Design Technology
Design Technology sets out the knowledge, understanding and skills required to undertake the iterative design process of exploring, creating and evaluating. The foundation of this subject lies in the powerful iterative design process as defined by design agencies such as IDEO. Additionally, the subject is enhanced by a focusing on Human Centred Design, exploring new and emerging technologies, (such as those being developed by Neri Oxman at MIT), and working within the context of the profound ideas of The Circular Economy and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Curriculum Aims
Our curriculum aims for Design Technology are framed around the National Curriculum and the exam specifications we follow and is rich, broad and varied and carefully sequenced.
Our aim is to support students to engage with wider influences on Design Technology including historical, social, cultural, environmental and economic factors in order to become more inquisitive about the wider world in which they live;
Students will have the opportunity, across the rotations within Years 7 and 8, to work creatively when designing and making and apply technical and practical expertise across the four key disciplines of graphics, Food, DT and Textiles – considering both domestic and industrial contexts.
Students will undertake a range of written and practical activities that allow them to critique, evaluate and test their own ideas and products alongside the work of others.
Curriculum Design
Our evolving curriculum design has been influenced by a range of articles within a series of publications of Design and Technology Education: An International Journal. The curriculum has also been designed to focus on the value of the iterative design methodology of the technology research unit at Goldsmiths College with the aim of preparing students to participate confidently and successfully in an increasingly technological world. Students will build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users.
Health and safety is paramount and each set of tasks allow students the opportunity to study the use of equipment, see them demonstrated in the correct manner and engage in safe practices, thus developing their own proficiency in creating a range of products safely.
The Design and Technology curriculum introduces the design process in Year 7 and 8 across a number of specific disciplines on a timetable rotation. Students are supported in moving from exploring ideas through to design development and manufacture, finalising projects with evaluation of physical outcomes. Our students will learn the properties of various graphic, textiles and resistant materials in specialist settings through a variety of practical tasks based in both domestic and industrial contexts.
As the curriculum spirals into Key Stage 4 students will build upon the skills introduced through their Key Stage 3 projects and have the opportunity to study specialist technical principles in depth, guiding them to participate confidently and successfully in an increasingly technological world. Students will study core technical and designing and making principles, including a broad range of design processes, materials techniques and equipment. Students also have the opportunity to study specialist technical principles in greater depth. September 2024 will see us introduce the KS5 qualification – A level product Design, and this will allow our passionate designers to continue their subject studies beyond GCSE.
Tasks are engaging and exciting whilst also providing opportunities for an understanding of ethical and sustainable design and how our practices affect the environment and world around us.
Please click the link to view our Design Technology Curriculum Year Overview
Future Pathways and Next Steps
Through the study of Design Technology we aim to unlock each students' potential and inspire them to achieve excellence by being the best they can be. We want to support them to make an essential contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of the nation, through such future opportunities as:
University Degrees: Graphic Design, Mechanical Engineering, Textiles and Fashion
Apprenticeships: Furniture Maker, Stonemason
Careers: Cartographer, Civil Engineer, CAD Technician, Computer Programmer, Fashion Designer, Jewellery Designer, Museum/Gallery Curator, Sound Engineer, Textile Designer, 3D Animator
Students can find out more about the subject and careers above by logging into their Unifrog account at https://www.unifrog.org/sign-in and using the Subject Library and Careers Library tools.