To: MICHAEL GOVE, Secretary of Education

SCRAP NEW DESIGN TECHNOLOGY CURRICULUM

Please review the proposed Design Technology Curriculum. We need to teach children the skills to become professional creative practitioners in a digital age and on a world stage. Your proposed curriculum teaches basic DIY skills for home improvement.

Why is this important?

Do you want to save D&T in schools? As part of the governments' new proposals for the National Curriculum the Design Technology curriculum has been redrafted. It's under real threat. Please read on...

The government have drawn up a draft curriculum for Design Technology in schools - a curriculum from 1952 - where cooking wholesome savoury meals, repairing textiles, growing plants, and learning basic construction skills has reshaped Design Technology to become little more than activities that practice DIY skills for home improvement.

Useful in itself but... the new curriculum does not adress the vital knowledge, skills and learning that our creative and cultural economy depend on, in which design plays such a crucial role. Should this proposal be implemented, school children will be denied a design education that can inspire and equip them to discover their talents and fulfill their own creative ambition. Design professionals are now concerned that the lack of vision and lack of rigour in the proposal will lead to 'a lost design generation'.

I have worked with design students at both secondary level and at further and higher education level. Design and technology at secondary level must have the scope to teach children the skills that can access and underpin university level studies. It must engage with industry and the world of professional designers to inspire and open up new career opportunities for young people. It is the only subject where, as James Dyson recently put it, 'mathematical brainboxes and science whizzkids can turn their bright ideas into useful products'.

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING PROPOSED PROGRAMME OF STUDY FOR D&T

http://tinyurl.com/bwms93u

Latest opinion on the proposed new curriculum:

From the Design Council -

http://tinyurl.com/btlgz8w

http://tinyurl.com/cxltwgp

From the Design & Technology Association (DATA)

http://tinyurl.com/cf3gxm3

From James Dyson -

http://tinyurl.com/c38adm3

The consultation process web page:

http://tinyurl.com/btjqupr