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PUPIL PROJECT EVALUATION: Milky Twist - A Learning Journey

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Index

Project Outline

Questionnaire Sample

Questionnaire Results

Stakeholder Map

Workshop Picures

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Learning Experiences

“Milky Twist” is the product developed by an S3 class of pupils in Eastbank Academy work-ing towards NPA in Enterprise and Employability. The class recognised that there was a need to encourage healthy eating and promote an awareness of the nutritional benefits of drinking milk to their fellow pupils. This ambition has taken the pupils on a learning journey that has seen them raise money for two charities, Help for Heroes and The Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice and taken the pupils on an incredible learning journey that has seen them grow as individuals and flourish in ways that have surprised themselves and their teachers, and that has led to a range of addi-tional benefits for all involved.The learning journey started as part of the Scottish Food and Drink Federations A Future in Food programme, which aims to promote career opportunities in the food and drink industry by encouraging employers to work with schools to deliver the curriculum using food as the context for learning. Eastbank Academy was partnered with Müller Wiseman Dairies who were more than happy to support the school and the pupils with their endeavours, given their strong commitment to supporting local communities.

Becoming business pupilsThe NPA requires that the students set up and run their own business. The pupils held a busi-ness meeting and came up with the idea of developing “Milky Twist – loaded with mooberries” as a healthy alternative to fizzy drinks. They also agreed that they wanted to make a profit on their product and donate 25% of the profit to charity.

Discovering the dairy industry step by stepThe process began with a visit to the dairy to allow the pupils to see how milk is processed, packaged and delivered to customers. For many of the pupils this was their first visit to a workplace and was quite an eye opening experience for them. During the visit the pupils met a variety of people, from operative to manager, and asked them questions about their job roles and career paths in addition to finding out how a business works.This initial visit and input from the company helped to focus the pupils to the task in hand, they set about developing their business structure and planning their product development. Discussions of individual skills and attributes allowed the group to assign job roles and respon-sibilities.

Talking with the expertsMüller Wiseman Daries provided access to a range of staff who visited the pupils at appropri-ate times to support their business growth and to provide advice and guidance (a service that would have cost thousands in the commercial world!). Input included how to develop a prod-uct that will appeal to your target market, how to market and sell your product, including developing posters and associated marketing materials, how to run a profitable business and how products are costed, the pupils also found out about the health benefits of milk and fruit.

Experiencing a milk farmThe partnership provided the pupils with additional opportunities to extend their knowledge and understanding of the food chain. Through the Royal Highland Education Trust, the pupils

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visited Fernieshaw Farm in Lanarkshire so see where milk comes from. The farmer took the pupils through the milking process and the pupils saw the dairy cows and had their lifecycle explained, a real eye opener for all the pupils and some of the staff!During the visit the farmer’s daughter, who is studying for a degree in nutrition and dietetics, spent time with the pupils to help them develop a greater understanding of the nutritional benefits of milk and berries.

Change of attitudeThe input from industry specialists and the visits to different workplaces took place at agreed times to support the curriculum delivery. The input from industry made the process “real” for the pupils. Teaching staff reported that after each stage the pupils understanding of the tasks that they had to undertake developed and gradually their confidence grew. The class teacher reported that at first he had to encourage and guide the pupils, but as time progressed the group clearly established their roles and developed a real sense of responsibility for the busi-ness and product and he could take a “back seat”. This process was not without its ups and downs and there were disagreements but the group realised that this was part of the process and reflected the real world and managed to work out solutions as issues and conflicts arose.

The pupils identified opportunities to sell their product, including parents nights and careers events. Pupils were particularly keen to make and sell their product during their own parents night and even developed a rota for who would take turns at various stations to ensure that they all met their scheduled appointments as well as supporting the business.

Preparing official visitsA Future in Food is a National programme and an opportunity arose for Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhhead MSP to see the results of the initiative.Mr Lochhead visited the school to meet staff and pupils on 1st February. The pupils were very nervous about such a visit taking place but with the help of their teachers and partners they developed a display to describe their journey. On the day, despite their nerves, the pupils excelled themselves and spoke with confidence and knowledge about their business, the skills they have developed and their future plans for the project. This included developing links with local primaries to share their knowledge and promote healthy eating.The teachers were both surprised and very proud at how well the pupils rose to this challenge, and they saw a marked improvement in the pupil’s confidence and communication skills.

Speaking aloudThe pupil’s experience of presenting what they had learned was further enhanced when they were given the opportunity to present an overview of their activity to an audience of over 300 delegates at the Scottish Government National Food and Drink Policy Conference in Perth in March 2012. Once again the pupils were extremely nervous about presenting in front of such a large audience but they rose to the occasion and created quite an impact. This experience proved to be one of the highlights of the programme for the pupils and helped build confi-dence and develop a broader understanding of the skills they were developing and how these could help in the world of work.

Project Outline

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Outcomes for young people and the industryMüller Wiseman Daries also gained benefits from being involved in the programme, in addi-tion to helping develop stronger community links and support staff development. The link with Eastbank provided the marketing team at Müller Wiseman Darieswith the ideal members of a focus group to test some new ideas. The results of the focus group helped to inform the com-pany product development process.

Seeds for confidence buildingThe project is still ongoing with pupils going from strength to strength; each new challenge they tackle improves their confidence and develops their Enterprise and Employability skills. The school encourages the pupils to reflect on their learnings and this can be summed up.Demi Laird, Managing Director: “During this period I have learned to develop my leadership skills and gained confidence speaking in front of groups of people in my capacity as Managing Direc-tor.

Müller Wiseman Daries staff involved:• Sandy Wilkie – Sales and Marketing Director• Alan Russell – Contract Sales Manager• Claire Doyle – Assistant Contract Sales Manager and day to day contact and facilitator with

SFDF • Nicola Yates – PR /Comms• Nicola McAleer - Administration Manager• Debbie Rusk - Environmental Manager• Robyn Baillie - Communications Assistent

Project evaluation - collaboration with Skills Development Scotland

Workshop purpose S3 grade pupils used Service Design methodologies to map out and illustrate the process they have gone through to develop, market and sell a dairy product. Parallel to that process they depict how their emotional journey was during each of the activities.

The use of this journey helps pupils to review their progress and provide SFDF, Müller Wiseman Daries and Eastbank academy with a tool to help evaluate the project.In addition pupils filled out two questionnaires in order to enrich the information and add a further research methodology.

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OutputA visual illustration of the process including:• Pupils’ experiences and points of view• Opportunities – in hindsight what could be improved about

any aspect of the journey?• Overview of the skills used and learned throughout the process• Map of pupils’ stakeholders throughout the project• Results of the questionnaires

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Questionnaire

What do you take from this work experience?

What strengths did you discover?

What new skills did you learn?

Which were your two highlights? It can be any kind of experience:

things you have learned about the business or yourself, things you enjoyed or

learnt.

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How did you find this way of learning? - Learning by doing,

while working directly with the industry and creating a real product.

What have you learnt about the world of work?

What have you learnt about running a business?

INSPIRING

INSIGHTFUL

FUN

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What do you take from this work experience?

What strengths did you discover?

What new skills did you learn?

Which were your two highlights? It can be any kind of experience:

things you have learned about the business or yourself, things you enjoyed or

learnt.

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How did you find this way of learning? - Learning by doing,

while working directly with the industry and creating a real product.

What have you learnt about the world of work?

What have you learnt about running a business?

INSPIRING

INSIGHTFUL

FUN

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As part of the measurement of the Müller Wiseman Daries project with the Estbank Academy, pupils were given a questionnaire in order to get their perceptions about their experience. The first question they were asked was: What were the strengths they could find out about themselves during the process. Eight out of twelve pupils felt that team work was the key strength found. The second most mentioned strength was self confidence. Five out of 12 pupils agreed this was key. ‘Talking to others’ was the third common strength among the twelve pu-pils.

TEAM WORK SELF CONFIDENCE

Strengths

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TALKING TO OTHERS

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TEAM WORK COMMUNICATIONSKILLS

TIMING

Other mentioned key learnings:

MARKETINGLISTENINGWEIGHING PATIENCE MEASURING

Learning

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TO MAKE A SMOOTHIE TO MAKE A NEW PRODUCTFILLING APPLICATION FORMS

Questionnaire results

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Questionnaire results

Highlights

How did you find this way of learning?

Pupils were asked which were their two highlights among all the experiences they had during the whole project.

FARM VISIT DAIRY VISIT MAKING MILKSHAKE

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Further Highlights:Making moneyWorking as a teamNutritional talkMeeting other businessesMaking a video

Perth ConferenceMinsterial visit

INSPIRING

INSIGHTFUL

FUN

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Learning about running a business

If you act and be more professional you will be seen professionally

You have to work as a team

It was exciting and fun

How many people needs to go into the business.

You have to keep track of your finances

That it’s all about team work and making profit.

It was stressful

I learnt that it is really hard.

It’s hard

Learning about the world of work

If you work as a team, you get through faster It is a big world

out there

You have to work hard to get what you want.

I have learnt that at Wisemen there is lots of

jobs and lots to do.

I learned how to run a business.

I learned that the milk and dairy industry is a very big industry.

Team work

Is hard

I learned how to run a business and how to make a video to show what we have done.

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Anonymous Feedback

Pupils were asked to give an anonymous feedback, which they introduced into a secret box.The first question was: What would you have done differently. And if there was something they didn’t like during the project.

I WOULD LIKE TO WORK HARDER

Didn’t like who we chose to become like boss! Didn’t think it was fair sometimes.

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Other mentioned comments:

What would you have done differently? • I would do team work differently.• Talk to people more and participate gave

more into it like advice.• Change the product

Was there something that you didn’t like during the project?• We had less time with the cows and

farmer• People moaning and fighting with other

people.• The thing I didn’t like was when we had

to work in a team.• The milkshakes

Questionnaire results

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SFDF

Charity

School

home economicsTeacher

Natasha McQuilkenTeacher Enterprise Education

Scott McGimpseyClass TeacherIndustry staff

Gordon ShawHead Teacher

Alexis GrantTeacher Enterprise in Education

Moira StalkerNational Co-ordinator SFDF Schools Programme

Kirsty Rimmer - Comms Executive

SFDF Director

Nicky YatesPR Communication

Alan Russell, Sandy Wilkie Sales and Marketing Director

Bella The Cow Wisemans

Claire Doyle Assistant Contracts Sales Manager

David Douglas Group Environment Manager

Nichola McAleer Administration Manager

Robyn Baillie - Marketing & Communications Assistant

Sandy Hamilton Graphics

Willie Bankier - Farmer Aly Bankier - nutrionist

Roddy McGillHead supervisor of the dairy

Pupils’ stakeholders - relationship map

Barry Cultbertson - BDM

Kris CrockerRoyal Highland Education Trust (RHET)

Kerry CrichtonEducation Scotland

Scottish Government

Annette KerrKirsty ToalValeria OssioSkills Development Scotland

Other Stakeholder

Debbie Rusk Environmental Manager

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SFDF

Charity

School

home economicsTeacher

Natasha McQuilkenTeacher Enterprise Education

Scott McGimpseyClass TeacherIndustry staff

Gordon ShawHead Teacher

Alexis GrantTeacher Enterprise in Education

Moira StalkerNational Co-ordinator SFDF Schools Programme

Kirsty Rimmer - Comms Executive

SFDF Director

Nicky YatesPR Communication

Alan Russell, Sandy Wilkie Sales and Marketing Director

Bella The Cow Wisemans

Claire Doyle Assistant Contracts Sales Manager

David Douglas Group Environment Manager

Nichola McAleer Administration Manager

Robyn Baillie - Marketing & Communications Assistant

Sandy Hamilton Graphics

Willie Bankier - Farmer Aly Bankier - nutrionist

Roddy McGillHead supervisor of the dairy

Pupils’ stakeholders - relationship map

Barry Cultbertson - BDM

Kris CrockerRoyal Highland Education Trust (RHET)

Kerry CrichtonEducation Scotland

Scottish Government

Annette KerrKirsty ToalValeria OssioSkills Development Scotland

Other Stakeholder

Debbie Rusk Environmental Manager

Stakeholder map

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Workshop with the milky twist team

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Workshop

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Notes and comments

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This is a project done in collaboration between: The Scottish Food and Drink Federa-tion, Easbank Academy, Müller Wiseman, the Scottish Government and Skills Develop-ment Scotland

Evaluation facilitation runned by Valeria Ossio - service designer at Skills Development Scotland in collaboration with S3 Eastbank Academy pupils, Claire Doyle -Assistant Con-tract Sales Manager at Müller Wiseman Dairies and Moira Stalker - National Co-ordinator SFDF Schools Programme. Glasgow, October 2012.