D and T Education provides professional support for Design and Technology education and other areas of the school curriculum.

Hugh Johnson's

D and T Education Blog

New courses at the Science Learning Centersfor

Design & Technology teachers

‘Teaching Tomorrow’s Designers & Technologists Today’ programme is a partnership between the national network of Science Learning Centres and the D&T Association.  It is an inspiring, high quality programme of CPD has been developed with the aims of stimulating a greater interest in Design & Technology (D&T) and encouraging students to continue studying the subject at KS4.

During the spring and summer terms, three courses will be running across the national network of Science Learning Centres:

Let’s Make it Move

Let’s Make it Work

Collaborative Learning in Science and Design & Technology

Each of the courses can be attended individually or have been designed to complement each other.  On completion of each course, you will receive a kit of resources for use in the classroom, enabling you to put your ideas into practice!

Impact Award:

Due to funding from DCSF, these courses qualify for an Impact Award worth £200 per day. Any teacher, lecturer or technician from a maintained school can apply. The money awarded can be used towards course fees, supply cover or to implement your ideas once back in the classroom.

For more information about the Impact Award please visit:

Impact Awards

Outcomes:

The main objectives of these courses will be to showcase innovative practical activities that involve modern technology which are easily transferable to the classroom.

The Benefits

To see the Benefits of taking part in this programme, click below:

The Benefits

Design and Technology with ICT Education

November 2009

Hugh Johnson presented a seminar at the Design and Technology with ICT Education Show with martin Chandler (AST entitled "Gaining support and supporting others".  This seminar was sponsored by the National Association of Advisors and Inspectors for Design and Technology (NAAIDT).

This seminar was aimed at teachers and others working to support the development of Design and Technology in schools e.g. ASTs, Lead Teachers, Teacher Educators and other school improvement professionals. The main topics covered were:  

• Professional skills and strategies for support
• Where to get support
• Identifying the issues
• Setting targets for improvement
• How do I fund and organise support?
• Keeping up to date

 Follow this link to see the PowerPoint presentation from the seminar:

Gaining support and supporting others

Health & safety training day for Derby City schools

November 2009

D and T Education Ltd organised a range of health & safety training courses for Derby City design and technology staff on the 2nd November at five schools in the Derby area.  The day was a common closure day for all the schools involved and 56 staff from 5 schools take part in the training which included (S1HS) Wood sawing machines and (S2HS) Centre lathe for metal cutting D&TA/TDA accredited training.

Paul Stanmoore from Woodlands School, Derby said he was:

" ... getting very good feedback from each of the schools."

and Richard Simcox (DT Woodlands School) said: 

"Just a quick note to thank you for the successful D&TA training session at Chellaston School, yesterday. All aspects needed were covered."

Class Size Petition

We have now received a response to the petition set up on the Prime Minister's Downing Street website calling for legislation to establish a class size limit for design and technology class in England.

Read Dowing Street's response to this petition by following this link:

Read the response to the Downing Street petition on D&T class sizes

Class Size Petition

The Design and Technology Association has set up a petition on the Prime Minister's Downing Street website to call for legislation to establish a class size limit for design and technology classes in England.

The petition reads:

‘We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to legislate, on the grounds of health and safety and in line with the laws already in place in Scotland and Northern Ireland, for a maximum class size of 20 at KS3 and 18 at KS4 to ensure the safe and effective teaching of design and technology in secondary schools in England and Wales.’

Sign up to this petition by following this link: Class size petition

West Midlands Digital Design and Technology Support Centre

at the

Design and Technology Show at the NEC 20th - 22nd November 2008

The West Midlands Digital Support Centre showcased the work of the new Digital DT programme by running a workshop at the NEC over the three days of the show.  THis gave visitors the opportunity to see the potential of integrating CAD/CAM and ECT courses, and the wide range of accessible processes available for use in the classroom.

The workshop was based on the highly successful pilot funded by the Teacher Development Agency in 2007 held at Finham Park School, Coventry.  The aim of this pilot was to develop innovative curriculum materials and CPD approaches and activities to explore how the technology available through CAD/CAM and ECT programme's can be used to support teachers developing integrated KS3 activities that involve designing and making functional electronic products to a high standard using CAD/CAM and PIC technologies.

Rapid Prototyping Courses

West Midlands Digital DT Support Centre runs Rapid Prototyping course for design and technology staff at Finham Park School, Coventry over two Saturday's leading up to Christmas.  The main focus of these two days was to look at how the new BST Dimension 3D Printer provided to all Digital DT support centre's can be used to produce enclosures for small electronic products.  The course also explored other potential uses of 3D printing technology within the design and technology curriculum.

... find out more

Digital Design and Technology Framework

The new Digital Design and Technology Framework is now available to view via the Department for Children and Families (DCFS) website.  The examples on this website are not restricted to the software available through the CAD/CAM in schools programme and illustrate the whole range of CAD/CAM software used in schools.

To submit examples of work from your own school follow this link: www.cadcamcurriculum.org

New KS3 Curriculum for Design and Technology

The new National Curriculum website has been expanded to include National Curriculum Online and National Curriculum in Action and is a useful starting point for information to help you introduce the requirements of the new curriculum.