Design and Technology

Design and technology (D&T) is a curricula designed to produce literacy in design and related technologies. It is offered as a school subject at all levels of secondary school in the United Kingdom. In some countries such as England it is a part of the National Curriculum. It is offered in many countries around the world such as Malaysia, Brunei, Bermuda, Singapore, India, United States, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Malta, Hong Kong, Jordan and Botswana. Many international schools have courses in design and technology. As a school subject it involves students in designing in a practical context with a focus on, for example, food, textiles, resistant materials or digital media. It is also a university course in many countries, including Australia, Canada, the USA, Singapore, South Africa, Netherlands and New Zealand, both for the preparation of teachers and for general education in areas such as industrial design. Some of the UK universities which deliver courses include: Brighton, Sheffield Hallam, Goldsmiths' College and Greenwich.

At IGCSE level, the two-year course requires all students to produce one piece of coursework, which must consist of a product that the student has manufactured in the workshop plus a folder including research and analysis about the problem being solved. It should also include a specification based on the research and analysis which should in turn inform the sketched or modelled ideas. As these ideas are developed into workable solutions the students are required to evaluate them as they evolve. As well as a detailed plan of the making process to be undertaken in manufacturing a prototype product the product must take into account the various industrial practices necessary if the product were to be mass-produced commercially. On completion the course teacher awards marks for finish of the final product, creativity, complexity, and how well the project itself was made.

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