Design and Know-how Affiliation’s imaginative and prescient paper requires curriculum overhaul The paper seeks to contextualise the decline of the topic, establish shortfalls throughout totally different phases of training and counsel options to implement at authorities degree.
The Design and Know-how (D&T) Affiliation has launched a imaginative and prescient paper titled Reimagining D&T, calling key stakeholders to motion to avoid wasting the topic from extinction.
Based mostly on two years of investigation and analysis, the imaginative and prescient paper makes each a social and financial case for investing within the topic and transforming its curriculum to make it extra related at the moment. Regardless of the UK being the primary nation to make design and know-how a obligatory a part of the varsity curriculum throughout the 1988 College Reforms, the paper means that it has been uncared for within the final decade.
In 2003, over 430,000 college students studied the topic at GSCE degree in comparison with final yr’s 78,000 GSCE entries, in keeping with the doc. The decline carries over into A Degree entries, which got here out at beneath 10,000 in 2022 in comparison with 20,000 in 2003. Equally, there was an enormous drop in certified D&T secondary lecturers, with the D&T Affiliation counting solely 6,500 final yr, diminished from round 15,000 in 2009.
Picture courtesy of the Design and Know-how Affiliation
Proof from the D&T Affiliation’s analysis reveals that the topic is roughly 4 years away from “curriculum obscurity” and faces extinction in areas with “excessive ranges of poverty”. It condemns coverage makers who place “low worth on scholar creativity” and questions the “tiers of topic efficiency” outlined by unfair measurements and assessments. The latter is particularly related in mild of the federal government’s just lately revealed plan to chop underperforming college programs.
The vison paper outlines the design economic system’s £97.4 billion GVA contribution to the UK economic system in 2019 in addition to the truth that, in 2020, 1.97 million folks have been working within the sector (1 in 20 employees within the UK). It additionally particulars that 77% of designers work in non-design sectors – resembling finance, retail and building – stressing that the decline of design training is not only the design trade’s downside.
Rebranding Design and Know-how
All through consultations for Reimagining D&T, the D&T Affiliation says it grew to become clear that the topic would require a “rebrand” from major training degree proper by to larger training. It provides {that a} new identify repeatedly got here up for the topic – Design, Engineering and Innovation – which higher summarises its “core epistemology”.
One other education-wide difficulty – which the Consortium of Native Schooling Authorities for the Provision of Science Tools (CLEAPSS) consulted on – is what future design studio school rooms will appear to be.
The imaginative and prescient paper additionally made recommendations particular to every stage of training.
KS1 and KS2 (age 5-11)
Regardless of the general development of decline, D&T has seen some progress at major college degree, (KS1 and KS2). The paper means that the continued progress at this degree may have a knock-on impact on secondary training in addition to advising that inexperienced economic system, round design, and design’s function in international sustainability targets must be “thoughtfully added to the curricula”.
KS3 (age 11-14)
The D&T Affiliation identifies the primary three years of secondary training (KS3) as the most important downside space. The paper says: “Too many faculties have settled right into a routine of ‘making issues’ the place the completion of the tip product is the primary goal”.
It says that “inadequate time and thought is dedicated to the educational structured inside these ‘making actions’,” which means that college students don’t find out about iterative design processes” and “human expertise” resembling downside fixing, creativity, and analytical considering. The report infers that, if KS3 college students knew extra about the advantages of a complete design and know-how training, they may be inspired to take the topic at GSCE degree.
Though there may be “an acceptance” that KS3 D&T can be taught by “a workforce that lacks deep topic information”, the paper highlights that lecturers must be supported in growing their information and expertise by CPD (Persevering with Skilled Improvement) programs and training “quite than by dumbing down the curriculum”.
KS4 and Examinations (age 14-16)
Non-Examined Evaluation (NEA) – a context-led evaluation for which college students establish a person, an issue and a short – continues to be favoured by D&T lecturers and college students. Nonetheless, the D&T Affiliation’s analysis means that an excessive amount of give attention to the NEA and written examination in Yr 11 is deterring college students from selecting the topic at A Degree.
In response, it has proposed “a collection of other evaluation strategies” and obtained suggestions on these recommendations from lecturers. Within the subsequent two years, the plan is to work with lecturers, awarding organisations, Ofqual, and different our bodies to determine on “other ways to evaluate the remaining 50% ofany qualification exterior the NEA”.
The paper additionally studies that many former D&T lecturers opted to maneuver to Artwork & Design, which it says is all the way down to an overloaded KS4 syllabus in D&T. The heavy content material load alongside restrictions to educating hours signifies that lecturers have to depart massive sections out of their educating, in hopes that it’ll not come up on the examination. The proposed resolution is to look carefully on the content material over the subsequent yr and refine the syllabus.
KS5 and past (age 16+)
Figuring out whether or not the D&T A Degree qualification is valued at an extra and better training degree is a part of the subsequent stage of the D&T Affiliation’s analysis. The Affiliation says: “We’ve got obtained little or no adverse suggestions from lecturers concerning the construction and information content material held inside the KS5 syllabus paperwork. This requires additional exploration and must be in contrast with outcomes from the above analysis.”
What can the Authorities do?
Although it’s a part of the STEM subjected group – which the Authorities has very publicly supported – D&T trainer coaching has traditionally not obtained the identical degree of bursary as Chemistry, Physics, Pc Science and Maths (at present £27,000), which the paper asks to be rectified. It additionally advocates for D&T-focused recruitment schemes, just like the Engineers Train Physics scheme funded by the federal government final yr.
Because of the trainer recruitment disaster, the D&T Affiliation additionally requests that the Authorities funds CPD coaching for all D&T lecturers in addition to funding the KS2 CAM (additive manufacturing initiative) which has been run by the Affiliation for the final 18 months.
Lastly, it asks the Division for Schooling to “actively interact with the Affiliation round these suggestions”, leading to “working paperwork”.
To this point, the imaginative and prescient paper has been backed by established trade names resembling Sir Jony Ive, Brompton Bicycle chief govt officer Will Butler-Adams, and chartered engineer Yewande Akinola. Ive accuses the federal government of “deprioritising” artistic topics since 2010, including that “it’s essential that authorities, enterprise leaders, educators and governing our bodies undertake the suggestions set out on this report”.
Butler-Adams reinforces that the worth design and know-how “as a core tenant of our training system”, whereas Akinola says that an improved D&T curriculum will lead to “a technology of thinkers who can bridge the hole between creativeness and sensible software, turning concepts into tangible options”.
The Affiliation says a letter can be launched imminently asking lecturers, dad and mom, trade and sector leaders to assist the imaginative and prescient paper by signing a petition, so it may be taken to Authorities.
In the meantime, the D&T Affiliation intends to ship on points of the imaginative and prescient that may be acted upon with out authorities intervention.
