D&T Association membership rates
The Association has taken the decision to increase membership rates from September. This is the first rise for nearly five years, and renewing members will already have had notification, with notices also posted in D&T Practice, D&T Stream and Designing earlier this year. The Association generates much of its income through membership and contracts, and to maintain the exceptional value for members in the range of publications and services we provide to each category, it has been necessary to bring in these rate rises to cover costs and to continue to develop services.
We are sure that you will agree that membership still provides excellent value for money. Primary school membership will now be £39 and Secondary membership £72. Trainee teachers will pay £19. There will also be small rises in other membership categories. NQT members will continue to get a discount on membership, and will now also receive a valuable free Survival Guide in their NQT year.
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GCSE Design and Technology Results 2010
D&T still the most popular optional subject!
The Design and Technology Association wish to congratulate all of the GCSE design and technology (D&T) students for their excellent examination results this year.
Once again more pupils chose to study GCSE D&T than any other optional subject. The total entry for GCSE Product Design is 12.6% up on last year. In line with the overall rise in the pass rate, D&T A* - C grades are also up by over 1%. This, taken with the rise by 32% in numbers entered for physics and chemistry, show that today’s youngsters are voting with their feet and thinking about how they want to contribute to the technological world in which they live. But we should not be surprised. Young people are increasingly product focussed and aware of the need to develop new and innovative products and systems which they learn to do when designing and making the wide variety of products possible in D&T.
“It’s no wonder so many pupils opt to take a D&T GCSE. Young people enjoy the opportunity it gives them to apply the skills and knowledge acquired in through the subject and other subjects in real, meaningful and interesting ways. They like coming up with practical solutions to real life problems and using a wide range of skills to design and make functioning quality products,” commented Andy Mitchell Assistant Chief Executive of the Design and Technology Association. He added:
“They are aware of the James Dysons and Jonathan Ives and the reputation that the UK has for world famous designers and technologists. And they want to be part of it.”
The full press release is available here.
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A and AS level Design and Technology Results 2010
Increase of 35% in student numbers taking the subject over the past 10 years
Congratulations to all design and technology (D&T) students for their excellent examination results this year, which has seen an unprecedented number of students taking A and AS Level D&T (19,965 and 27,492 respectively), representing a 15% increase in the A level numbers and a 23% increase at AS Level. Over the last 10 years the number studying A level D&T has increased by 35%.
“D&T is the most popular optional subject at GCSE, so these A level increases do not surprise us. Students tell us the choose it because they see the relevance to their lives, they enjoy the opportunity to develop their own ideas and apply maths and science in practical ways.” commented Louise Davies, Deputy Chief Executive of the Design and Technology Association
Eddie Norman, Professor of Design Education Loughborough Design said today: “It has never been more important for all those in a democratic society to have a personal understanding of how the future is created. Designing through modelling is the key to understanding how preferred futures are brought about, and for learning to challenge such preferences. The increased take up of D&T at A level is important, both for general education, and the future of the design industry.”
The full press release is available here.
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Sir James Dyson - Promoting D&T in the DT
"Britain needs to copy the French and love its engineers"
In an article published in The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday 27 July Sir James Dyson has emphasised the importance of engineers and why he believes design and technology must take prominence in the curriculum, alongside science and maths, in order to create generations of resourceful, resilient, creative free-thinkers to become the future inventors and engineers we need if we're to compete with China and India.
Had it been around when he was at school Sir James has stated that design and technology would have been his favourite subject and that our world leadership in D&T is:
“Something to be proud of, it's not the O-level woodwork of yesteryear with wonky letter holders and toast racks. It's the opportunity for children to be creative and logical. To use their hands and brains. It's vocational (let's not be snobby, everyone needs a vocation), artistic and academic. There's science (electronics), and maths (geometry) in it. You can't design out of a textbook. Often it's a shot in the dark. You have to try, and you have to fail. It's about solving problems and creating things that work beautifully. And it's exhilarating when you get it right. No wonder it's one of the most popular subjects on the curriculum.”
With a curriculum review by the new government imminent, he says:
“We've a great deal of latent talent in Britain, but we've lost our edge. Our science exams are too easy. Our children should be free to experiment, not be mollycoddled with the red tape of health and safety. They have brilliant, enquiring and open minds which become engrossed in creating and making.” “...So, let's make cuts. But let's invest too, sowing seeds that will deliver the people and projects we'll so desperately need in the not so distant future.”
Read the full article here
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Winner of KS4-KS5 ‘Engineering Elegance’ design a technical dress for Kate Bellingham challenge announced
Dress to be made by CuteCircuit, designers of Katy Perry’s
famous LED dress, and to appear on Teachers TV
Abigail Williams from Amman Valley School, Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, has been announced as the winner of the Engineering Elegance textiles technology challenge, created by the Design and Technology Association working in collaboration with TV presenter, Kate Bellingham, and Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz, founders of London-based wearable technology fashion company, CuteCircuit, who created Katy Perry's LED dress.
The challenge, for all design and technology students at KS4 and KS5 (ages 14-18), was to design a dress, working to Kate’s personal client specification,
which demonstrates the integration of electronics and textiles, e-textiles, for Kate to wear as she hosts the British Engineering Excellence Awards (BEEA) event in October at The Globe Theatre in London.
Kate Bellingham was delighted by the outcome. She said:
"As National STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) Careers Ambassador, I often find myself talking about the importance of D&T and the links with engineering. Soon I'll be able demonstrate this in practice, with a truly unique designer dress. Textiles has moved on so much from when I was at school and I'm sure there are many others who hadn't recognised the role of textiles in D&T, engineering and beyond. I'm delighted to have a chance to be able to demonstrate this through the 'Engineering Elegance' dress, designed by a student and developed and made by a cutting edge fashion and technology company. I can't wait to start wearing it!"
Richard Green, Chief Executive of the Design and Technology Association, said:
“The success of this Challenge, and the quality of the winning design, highlights the creativity and technical expertise of students studying design and technology. It’s a powerful combination that is essential for the UK in the current economic situation.”
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D&T Week Actuation Design Engineering Challenge for KS3-KS4 – Winners
For D&T Week this year we set a challenge, based on the Honda ‘cog’ TV commercial, for students at KS3-KS4 to design a one-minute actuation sequence, using a standard golf ball, then to film it in action and submit the results.
The requirements were that: the track should convey one golf ball, with no outside assistance, on a journey that lasts exactly one minute, from one point to another, using as many ingenious mechanisms as possible to control its passage, to be filmed in a single take.
The panel of judges, which consisted of Association trustees Mike Ive, Tim Lewis and Andy Cooper, awarded marks to the entrants based on each mechanism successfully incorporated into the track, creativity and inventiveness and entertainment value.
Thank you to all the schools who participated in this tricky challenge and congratulations to this year’s winning schools, which are:
- KS3 – Hereford School, Grimsby
- KS4 – King’s School, Macclesfield
Each school will receive a 3,447-piece K’NEX Simple Machines Deluxe Set, very kindly supplied by the challenge sponsor, Data Harvest.
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Sign up to join the YOUNGDESIGNCLUB
The Sorrell Foundation is launching the YOUNGDESIGNCLUB, to give pupils and their teachers an exciting new resource to inform and stimulate knowledge and debate about design.
The YOUNGDESIGNCLUB is free to UK primary and secondary schools, to run in lunch breaks or as an after-school activity. It will provide a growing menu of over 100 exciting design stories, featuring designs from a wide range of disciplines and interviews with the designers themselves. The flexible resources (print, Powerpoint, film and audio, available as downloads) will support a presentation followed by a discussion between the pupil club members, who can then produce their own design crit in response. The best of these will be published by the YOUNGDESIGNCLUB and annual awards will be presented at a ceremony at Somerset House, London.
Teachers who run a YOUNGDESIGNCLUB will have priority to arrange a club/school visit to the YOUNG DESIGN CENTRE at Somerset House, London. Here, you and your pupils will have an interactive experience about design and how it affects young peoples lives, including an exhibition, film, workshops and the opportunity to extend your visit to the Southbank Centre (Royal Festival Hall, British Film Institute, Tate Modern, London Eye).
Inspiring young people to develop their skills as clients, consumers and critics of design has never been more important and the YOUNGDESIGNCLUB aims to do this, as well as to open up pathways into the design and creative industries.
Register interest now
The YOUNGDESIGNCLUB will start operating in January 2011 but before then we will contact you in September, with detailed information, if you register your interest now. Please follow the link to our easy to complete form at www.youngdesignclub.com
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