Have Your Say on Curriculum
By Andrew Halliwell, Teacher of Design and Technology, Amanda Mason -Teacher of Design and Technology, Alison Hardy - Associate Professor, Teaching & Practice and Ciaran Ellis - Curriculum leader of Design and Technology.
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Reports frequently highlight a decline in design and technology (D&T) education in England, evident in decreasing student enrolment numbers and a shortage of trainee teachers. Intriguingly, there is a growing interest in the subject within independent and private schools.
The reason behind the decline in interest has initiated debates on the suitability of the current English D&T curriculum, as proposed by Professor David Spendlove (2021; 2023).
Should we allow the design of a new curriculum to be produced by politicians, policy writers, those who do not teach? Or should it be driven by the practicing teaching community, as argued by Professor Eddie Norman.
In a recent LinkedIn poll conducted by Dr. Alison Hardy, the majority of teachers who responded said they felt they were not represented when curriculum changes were proposed. This is why we, a group of practicing teachers, have been leading a project with Alison’s support in asking teachers to help us resolve some of the contentious areas of D&T.
Our project commenced in 2021 when Alison and Eddie initiated a discussion involving current and experienced D&T teachers. The goal was to reach a common ground on contentious issues related to the subject and its future.
Our project builds on this with the goal to collaboratively create a D&T curriculum through a design-based method, emphasising curriculum design, implementation, and structure over particular content. To achieve this, we need to pose questions and collect diverse responses to shape our understanding of how we, as D&T educators, envision delivering the subject.
The Project
Alison and Eddie compiled a list of 24 questions with no definitive answers. Alison promoted this initiative on her podcast, aiming to engage current D&T teachers to take charge of the project, as we are the ones on the front line.
After extensive research, multiple rounds of feedback, and thorough data analysis over several months, the original list of 24 questions was refined to 18. (see below)
Get involved!
We have already gathered some responses to the 18 questions from both primary and secondary teachers in England. But we need more! Your expertise is crucial!
Each teacher's interpretation of the National Curriculum can differ, just like opinions and perspectives. Your input can ensure that all educational contexts and communities are well-represented. To ensure we create a curriculum where the focus and intent is echoed across all schools, in other words a curriculum that does not need to be continuously changed.
You can present responses to one or more of the questions in various formats – written, spoken or drawn. We understand time is precious, so we are open to suggestions. We are currently planning a podcast series where we will talk to teachers about their answers to the questions. If you are interested in sharing your views on the podcast please do get in touch.
Follow any of us on LinkedIn where we are regularly posting the questions or send us an email/DM with your thoughts or questions.
The key focus is to give D&T teachers a voice! Join the conversation and make your input count.
The 18 questions; we all have our thoughts, why not share them?
1. Is D&T a vocational subject?
2. What does the 'technology' in design and technology mean?
3. Does D&T make a difference to industry?
4. Design: is it art or technology or science or humanity?
5. Does craft have a place in D&T?
6. Is there design knowledge?
7. What do we mean by skills in D&T?
8. Is there a core body of knowledge for D&T or is its knowledge drawn from other disciplines/ subjects?
9. Is making vital to D&T?
10. What is design thinking?
11. Do design decisions involve making value judgements?
12. Do children need to be skilful makers and modellers?
13. Should children make what they design?
14. Can you start a D&T project without knowing anything?
15. Do we teach transferrable skills in D&T?
16. Do you need a workshop? Or any specialist space?
17. Is the outcome more important than the process?
18. Can we assess design?
Find the link and podcast at https://dralisonhardy.com/
References
Spendlove, D 2023, Do No Harm 2.0. in The 40th International Pupils Attitudes Towards Technology Conference Proceedings . pp. 760-766.
Spendlove, D 2022, Why did design and technology education fail, and what might replace it? in A. Hardy (ed) Debates in Design and Technology Education. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003166689-7
Halliwell, A., Mason, A., Hardy, A. and Ellis, C.
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