ABSTRACT
The decision at Green Park to open up technical crafts to girls was almost certainly precipitated by Girls into Science and Technology (GIST); the school maintained that the project had little influence on their curriculum practice. Craft options offered at GIST schools offer an integrated craft course combining 'domestic' and 'technical' elements without repetition or other negative features of the circus system; move away from traditional wood and metal classes to design-based, technology-focused work; offer integrated crafts to both sexes for three years, without 'mini-options'. The Sex Discrimination Act, denying any girls the opportunity to take craft subjects in the first three years, so that they received no formal craft or technical education. However, in many of the GIST schools, the content and organization of the curriculum, no less than the stereotyped assumptions of many craft teachers, prevented girls from obtaining the authentic experience of competence and delight which craft, design and technology can potentially offer.
