Wednesday 27 July 2016

All publicity is good - right?



Recently there has been a couple of articles about D&T, and whilst its great to see D&T getting a mention after much sidelining (and ignorance) from the media, I do have some reservations.

Last year I wrote an article for The Conversation about the ongoing decline in GCSE D&T entries, which Ross McGill (@TeacherToolkit) eloquently follows up this year highlighting the further decline in numbers. Unfortunately the Schools Week headline misrepresents Ross’ arguments but Ross swiftly corrects in the ‘comments’ section.

Steve Parkinson (@iamparksy), new Assistant Head at UTC Leeds and D&T teacher, explains the five changes to the GCSE D&T: contexts not briefs, appropriate materials not silos, emerging technologies (great blogging by David Barlex and Torbeen Steeg about these), iterative design and equal balance between exam and NEA. Perfectly summarised by Steve. Good D&T teachers and departments will have been doing the first four of these for years.

But it is yesterday’s article that set my alarm bells ringing: 87 MPs demand inclusion of subject in EBacc as a science option. And this makes me twitch for two reasons.

Firstly D&T is not a science subject (nor an art subject for that matter). Whilst this confuses some who want to pigeon-hole knowledge into disciplines, in my opinion it is a strength of D&T. It is a subject that draws on other subjects disciplinary knowledge and uses it to inform design thinking, the appropriate selection materials and understanding contexts, as well as enabling us to consider how and why we might make use of emerging technologies. 

Secondly the letter claims that ‘bolstering the Design and Technology GCSE with inclusion in the EBacc [would be] an important step towards addressing the skills shortage’ - really? This causal link between D&T (and its earlier subject forms),  science and IT has been repeatedly made since the 1962 Crowther Report and Harold Wilson’s technological revolution speech in 1964 (MacCulloch, Jenkins and Layton 1985) yet in all of my literature searching for my PhD I have yet to find any empirical evidence for this. This is not say that there is no correlation (easier to claim than causation) but the MPs claim puts D&T in a conundrum - is GCSE D&T part of a broad and balanced curriculum for all pupils? Or is it a specialist qualification for those who want to work in design, manufacturing and engineering industries. 

Whilst considering the MPs letter it is important to remember why the Ebacc exists - three reasons were given but the one relevant here is that the Ebacc gives all pupils access to a broad and academic curriculum (Education Select Committee 2011). The five ‘subjects’ have been set put as providing the essential knowledge all pupils need a part of a general education - an education for all. But the letter justifies GCSE D&T being part of the Ebacc because it will address a skills gap in 'design, manufacturing and engineering’ industries. The implicit argument for GCSE D&T's inclusion is that it will equip young people for jobs in these industries. But not all pupils want to work in these industries, nor does the UK need them to. Therefore the argument for including D&T in the Ebacc is that it is a ‘specialist’ qualification - for some not for all - which is not what the Ebacc is set up to do.

In my view GCSE D&T cannot do both and be in the Ebacc. For me D&T is an essential part of a broad and balanced curriculum for all pupils, some of whom may go on to D&T-related occupations. Before we get to excited about the (remote) possibility of GCSE D&T in the Ebac we need to decide and agree what the purpose of D&T is. Maybe this could be a start for the discussion:

D&T’s unique contribution to pupils’ learning is developing their ‘capability to operate effectively and creatively in the made world’ (Parkes Report 1988, p.3)

or you might find this blogpost a useful starting point: What's the point of D&T?


References

Department for Education and Science and the Welsh Office, 1988. National Curriculum Design and Technology Working Group Interim Report [The Parkes Report]. London: DES.

Education Select Committee, 2011.  The English Baccalaureate. London: House of Commons

McCulloch, G., Jenkins, E.W. and Layton, D., 1985. Technological revolution?: The politics of school science and technology in England and Wales since 1945. Routledge.