Capable Teachers Pathways:

Should I consider applying for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) for the Bachelor of Culinary Arts (BCA)?

Candidates may come from a range of backgrounds, including (but not limited to):

• Commercial cookery (e.g. chefs and cooks in restaurant, café, hotels and resorts, airlines and cruise lines, etc.)
• Catering (e.g. chefs and cooks at function centres, corporate hospitality firms, private catering, etc.)
• Institutional cookery (e.g. chefs and cooks in the armed forces, hospitals and aged care, student residential colleges, etc.)
• Food production (e.g. individuals in food product research and development, food technologists, etc.)
• Food education and training (e.g. teachers, tutors and lecturers at private culinary institutes, polytechnics or other tertiary training institutions, secondary school technology departments, etc.)

C) How do I know if I am suitable?

In order to establish your suitability for this program we undertake a profiling exercise to establish if you have the experience and knowledge necessary to be awarded the Bachelor of Culinary Arts (BCA) using recognition of prior learning (RPL). The profiling is based on whether or not we feel that you have the potential to meet the graduate attributes for the BCA.

In order to establish this we ask all candidates, regardless of background, to provide evidence of the following:

1. A body of work that demonstrates expert culinary skill and knowledge;
2. Experience in the management of the food design and production process (including budgeting, inventory management, work plans, rosters, etc.) in a professional setting (e.g. commercial kitchen, institutional kitchen, culinary education facility, etc.);
how you design and create a dish/food product as well as an understanding of why you do it this way (a critical reflection of your practice);
3. Your culinary influences and underpinning values and beliefs, and;
4. On-going professional development and engagement with the culinary world that allows you to maintain currency in all things culinary.

D) Can I provide evidence of these?

Please complete the following task as part of the profiling exercise.

You are hosting a dinner party at your home for a diverse group of people including a vegetarian, a farmer, a nutritionist, one of your parents and yourself. You must please (or at least not offend) anyone. Everyone must eat. Design a three or four-course menu that caters to your guests' needs and likely preferences and reflects your own tastes and values. Your menu should have one dish per course but some variation in the composition of the dishes is permitted in order to meet the needs of all guests. List the dishes you have chosen, explain the rationale and inspiration for your menu choices. Your menu design and rationale may also be supported by drawings and images in a way that is visually informative about you and your abilities as a potential culinary designer (although this is not necessary).

Note: the key elements of this exercise are 1) meeting the needs of all of the guests and 2) providing a thorough rationale for your menu choices. This exercise is not intended to show us anything about your technical cookery skills or your level of creativity.

To be considered as a candidate in the Bachelor of Design (Fashion) or Bachelor of Design (Product) I can supply a skills-based curriculum vitae that shows sustained responsibility as a designer for the process of:

• Planning;
• Selecting materials and suitable production processes;
• Testing of concepts and ideas using a range of prototype and design and illustration media;
• Eventual production.

C. Suitability for an APL process

I have five or more years' experience in my field (though work, volunteer and leisure activities).

Your Experience

1. I have a range of other life experiences I can relate to the core of my occupational work.
2. I understand my own strengths and weaknesses in my work role AND as a learner.
3. I stay current with new ideas in my field through short courses, reading, training and development opportunities and internet searching.
4. I take an active interest in my organisation’s aims and objectives.
5. I am able to review my experience, knowledge and actions and learn from my reflections.