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Design Technology - Mrs Crawford
Design Technology - Mrs Crawford
Subject overview: Currently (2021-22), DT is taught in week-long blocks, once a half term. This is timetabled 1-2 times per academic year
Key strengths:
Broad curriculum and learning opportunities.
Positive pupil feedback and enjoyment of lessons.
Key Areas for Development:
Consistent Planning Model: Design - Make - Evaluate.
Allow the subject more visibility by teaching once a week and once a term, which will give the pupils time to reflect on their design and makes.
Link to Living Curriculum, cross-curricular, purposeful
Assessment Data Headlines
(DATA ASKS QUESTIONS!)
Strengths:
Areas to investigate further:
Coverage and visibility of subject across the academic year
How to assess effectively?
How pupils record their learning
Surveys Headlines
(Students/Staff)
Pupil Voice Survey - (awaiting more responses)
Strengths:
Areas to investigate further:
Learning Walks
(At least one per year)
Strengths:
Areas to investigate further:
Appropriateness and availability of equipment and tools
Pupil Book Study
(WITH the pupils using considered questioning)
Strengths:
In year 3 & 4, there is evidence of the Design - Make - Evaluate process
Areas to investigate further:
Consistent teaching and learning horizontally, vertically and diagonally (across classes, across year groups, across subjects)
Key take-away from document -
at KS1, KS2, insufficient curriculum time being made available to teach the subject as a consequence of a perceived to need to focus on literacy and numeracy which are tested by SATS, again at the expense of creative, artistic and technical education
the modernisation of the subject and the updating of teachers’ knowledge and skills when compared to previous years, proving increasingly difficult to address due to tighter school budgets and an ongoing reluctance to release teachers to undertake continuing professional development
The issue of skills is becoming increasingly important; the CBI, World Economic Forum (WEF) and other business organisations are increasingly calling for a broader range of skills, particularly in problem solving, critical thinking, resilience and creativity. School leaders should see the importance of this skill and attribute development and build opportunities for this into their school curriculum offer.
extra-curricular opportunities enrich the lives of pupils, increase engagement and a love of learning and boost academic performance. These activities should gain greater acknowledgement within the new framework in order to encourage school leaders to adopt them and prevent their decline.
bold and imaginary curriculums, which allow pupils to experience problem solving and interdisciplinary learning will allow pupils to make connections between subjects in a way that they will undoubtedly be required to do in a post-school context.
knowledge and skills are closely interconnected and is one of the great strengths of our design & technology - it utilises knowledge gained both from within the subject and from elsewhere on the curriculum, contextualises this and puts this knowledge into an active setting.
The importance of exploration, practical learning and making mistakes are crucial creative behaviours and are to be encouraged within the school curriculum.
The school curriculum should not be arbitrary and not defined by Ofsted, instead it should be defined by the needs of the pupils it serves and the needs of the economy and society that will one day be productively served by those pupils.
Character development is something that good schools do well, providing pupils with opportunities to fail and learn in a safe environment and as a result of this environment they develop a range of traits that will serve them well in further education, employment and in life.
A move away from looking at ‘the latest data’ and towards a quality of education judgement is more likely to encourage school leaders and teachers to dedicate more time to thinking about the quality of their curriculum and the development of long-lasting knowledge acquisition, skills and attributes rather than to ‘teaching to the test’.
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