ABSTRACT
The National Curriculum for Technology has, since its introduction in 1990, transformed the practice of design and technology in most primary schools. While many schools have always taught some elements of design and technology-they have taught cooking, the use of textiles, construction kits, and various crafts, for examplethe underlying assessment framework will have been quite new. Some of the materials and activities have also been introduced for the first time into many schools. For example, few will have previously provided structured curricula concerned with design, mechanisms, structures or control. It’s not perhaps surprising, given the relative youth of this area of the curriculum, that it has been surrounded by controversy, and that it was one of the first subjects of the National Curriculum to be subjected to major revision.
