Background
Teacher Alexia George and Cheapskates representative Dave Green
Kapiti College in Raumati Beach on the Kapiti Coast is a co-educational, decile 9 school with 1,170 students in 2009. Technology is compulsory at Kapiti for Years 9-10, with Year 9 students studying Hard Materials, Food, and Textiles for a term each, then two half-terms for Graphics and Engineering. Year 10s then have the option to choose one of these core Technology areas to focus on for the year.
Teacher Alexia George is from the Wellington region and studied a conjoint BA/BTchng degree in Design Studies at Victory University. Originally Alexia wanted to be an art teacher but while studying made the change to Technology, a move she hasn't regretted. After finishing her degree, Alexia began teaching Visual Arts and Technology at Kapiti College in 2009.
Alexia's Year 10 Technology class comprised of 28 students, mostly boys, doing Hard Materials Technology for their second-term, an area the students had little experience of with any level of complexity.
