ABSTRACT
The range of work carried out in design and technology is potentially vast, and there is an
extensive heritage behind it. Pupils learning to make products, using a range of materials,
components and ingredients, remains a central and important part of what design and
technology is about. However, the subject is now much more than this. Consider all that is
involved in design and technological activity: recognising opportunities for design or the
need for products to be improved, researching, evaluating, testing, making judgements and
decisions (sometimes complex), communicating through modelling, drawing, writing and
talking, making. Pupils’ learning in design and technology is both practical and intellectual
and it is this blend of theory and practice, the requirement to apply knowledge, that uniquely
positions the subject to draw on and contribute to a number of subjects and themes across
the school curriculum.
