NAAIDT: Incorporating Industry

	The Design and Technology Curriculum
	Curriculum Policies
	Curriculum Planning

Curriculum Planning for D&T at Key Stage 4: Incorporating Industry Related Work

A Guide for D&T Teachers and their Industry Partners

The Design and Technology Curriculum:

The Core Requirements, for national curriculum design and technology, describe what must be taught to all pupils (post 1996) in key stage four (15 and 16 year olds).

The Core Requirements, when combined with GCSE Criteria, provide the basis for a range of short and full courses which will be accredited in a variety of ways (currently short and full GCSE courses, but likely to include vocational qualifications in the future).

A short course will typically occupy 5% curriculum time over two years and a full GCSE course 10%.

The Order for design and technology sets out the Programme of Study of what must be taught in terms of designing, making, planning and evaluating skills together with knowledge and understanding of materials and components, systems and control, products and applications, quality and health and safety.

Under the heading of Making Skills, pupils should be taught:

a range of industrial applications for a variety of familiar materials and processes;
the difference between quality control and quality assurance;
how products are manufactured in quantity, including the application of quality control and quality assurance techniques;
how computer-aided manufacture (CAM) is used both in manufacturing in quantity and in the production of single items and small batches;
to simulate production and assembly lines;
to produce and use detailed working schedules that will achieve the desired objectives, setting realistic deadlines for the various stages of manufacture, identifying critical points in the making process and providing alternatives to possible problems.

For assessment purposes, design and technology is arranged under two Attainment Targets: Designing and Making. These will be weighted in the ratio 40:60.

A range of activities is specified to include:

assignments in which pupils design and make products, (taken together these assignments should require activity related to industrial practices and the application of systems and control);
focused practical tasks in which they develop and practice particular skills and knowledge;
activities in which pupils investigate, disassemble and evaluate familiar products and applications.

The common requirements for design and technology, covering all Key Stages, require that pupils should be given opportunities, where appropriate, to develop and apply their Information Technology (IT) capability in their study of design and technology.

The Order states:

"Design and technology capability requires pupils to combine their designing and making skills with knowledge and understanding, in order to design and make products."

Curriculum Policies for Design and Technology

A policy may be described as a set of guidelines that provide a framework for achieving a purpose or goal. Policies should relate to school and department Development Plans.

Policies for design and technology should take into account whole school policies where appropriate. They should specify, in general terms, the shared understanding for the teaching of design and technology, its purposes and how these will be achieved as an entitlement for all pupils. They should guide everything which goes on the department and which pupils do in the name of design and technology.

Accompanying the policies should be agreed Implementation Plans which identify targets, timescales and responsibilities to translate the policies into teaching and learning actions.

Policies should be short, be written in simple language and represent the consensus view of all staff affected by them. Evaluation and review should take place on a regular basis.

The aim of short policies can be achieved by having separate policies for different aspects of design and technology. A separate policy on Links with Industry is such an example.

Will a designated member of staff be responsible for Industry Links?
Who should be involved in the writing of this policy?
Will the writers be confined to the school staff?
What is your shared purpose in establishing industry links?
What will the pupils gain?
What do you hope to achieve by linking with industry?
Are there aspects of the national curriculum which will be enhanced by such linkages?
Will it be an entitlement for all pupils or a selected group?
How will you achieve your aims? How will industry links enhance design and technology work in your school?
What forms will the links take and how often (e.g. occasional contact, regular inputs and mentoring, help with resources and technical expertise, a source of project ideas, investigational projects, project management advice)?
What use will you make of Neighbourhood Engineers, CREST, Windows on Engineering, or TEP for example?
How might Work Experience be integrated?
What proportion the design and technology curriculum will be influenced (e.g. all teaching, all projects, one project each year, major project only)?

Implementation Plans will include details of who is actually going to make the contacts, attend the meetings and arrange visits. If industry contacts are to be involved with mentoring and other forms of regular contacts, someone will have to take responsibility for making all necessary arrangements.

A policy on Industry Links would be well complemented with a policy on Awards, Celebrations and Competitions.

Which will be entered and when?
How can you ensure that these enrich the design and technology work in the school and fit in naturally with the rhythms of the curriculum?
Who will be responsible?
What will they need to do the job?

Curriculum Planning for Design and Technology

Long Term Plans:

Planning industry links over this timescale helps to ensure that they form an integral part of design and technology teaching and industry is more able to recognise the value of its inputs. Some schools have found it helpful to approach their industry partners at this stage so that the more detailed Medium Term planning can be modified to accommodate their inputs when this is seen to be an advantage.

Planning over a Key Stage, in outline, makes it possible to track the experience a pupil will have as they progress throughout the department. The aim will be to provide a progressive, balanced, coherent and relevant experience for all pupils.

A Key Stage plan will comprise a mix of short, focused tasks, design and make assignments and investigational projects, as laid down in the core requirements for design and technology, covering the range of materials and processes required by a particular examination syllabus.

Key Stage planning also aids Development Planning in that resources can be budgeted across years and future demands planned for.

At Key Stage 4, industry links in the two years can be treated differently: Year 10 may concentrate on establishing the contacts and raising general awareness; Year 11 might be more focused on the requirements of GCSE major projects.

Long term plans for a Key Stage should be reviewed at the end of each year.

Medium Term Plans:

Each project or task should be detailed in a Scheme of Work in terms of:

what use will be made of links with industry?
the planned time which each aspect of the project will take;
the Programme of Study to be covered;
what pupils will actually do and the expected outcomes;
the progression of skills or Key Experiences to be covered (i.e. a simplification of the P0S in terms of the school priorities, language and resources);
resources required;
the range of teaching and learning styles to be used (e.g. whole class teaching, group work, pairs, individual working); homeworks which are to be set;
how the work will be differentiated to accommodate pupils of different abilities (e.g. by extra resources for some, different tasks, or task extensions for others);
what assessment opportunities are to be planned in and how these will be achieved;
what use will be made of Information Technology?

Short Term Plans:

Teachers maintain Day Plans or Week Plans using a simple pro-forma or diary.

This enables short-term resource needs to be anticipated, visits to be confirmed and individual pupil needs to be accommodated.

Short term planning systems can also be used to monitor the planned delivery of the Scheme of Work to inform annual reviews.

Please send any comments on this Guideline to: Guideline@naaidt.org.uk
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