D&T Association Blog

GCSE and GCE Design and Technology developments: where are we?

11th May 2015

There is no doubt about it, keeping up with the changes and possible implications for the future direction of design and technology (D&T) and related qualifications is challenging. The Awarding Or...

Written by: Andy Mitchell

TenX Thinking

2nd February 2015

Design over the years has tended to move in small, comfortable steps. Motor vehicle design for example began by firstly emulating carriages using spoked, wooden wheels and ‘coach-built’ bodies, then g...

Written by: Willy Adam

Chinese schools get a lesson from Britain

12th January 2015

While China has excellent academic results, the British curriculum has the upper hand with design – it's a shame our Government doesn't recognise this, says Richard Green The transformation of China...

Written by: Richard Green

3-D Printing Will Change the World. How will it change D&T?

26th November 2014

Updated Wednesday 26/11/2014 This 3D-printed art looks amazing NASA creates history by successfully 3D printing first object in space Updated Wednesday 31/10/2014 HP joins the world of 3D pr...

Written by: Andy Mitchell

Are you really teaching D&T?

4th August 2014

Are you really teaching D&T? Or are children getting a poorly conceived, watered down version of the subject, asks Gareth Pimley, lead primary consultant for the Design and Technology Associatio...

Written by: Gareth Pimley

D&T Summer School @ Loughborough Design School

15th July 2014

After a crazy few months of planning, our exciting new D&T Summer School ran on the 11th & 12th July 2014 at Loughborough University Design School. Over 160 teachers attended from across the c...

Written by: Debbie Woodbridge

Want a job? We need D&T teachers!

12th May 2014

The most important educational resource of all is a supply of dedicated, highly skilled, motivated and committed teachers. This is never more the case than when it comes to the teaching design and tec...

Written by: Andy Mitchell

What do you think?

8th May 2014

You buy our resources, you use them... now tell us about the outcomes. What have your students done? Did everything go according to plan? If you have any comments about the resources on our website, p...

Written by: Willy Adam

Five wonder materials that could change the world

24th April 2014

Materials such as graphene and shrilk are so new that the scientists who discovered them hardly know what to do with them – they only know they might yet transform our lives. The recent Guardian arti...

Written by: Richard Green

Nanotechnology – Small really is beautiful

26th March 2014

Trying to keep up with the latest advances in technologies can be a daunting and never-ending quest, and it is often tempting to take stock and try to understand what we have, rather than chase the la...

Written by: Willy Adam

Big Bangs and damp squibs

13th March 2014

Design and technology has been in the news a lot over the last couple of days - or should I say, design and technology should have been in the news a lot! First was the CBI report, 'Engineering our fu...

Written by: Richard Green

So how are we going to assess it?

5th March 2014

Andy Mitchell highlights the concern being expressed by schools regarding assessment following the removal of levels. However you look at them, solar panels retro fitted to house pitched roofs don’t...

Written by: Andy Mitchell

What’s new... and how to deal with it

12th February 2014

Most of us are now aware of the changes to design and technology resulting from the National Curriculum review in England, but just how well are we doing in terms of preparing for implementing these c...

Written by: Willy Adam

Wouldn't it be nice if...

30th January 2014

With a new KS1-3 curriculum in place for September we know that the next challenge appearing over the horizon will be the review of GCSE qualifications. Ofqual have been tasked to do this and it is al...

Written by: Richard Green

Safety in numbers, one, two, three

23rd January 2014

We’re really pleased with the fact that since September last year, we have achieved a 26% rise in the number of teachers and other related professionals working in the world of design and technology h...

Written by: Debbie Woodbridge