the field).

What demands did teaching make on you particularly at the beginning of your teaching career?

Ms Aryee: My first teaching post was at Ho Tech., I had just returned from abroad with new ideas and knowledge; searching for information and writing lesson notes were not difficult. Teaching ‘Practicals’ was!

Once I made a mistake making pancakes (using my own method I use at home which was different from the text book we were using in class). I corrected it with the second group.   The following week I had to correct it as well as finish the current week's practical with the first group! I learned that UNLEARNING is more difficult than LEARNING.

Getting students’ attention and helping them to understand required a lot of effort from me.

GH-H: Did you acquire an accent; a British accent?

Ms Aryee: Yes, I did, and that may have contributed to the challenge.

GH-H: Looking back, can you recall your worst and best scenarios in the classroom? What did you learn from either of them?

Ms Aryee: My worst scenario: My teaching (teaching practice) was being supervised by Garnet staff as part of the training to qualify a group of us as Technical teachers. The topic was on surface tension of water. I could tell the students were not taking in all I was saying. The questions they asked indicated that my words had fallen on deaf ears. I just had not imparted my knowledge well.

The supervisor right then, in front of the class, showed me a simple experiment to demonstrate surface tension. I was both humiliated and humbled.

My best scenario was when I wrote a paper on how to use Teaching Aids. The team (Garnet staff) decided mine was the best. They read it and showed it to everyone. This put me on my toes to keep me doing well.

GH-H: I understand you handled Food Production, Accommodation Operation, and Restaurant Service/ Food and Beverage Service.

Facilitating learning in your subject areas; Food Production, Accommodation Operation, and Restaurant Service/ Food and Beverage Service must have come with unique challenges. Taking each of the subject areas, what challenges did they pose and what unique efforts did you have to make to mitigate or lessen those challenges?

Ms Aryee: Food and Beverage Service was my forte. HND had been introduced. There were no appropriate books on BAR and Mixology. The library was not well equipped. There was no e-library either. I had to borrow books from a friend at HOTTCAT (Hotel, Catering and Tourism Training Institute) teaching the same courses.

Accommodation Operations: Front Office was new to me so I had to teach myself by borrowing books and magazines. Soft Furnishing, however was not challenging  since I loved sewing. All the same, there were a few hitches here and there.

Food Production:

I didn't handle much of this for some personal reason.

GH-H: Let’s isolate Accommodation Operations; was it strictly ‘Housekeeping’ or it included front office operations? There were three levels, the 1st year, the 2^nd and 3^rd year students. Did you see the need to vary your delivery style with each group?

Ms Aryee: At IM (Institutional Management) level, it was strictly Housekeeping. The HND level included Front Office. No, I did not see the need to vary my delivery style. The students were able to understand through questions and answers session.

GH-H: For a long time now, and indeed generally, industry experts criticize educational establishments as not being attuned to industry needs. Is this true in Ghana, particularly observing that as an industry we are far behind other countries where we get our text books to teach our students?

Ms Aryee: It seems that educational establishments are not being attuned to industry needs. This is so because the theory far supersedes the practical. Industry too has a part to play in this. When on attachment, industry does not assign students meaningful/ relevant assignment to handle.

GH-H: Learning is an active process rather than a passive one; how did you generally involve students beyond the all too familiar lecture and test regimen? How were you able to engage students for the duration to each class?

Ms Aryee: Where time allowed, I used to ask students to relate the topic to their everyday life.

Anyway, the class period was generally not adequate to have an in-depth lesson cum individual discussion.

GH-H: It doesn’t matter how well a student excels in class, somehow when they get to the industry they tend to develop a low morale due to diverse poor working conditions. How do you impart self motivation into students particularly in first year and 3^rd year students respectively?

Ms Aryee: When students go on attachment, they come back with stories affecting their morale. My advice to them have always been this: Be confident, but do not allow over confidence to set in. With the first year students, I sometimes organized them into groups to lecture on a chosen topic in the syllabus.

GH-H: What suggestions can you give current educators to integrate real service situations in the classroom?

Ms Aryee: Current educators must be confident and knowledgeable in their chosen field. More importantly, they should be able to notice gaps/loop holes in the syllabus so that they can initiate a a change/an adjustment to correspond, fit or match the needs of industry.

GH-H: Ms Aryee, thank you so much for your time.

 Ms Aryee: My pleasure.

HOSPITALITY EDUCATION & INDUSTRY :BRIDGING THE GAP:My Experience in Teaching Part 2

I tend to be a detailed oriented person. If there was anything I was so conscious of ever giving so much attention to and preparing for, it was a training/teaching session.
I always aimed at making an impact in the classroom, guided by the illustration above for what is required to make 'great teaching'. So to receive a referral for my delivery style, was a huge surprise; that was several years ago.

I had participated in a workshop towards the attainment of becoming a  Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE), of American Hotel & Lodging Association. As a requirement, participants were expected to carry out a classroom presentation assignment; a 45-to 60-minute instructional presentation of a class. The presentation was to be captured on a videotape and submitted to CHE facilitators for evaluation.  This post-workshop classroom presentation was going to be evaluated according to specific standards, categories and criteria which we were all made aware of.

 I failed to make a positive impression on my evaluators in one of the two basic skills necessary to make learning effective; DELIVERY-primarily, body language and vocal variety;not spelt out in the illustration above but which influences the elements.

When speaking before a class, the teacher sends two types of messages. The voice sends an auditory message and the body language sends a visual message.

The least effective teacher will have the attention of students for only the first few minutes of a class. The skilled teacher is able to combine good vocal variety and body language with sincere emotion to keep the attention of students for the rest of the class. The latter was what I was aiming to be.

Effective use of Body Language through:

• Gestures
• Posture
• Body Movement
• Facial Expression
• Eye Contact

Effective use of Voice  in respect to:

• Pitch 
• Verbal Pauses
• Volume
• Articulation
• Inflection

I had the opportunity to re-do the assignment and to present it for evaluation. The exercise contributed greatly towards enhancing my efforts to make the needed impact in the classroom. I have since become much more conscious of my delivery style, having worked towards correcting the areas which resulted in the referral.

I learnt from my mistakes!

HOSPITALITY EDUCATION & INDUSTRY :BRIDGING THE GAP: My Experience in Teaching Part 1

I started my teaching career in the hotel industry before venturing out to teach in an established private hotel training institution. I found the latter much more challenging.

Training in the hotel industry
I remember taking up a part-time supervisory-trainer position in a hotel; a very old hotel located along the Atlantic Ocean in Accra. It had its unique challenges and finding solutions to those challenges were fulfilling.

As a new supervisor-trainer in the housekeeping department, I first observed the practices and working habits of the personnel, developed a good relationship with them and sought to understand their negative attitudes towards the job they were doing before attempting to meet their training needs. They had to acknowledge those needs before I could meaningfully engage them in brain storming exercises to try out 'solutions'. Personnel became emboldened and were soon taking pride in their jobs as room attendants and public area cleaners, the former were then referred to as 'chamber maids'.

Training in the classroom 

Fast forward:
I stepped into the classroom as a hotel instructor/educator. I had to handle students who had NEVER stepped in a hotel. There was a huge gap between the curriculum and the educational/training needs of the students. The problem was compounded when I realized that more than half of the students in a particular class were there UNWILLINGLY. Their parents/sponsors wanted 'something' to preoccupy them or wanted them to 'try their hands on 'something'; it was their last educational option.
Indeed, the challenges in this environment determined my dissertation for the award of my 'Master of Education Degree' in Educational Administration later on, where I investigated how low academic level students could be developed to meet the manpower requirements of hotels with ratings between 2 and 5 star. 

With the above background, I deem it necessary to bring to the fore, the diverse efforts educators in the hotel/hospitality industry in Ghana continue to make to bridge the gap between the classroom and the industry. Thus my first post this year, saluting committed educators for their efforts towards preparing professionals for the industry.

A couple more preludes will be featured to serve as background for the upcoming dialogues  to be held with fellow hospitality educators.

EDUCATION QUOTES

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PREVIEW OF UPCOMING POSTS

TO THE COMMITTED EDUCATORS OF OUR INDUSTRY

-HOTEL/HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY-

I SALUTE YOUR EFFORTS TO PREPARE 

PROFESSIONALS FOR THE INDUSTRY.

We are referred to by several names; professors, lecturers, facilitators, instructors, teachers, coaches etc., depending on the institution we find ourselves, imparting knowledge to students/learners who have chosen to pursue careers in the hotel/hospitality industry.

I will have the privilege of hosting a few of my 'colleagues', on this platform this first quarter of the year, 2019.

Teaching changes the lives of those who are committed to it. 

I had worked briefly in a hotel in Ghana before leaving its shores to study Hotel Management/Hospitality Administration. 

My first job when I returned was with the then Ghana Tourist Board, now Ghana Tourism Authority as a Trainer. I enjoyed identifying training needs in industry, developing and implementing tailored training programs. I wanted to impart knowledge to the next generation but I did not realize how difficult it was, particularly in this environment. I enjoyed it, nevertheless.

In this industry, teaching involves imparting knowledge, skills and attitudes simultaneously  to learners. It is an art that takes practice and dedication to master. It takes patience, empathy and above all passion to care for each student/learner, understand their abilities and to uncover their hidden potentials.

In my days (of teaching), students looked up to us, educators; not only because of our expertise but also, largely because we came from industry, and we 'walked our talk', bringing industry to the classroom in our mannerisms and everything we did. 

I will be presenting dialogues/interviews with a number of educators, focusing on issues related to our major theme, 'bridging the gap between industry and education' in upcoming articles.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!