Articles
In recent years, being disparaging about the UK education system has become all too easy. Taking pot shots at our schools and colleges has turned into something of a national pastime and has, perhaps, distorted the true picture.
The fact is that, while our education system is far from perfect, there are aspects of it that are world-leading. The teaching of design and technology (D&T) is one such success, with the best of our schools now the envy of the world.
Recently, in fact, educationalists and business leaders from nations including China, South Korea and Singapore have flocked to the UK to learn from the best of our D&T schools. These are nations that score highly in the Pisa international educational league tables, and they are coming here to learn from us. I can think of no better evidence of the success of our D&T teaching.
There is more to this than simply celebrating our achievements, however. D&T helps to create the entrepreneurs, engineers, computer scientists and designers of the future and is therefore directly tied to the economic success of the nation. So it is vital that we are not only proud of our success in the teaching of the subject, but that we build on it.
What makes the best of UK D&T so special is that it focuses on design, problem solving, teamwork and good communication, in addition to developing skills in, for example, CAD, nutritional analysis and practical hand and machine skills.
Crucially, it is the former set of skills that are most important to modern businesses. Technical skills can be relatively easily learned on the job, but the ingrained soft skills and problem-solving mindset that good D&T education imparts are much more valued and need to be taught from a young age.
As the new national curriculum comes into force in England later this year, we are therefore keen that schools take the opportunity to look again at their D&T schemes of work – drawing inspiration from our best schools to create classes that combine soft and hard skills in a way that industry values. It is something that the Design & Technology Association is passionate about, and we will be looking to support teachers with training and resources to help ensure they can do this.
With investment, professional development and support, we believe that teachers will be better prepared to plan and teach a modern D&T curriculum that is relevant to all students and to the needs of industry. Indeed, alignment with the needs of businesses will in the long run be a key determinant of success. This is because businesses don’t operate within subject disciplines but instead require the practical application of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, along with other attributes, including employability factors.
In D&T lessons, students have the opportunity to work in this way too – working in teams, taking risks, taking leadership roles and being creative are all attributes they make use of when designing products in class. Indeed, we would argue that if we are to build on our position as world leaders in the teaching of D&T, schools should look to partner with businesses.
When schools have the benefit of an industry partner to set a real brief, participate in teaching and learning, gain insights into real careers and support the development of technical skills, the experience gained through D&T will only be enhanced. It is to enable such partnerships that we have launched our Skills Gap Programme.
The result of such business partnerships will not just be better-trained teachers and better-educated students, it will also see a future workforce that can contribute more than ever to our national culture and economy, giving our businesses a clear competitive advantage.
In recent years, the UK has earned a reputation for being great at starting things but poor at building on them and profiting from them. We lost our early leadership in computing and car design to other nations. We must work now to ensure that the same does not happen to our D&T education and that we fully exploit our leading position.