Learning to Teach Design and Technology in the Secondary School is established as a core text for all those training to teach Design and Technology in the secondary school. It helps you develop subject knowledge, acquire a deeper understanding of the role, purpose and potential of Design and Technology within the secondary curriculum, and provides the practical skills needed to plan, teach and evaluate stimulating and creative lessons.
This third edition has been fully updated in light of the latest curriculum, policy and theory, as well as exciting changes in the field of design and technology. Designed to be read as a course or dipped into to for support and advice, it covers:
Developing areas of subject knowledge
Health and safety
Planning lessons
Organising and managing the classroom
Teaching and learning with digital technologies
Teaching wider issues through design and technology
Assessment issues
Your own professional development.
Bringing together insights from current educational theory and the best contemporary classroom teaching and learning, this book will prove an invaluable resource for all student and newly qualified teachers ā as well as their mentors - who aspire to become effective, reflective teachers.
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Yes, you can access Learning to Teach Design and Technology in the Secondary School by Gwyneth Owen-Jackson in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Education & Secondary Education. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Design and technology was first introduced to the school curriculum in England and Wales in 1989, for pupils aged 5ā16 years, and is now firmly established as an important part of the curriculum in many countries. It is, however, known by different names ā design and technology in England and Wales; design and technologies in Australia; technology in South Africa, New Zealand and elsewhere; technologies in Scotland; technology and design in Northern Ireland. This variety in nomenclature reflects the different perceptions of what the subject is, or could be. One important aspect, therefore, of studying design and technology and being a teacher of it is being clear about what it means and its purpose and value on the curriculum.
This chapter explores some definitions of design and technology and looks, briefly, at its history on the secondary school curriculum in England. It also considers the purpose of design and technology on the curriculum and what it contributes to pupilsā learning.
Objectives
By the end of this chapter you should:
be able to give a definition of design and technology
understand its historical development in England
be able to provide a rationale for design and technology on the school curriculum.
What is design and technology?
It has been said that āIn order for teachers to teach technology effectively it is necessary for them to have a well-developed understanding of technologyā (Forret et al. 2013: 166).
Task 1.1 Defining design and technology
Write down, in your own words, your definition or understanding of design and technology.
You have certainly chosen an interesting subject to teach. Design and technology has a complex history, deriving from craft traditions, linked to manufacturing and industrial practices, incorporating design work and embracing new technologies. But it is still a relatively new subject on the school curriculum compared to the traditional subjects of mathematics, English, history and the like, and as such it continues to develop and evolve.
Task 1.2 Comparing design and technology content
If possible, talk to a design and technology student teacher or newly qualified teacher from another school. Compare what is taught in design and technology in your school with the other school:
Are there similarities in the content of the topics?
Are the same materials, equipment and processes used?
How is the content structured and taught?
What are the differences, and what are the reasons for them?
When design and technology was first introduced onto the curriculum in England and Wales it was described as a subject in which pupils learn āto operate effectively and creatively in the made world. The goal is increased competence in the indeterminate zones of practiceā (DES/WO 1988: 3). Whilst appearing to define the subject by its outcomes there followed much discussion about what was meant by ādesign and technologyā. A number of definitions have emerged over time including:
D&T is an essentially practical activity, concerned with developing pupilsā confidence to tackle a variety of issues, drawing on a broad base of knowledge and skills. It is developed in response to perceived needs and opportunities, takes place within a context of specific constraints, depends upon value judgements at almost every stage and enables the individual to intervene to modify and improve his or her environment.
(Somerset County Council 1990: 113)
It is an active study, involving the purposeful pursuit of a task to some form of resolution that results in improvement (for someone) in the made world. It ā¦ uses knowledge and skills as a resource for action rather than regarding them as ends in themselves.
(Assessment of Performance Unit 1991: 17)
ā¦ [T]echnology is a distinct form of creative activity where human beings interact with their environment to bring about change in response to needs, wants and opportunities.
(Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum 1996: 3)
ā¦[prepares] young people to participate in a rapidly changing technological world. It enables them to understand how to think and intervene creatively to improve the world, combining their knowledge with understanding of aesthetics and function. It helps pupils to become discriminating and informed users of products [and] broadens their understanding of industrial production and commercial practices.
(Qualifications and Curriculum Authority 1999: 122)
ā¦ pupils combine practical and technological skills with creative thinking to design and make products and systems to meet human needs ā¦ solving problems as individuals and members of a team ā¦ pupils identify needs and opportunities. They respond with ideas, products and systems ā¦ They combine practical and intellectual skills with an understanding of aesthetic, technical, cultural, health, social, emotional, economic, industrial and environmental issues.
(Qualifications and Curriculum Authority 2007)
Technology ā the application of knowledge and skills to extend human capabilities and to help satisfy human needs and wants.
(Scotland Curriculum for Excellence 2011)
ā¦ students use design thinking and technologies to generate and produce designed solutions for authentic needs and opportunities.
(Australian curriculum 2014)
ā¦ Using creativity and imagination, pupils design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and othersā needs, wants and values. They acquire a broad range of subject knowledge and draw on disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art. Pupils learn how to take risks, becoming resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology, they develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world.
(Department for Education 2013)
Technology is intervention by design: the use of practical and intellectual resources to develop products and systems (technological outcomes) that expand human possibilities by addressing needs and realising opportunities. Adaptation and innovation are at the heart of technological practice. Quality outcomes result from thinking and practices that are informed, critical, and creative.
Technology makes enterprising use of its own particular knowledge and skills, together with those of other disciplines. Graphics and other forms of visual representation offer important tools for exploration and communication.
(New Zealand Curriculum Online 2014)
Task 1.3 Looking for common elements in design and technology
Read through the above definitions again, and list what you think are the common elements running through them.
These definitions range over time and are from different countries; they show how the subject has developed ā and also the different political imperatives at different times! Throughout the definitions, however, you should have been able to identify some common elements. Compare the list you drew up in Task 1.3 with the list below:
intellectual activity and practical activity
combining (broad) knowledge and skills
responsive to human needs and opportunities
consideration of values
leads to improvement in the made world.
Look back at Task 1.1 and see how many of the common elements from the above definitions were in your own definition. Do you now want to change your definition? What would your definition of design and technology include? Is this definition consistent with that of the curriculum you are required to teach?
Itās likely that Tasks 1ā3 have identified for you some of the different perceptions of design and technology. These differences have led to some problems for the subject, mainly a lack of clarity and understanding amongst teachers, pupils, parents and the wider community, which have influenced the expectations of learning and the status of the subject on the curriculum. This is true of other countries too; Gumaelius et al. (2013: 196) claim that in Sweden āthere is still no consensus regarding the content and practice of the subjectā. You will also see that the definitions broaden as the subject developed; pupils are expected to show or develop creativity, wider skills such as teamwork and risk-taking, and to situate technological developments within their contexts. This may help to lead you to an understanding of what design and technology is, and what it might be.
Other chapters in the book explore what the knowledge and skills specific to design and technology include (see Chapters 4ā9) and how it makes links with other subjects (see Chapter 15).
The definitions show that design and technology is continually changing. In order to understand the subject as it currently is on the curriculum you also need to understand how it developed.
The development of design and technology
Most countries, from the point at which they introduced state educational systems, have included some form of craft work on the curriculum, although this was not always offered to all pupils. The ācraftsā being taught were usually those of metalwork, woodwork and domestic work, in order to train pupils for manual or domestic labour or, in the case of girls, their future roles as housewives and mothers. In this form the subjects were concerned only with passing on to pupils traditional knowledge and skills. Pupils were required only to learn the knowledge, not to understand it, and to copy and practice the making skills.
From the mid-twentieth century, changes in society, such as the rise of feminism and equal opportunities, and changes in employment, industrialisation and computerisation, led to the need for people to develop different kinds of knowledge and skills. There were also changes in educational philosophies, with a move to more child-centred learning. These changes all had some impact on the craft curriculum. In the UK, metalwork and woodwork became...
