Management

A Board of Trustees governs the D&T Association, with its members acting as directors of the company with one sub-committee: the Finance and General Purpose Committee.

The Chief Executive is responsible for the day-to-day management of the organisation, leading a team of 19 full-time and 5 part-time professional staff together with consultant support.

Four Member Working Groups, consisting of full-time D&T teachers or lecturers, together with a Corporate Member group guide the Association in specific areas of work.

The Association's membership administration, conference/event, publishing, consultancy and project management activities operate from offices at Wellesbourne, near Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire.

Chief Executive - Richard Green, MA

Richard joined the Design and Technology Association in January 2003 as Deputy Chief Executive and for 18 months was seconded part-time to contribute to the development of design and technology materials as part of the KS3 National Strategy. He was appointed D&T Association Chief Executive in November 2004.

After training at Goldsmiths, Richard taught in London and the South-East with promotion to head of the D&T department in a large comprehensive school before becoming the Adviser for D&T in the London Borough of Bromley. His work in this capacity involved him in providing advice, support and in-service training to teachers and senior managers in Primary, Secondary and Special schools.

He has also written and contributed to a wide range of D&T publications, been involved in research, acted as a consultant on TV programmes, worked as an Ofsted inspector, and initiated a number of projects linking D&T in schools to business and industry.

Deputy Chief Executive - Louise Davies, MA

Following six years at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority advising the DfES on D&T national curriculum and examinations, Louise joined the Design and Technology Association as Deputy Chief Executive in 2005. 

During her career she has held a number of leading posts in teaching, curriculum development and teacher training: Deputy Project Director, Royal College of Art Schools Technology Project; Senior Lecturer, D&T PGCE at Brunel, Bath, South Bank Universities and the Open University; Ofsted ITE Additional Inspector.

Louise has published over 40 D&T textbooks and edited a wide variety of multi-media resource materials, including most recently Challenging your most able pupils in D&T, Meeting SEN in D&T (David Fulton) , Bright Ideas: Food, Textiles and Product Design and 101 Red Hot Starters.

Assistant Chief Executive - Andy Mitchell, MA, BEd(Hons)

Andy came to the Design and Technology Association in 2005 from Sheffield Hallam University (SHU).

For nine years he was a Senior and Principal Lecturer at the Centre for D&T Education. He taught in Initial Teacher Education at both SHU and the Open University and at SHU was responsible for establishing the MA in D&T Education and other CPD schemes for teachers. Prior to this he taught D&T and was a subject leader in several schools in London and Derbyshire.

During his career he has contributed to a number of publications and was co-author of the TEP Millennium Schools Project series.

Support for Primary D&T

Over the last three years the Association has been very fortunate to have employed and drawn on the support of two of this country’s leading experts in primary D&T – Gareth Pimley and Julie Lunt. From September 2011 both have been working as freelance consultants but that does not mean that the Association is losing their expertise or that primary D&T is no longer being prioritised by the Association. 

Julie is continuing to lead on the development of the Association’s new primary website. We believe both of these are fundamental to supporting primary schools with practical teaching ideas and making our resources as accessible as possible.
Like Julie, Gareth has never stopped providing support for the Association and his work in responding to national consultations and initiatives has been critical in ensuring the profile of D&T remains high in the DfE and with other key stakeholders such as the Cambridge Primary Review and the National Curriculum Review.

Drawing on the combined experience of Gareth and Julie, the Association’s work in primary D&T will continue to move forward, building on the solid foundations they, and many others within the primary D&T community, have established over the years. Richard Green, Chief Executive of the D&T Association will be working closely with Gareth, Julie and the Primary Working Group to ensure support for primary D&T continues to be a main priority for the Association. The Association will also be seeking to maximise the involvement of others with primary expertise in this work. If you would like to be involved in developing and supporting our work in primary schools please let us know.