MESHGuides

Technology Education in Ireland

Jeffrey Buckley and Alison Hardy

Introduction

Russell White

Introduction

The current Technological Education curriculum was introduced in 2010 as part of Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence (CfE). Children from 3 to 15 years old are entitled to learning within the Technologies curricular area, with a broad suite of Technological Education qualifications subjects on offer to 16 – 18 year olds who wish to pursue Technological Education qualifications in the Senior Phase of Secondary School.

Design and Technology (D&T) is a unique subject in the English school curriculum, combining creativity, practical skills, and technological understanding. It was first introduced in 1989 for pupils aged 5-16 years and has since evolved to reflect the changing needs of society and the economy.

Andrew Halliwell

In design and technology, assessment is as crucial as iterative design and critical product analysis. By using self- assessment and peer-assessment, design and technology teachers can make informed decisions about what skills and concepts to teach, and determine whether students are developing, consolidating, or have a secure grasp of their understanding and abilities. This guide focuses on the significance of two key assessment methods in design and technology: self-assessment and peer-assessment.

Richard Brown

Wei Long's (2020) research underscores the significant impact of hands-on learning experiences in promoting critical thinking among students, which is particularly relevant to the context of D&T education. There are other researchers that link this metacognitive skill as being synonymous with the subject of D&T, for example Rauscher and Badenhorst (2021).

Sarah Davies

The Importance of Effective Lesson Planning

Planning lessons well is a key skill for design and technology teachers to learn. It might look like experienced teachers plan lessons easily, but they are actually using a lot of professional knowledge to create successful learning experiences. The chapter "Planning lessons in design and technology" (Davies 2020), explains that student teachers should see lesson planning as a dynamic, knowledge-based practice that will develop throughout their careers, not just a technical process.

Louise Davies

In England, food education is a crucial component of the Design and Technology (D&T) curriculum, which is part of the broader National Curriculum. Design and Technology education aims to equip students with the skills and knowledge to creatively engage with real-world problems and design solutions (BNF 2019). Food education within D&T focuses specifically on developing students' understanding of nutrition, cooking techniques, food hygiene, sustainability, and food-related issues.

Alison Hardy

As pupils progress through the design and technology curriculum, they build both design and technological knowledge, leading to the development of their design and technology capability. Pupils’ design and technology capability emerges as they accumulate knowledge over time and have opportunities to put it into action when given design problems and situations to solve (Doherty, Huxtable and Murray 1994).