Developing the Edge Hotel School

Abstract

This chapter analyses the situation of hospitality education in the UK and finds, in line with a previous study in Australia, that the abandonment of the vocational orientation and the integration of hospitality into business schools and programmes has not led to curriculum innovation, but to a homogenisation and a loss of identity. The authors have identified how to restore the curriculum balance by focussing on three intergrated approaches to curriculum design and delivery. These are the development of; professional knowledge and understanding, the professional capabilities and skills and the resulting practical and professional wisdom, which are, respectively, referred to as knowing, doing and being. Their case study, The Edge Hotel School, demonstrates how this new innovative approach offers an integrated cohesive, seamless acquisition of knowledge and intellectual understanding alongside the professional competences and skills, and where the outcomes of the process of learning can be demonstrated in the ‘real world’ of Wivenhoe House Hotel, a 4 star fully commercial country house hotel.