Becoming a baker : factors contributing to the successful completion of the National Certificate in Food Production - Baking (Level 4) by apprentices in the New Zealand baking industry : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Education (Adult Education) at Massey University

Abstract

Following the changeover from a Trade Certificate qualification to the unit standards based New Zealand National Certificate in Food Production - Baking (level 4), the number of apprentices completing a qualification in baking declined dramatically. Using sociocultural theories of learning as the context, case studies of apprentices who had completed the National Certificate at level 4 were studied to find out if there were significant factors that may be used by the baking industry to increase the number of apprentices who will complete successfully. The findings show that personal motivating factors play a large role in encouraging an apprentice to complete. One of the main motivating factors is the need for the apprentice to "become a baker". Support factors provided to apprentices were also studied and the roles of the employer, workplace assessor and the ITO regional manager were all found to be important factors contributing to the eventual success of the apprentice. This study concludes that in order for apprentices to succeed, not only must apprentices be self-motivated, but also the baking industry as a whole must take on the responsibility of ensuring that the members of the community of practice (that is the NZ baking industry) become conversant with the requirements for nurturing and guiding their apprentices towards the completion of the training, learning and assessments for obtaining National Certificate qualifications.