Hardy Patt2016: An assortment box of D&T values
Download as PPTX, PDF2 likes833 views
This document summarizes research into perceptions of the purpose and structure of Design and Technology (D&T) as a school subject in England. Interviews with students and D&T teachers at two schools found differing views on D&T's unique identity and purpose. Some saw it as teaching vocational skills for careers, while others emphasized general life skills. Teachers viewed D&T as developing specialized design knowledge and skills, while national policy saw it as having insufficient coherence as an academic subject. There remains debate around D&T's role in the curriculum and what constitutes its core body of knowledge.
![Analysis (D&T, skills and knowledge)
• Uniqueness of D&T:
• 84 responses (D&T) c.f. 15 responses (other subjects)
• 56/84 – Critiquing products, impact on the world’s environment
• Mundane or generic knowledge and skills:
• 84 responses (D&T) c.f. 77 responses (competency & skills)
Teacher 1: I guess every design - well I would have thought every design has its purpose.
So you've got to think about how a product is going to be used [competency].
Facilitator: Does that come from D&T? Or is that something that D&T contributes?
Teacher 1: Yeah, I think it does because I think if they're looking at items and how they can
be modified and changed and developed and ripped apart and made again in a different
way [specialist knowledge]. Yeah, I think it does come from designing and D&T.’
An example of horizontal and vertical discourse (Bernstein 1999)](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/hardypatt2016-160821084350/85/Hardy-Patt2016-An-assortment-box-of-D-T-values-14-320.jpg)
Hardy Patt2016: An assortment box of D&T values
- 1. An assortment box of views: different perceptions of D&T’s purpose and structure Alison Hardy Nottingham Trent University
- 2. Overview • Context: National policy & subject change • Knowledge & school subjects • Research aim & method • Findings: uniqueness of D&T, competency and skills, links to other subjects • Analysis: Disciplinary coherence, different selection box?
- 3. National policy • A review of the National Curriculum in 2011 • D&T should only form part of a basic curriculum • Content should be informed by local context (Department for Education, 2011) • D&T has an insufficient disciplinary coherence • A rewritten National Curriculum in 2013 • Introduction of the English Baccalaureate (Ebacc) - a new performance measure for schools1
- 4. Disciplinary coherence & knowledge • Strong, disciplinary coherent subjects • Clear form of knowledge with facts and principles interpreted by the government as traditional academic subjects, such as maths and science. • Strongly defined boundary between itself and other subjects (Bernstein, 2000) • Strongly defined knowledge, which is ‘sacred, … not ordinary or mundane’ (Bernstein, 2003, p.73) • Powerful knowledge is not everyday knowledge or non-school knowledge (Young & Muller 2013) • ‘General, all-purpose knowledge’ (Hirsch, 2006, p.12)
- 5. D&TA campaigns • D&T’s unique contribution: • technological understanding • design thinking • evaluation of products & services • skills for life
- 7. Research aim • Interviews in two English schools asking ‘Why should D&T be taught in school?’ • Students and two D&T teachers from each school • Between March and May 2014, after the curriculum review and between the two D&TA campaigns Method: participants • Show that the view of D&T of D&T teachers and pupils is also unclear and therefore the subject has weak classification
- 8. Thematic coding 1. The uniqueness of D&T: 1. Defined in curriculum documentation 2. Vocational content that (could) lead to D&T related careers – economic purpose 2. Competency or skills: 1. Generic skills 2. Domestic skills 3. Other subjects and their content 1. Knowledge from other subjects/ disciplines 2. Relationship with other subjects
- 9. Responses to all themes 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 D&T Competency & skills Other subjects Students D&T teachers Total D&T Competency & skills Other subjects Students 29 34 4 D&T teachers 55 43 11 Total 84 77 15
- 10. Theme 1: Unique identity of D&T 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Vocational curriculum D&T National Curriculum Students D&T teachers Total Vocational curriculum D&T National Curriculum Students 18 11 D&T teachers 10 45 Total 28 56
- 11. Theme 2: Competency and skills Ways of learning Being a citizen Skills for life Students 0 1 33 D&T teachers 7 10 26 Total 7 11 59 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Ways of learning Being a citizen Skills for life Students D&T teachers Total
- 12. Division of skills for life theme 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Skills to look after yourself Transferrable skills Personal development Students D&T teachers Total Skills to look after yourself Transferrable skills Personal development Students 22 6 5 D&T teachers 10 16 0 Total 32 22 5
- 13. Theme 3: Other subjects 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Learning about materials Links to other subjects Students D&T teachers Total Learning about materials Links to other subjects Students 0 4 D&T teachers 8 3 Total 8 7
- 14. Analysis (D&T, skills and knowledge) • Uniqueness of D&T: • 84 responses (D&T) c.f. 15 responses (other subjects) • 56/84 – Critiquing products, impact on the world’s environment • Mundane or generic knowledge and skills: • 84 responses (D&T) c.f. 77 responses (competency & skills) Teacher 1: I guess every design - well I would have thought every design has its purpose. So you've got to think about how a product is going to be used [competency]. Facilitator: Does that come from D&T? Or is that something that D&T contributes? Teacher 1: Yeah, I think it does because I think if they're looking at items and how they can be modified and changed and developed and ripped apart and made again in a different way [specialist knowledge]. Yeah, I think it does come from designing and D&T.’ An example of horizontal and vertical discourse (Bernstein 1999)
- 15. Analysis (D&TA campaign) • Teachers: only 18% responses focus on D&T’s contribution to the economy & STEM • D&TA campaign: ‘D&T has much to offer across a wide range of career paths in engineering, manufacturing and the creative industries.' • Students: 1/3 responses about skills for life, particularly learning how to cook • D&TA campaign: ‘young people develop a range of skills and personal qualities which will support them through life – and are valued by employers. These skills include independence, team working, resilience, resourcefulness, risk taking and entrepreneurship.’
- 16. Conclusion • Is D&T part of a general education? • What is the ‘sacred’ and specialised D&T knowledge? • Current students will be parents of future students – repeating the same messages • Teachers values need to be understood – subcultural retreat (Paetcher 1995)
- 17. References • Bernstein, B. (1999). Vertical and horizontal discourse: An essay. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 20(2), 157-173. • Bernstein, B. (2000). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity: Theory, research, critique (Rev ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Lanham, Maryland : Rowman and Littlefield. • Bernstein, B. (2003). Class, codes and control vol.3: Towards a theory of educational transmissions Routledge. • Department for Education. (2011). The framework for the national curriculum. A report by the expert panel for the national curriculum review. London: Department for Education. • Design and Technology Association. (2015). Designed and made in Britain...? Retrieved from http://bit.ly/1n1vm9J • Hirsch, E. D. (2006). The knowledge deficit: Closing the shocking education gap for American children. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. • Paechter, C. (1995). Subcultural retreat: Negotiating the design and technology curriculum. British Educational Research Journal, 21 (1), 75-87. • Young, M., & Muller, J. (2013). On the powers of powerful knowledge. Review of Education, 1(3), 229-250.