What is the Design Mark?

The Design Mark is a quality standards framework developed jointly by the Design & Technology Association and the Design Council.

The Design Mark has two aims, to provide:

• a nationally recognised quality standards framework against which schools can evaluate their current practice in design education.
• schools with a means of both recognising and accrediting practice that meets a national quality standard for design education.

The Design Mark aims to identify and reward primary and secondary schools that are delivering high quality design education to their pupils. The outcomes of the Design Mark are:

• To promote higher standards in the quality of design education
• To help schools and pupils better understand the wider role of design in society
• For schools to develop closer links with professional design practice
• To raise the status of design in schools and local communities
• To provide schools with a framework to help them evaluate and self-review standards and practice.

The Design Mark is primarily a self review tool, with schools using an on-line quality standards framework to help them determine strengths and weaknesses in their provision. For most schools this will relate to design and technology teaching and learning, but the framework is designed to allow schools, should they wish to do so, to provide evidence from a broader range of subjects and also to demonstrate how design can impact on whole school issues.

For further details about the Design Mark, including the application process and costs, please download the Design Mark 09-10 Teacher Information document.

Background

Since 2002 there has been a Leading Primary Schools initiative which on a yearly basis identified 15 primary schools nationally that demonstrated good practice in D&T. These schools have been beacons of good practice and have been able to share their experiences with other schools and organisations in their area. In 2006/2007 this initiative was combined with the D&T Mark, with 15 primary schools across the country invited to take part in a programme similar to the Leading Primary Schools project, whilst at the same time being pilot schools for the D&T Mark.

Following a series of recommendations by the Design Council aimed at supporting the design industry and design education, they recommended the establishment of a design quality mark for secondary schools. As a result the Design and Technology Association, the DCFS and the Design Council collaborated on developing the D&T Mark into a Design Mark.

During 2007/2008 15 primary schools undertook the first pilot of the Design Mark and in 2008/2009 the Design Mark was piloted in secondary schools for the first time as well as primary schools. To date, 21 schools have been awarded the Design Mark. Details of these schools are shown on the website http://www.thedesignmark.org.

You might like to visit the Design Council where they have further information about the Design Mark, including a pdf with short case studies from some of the schools that have been awarded the Mark for the quality of their design teaching. http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/investment/Good-Design-Practice/Design-Mark/.

In addition, you might like to download a guide to running a design challenge in your school - http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/investment/Good-Design-Practice/Design-workshops-for-schools/.