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08 April
Will design and technology survive the curriculum review?
Will design and technology survive the curriculum review?
by
SoftwareGuru
The
Guardian UK recently wrote an article on the government’s decision to review the national curriculum to improve the UK’s ranking in the international league tables. Traditionally, schools have emphasised the development of logical and linguistic intelligence (mainly reading and writing).
While many students function well in this environment, there are those who do not. Those who may not be ‘academically gifted’ but have many other gifts that could make them equally as successful in life.
The current education system does not cater for the other forms of intelligence that have given us some of the greatest figures in history. Such as the ‘special capacity’, as seen in outstanding artists, the ‘musical gifts’ seen in Mozart or Bob Dylan, those with outstanding ‘interpersonal skills’ such as world class leader Martin Luther King and so forth.
My point being there are several different forms of intelligence that our current education system does not cater for, especially in the arts and there are fears that the recent decision for the government to review the curriculum will leave some of the brightest minds behind.
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Bridge the ‘skills gap’
Billionaire businessman Sir James Dyson spoke about the recent decision to review the curriculum in the UK and fears for design and technology as the government concentrates core subjects such as English, maths and science.
He believes modern design and technology should sit alongside science and maths and should inspire young people to become problem solvers and teach important life skills to bridge the ‘skills gap’ that we are faced with in light of the economic downturn.
Thankfully, design and technology have many supporters. According to the Guardian UK a breakdown of last summer's results for the GCSEs taken in 2010 revealed that, after maths, English and science, design and technology was the most popular subject.
Underlining these points, Dyson recently launched the
2011 international James Dyson award, which aims to challenge young engineers and designers at the university stage of their education to develop problem-solving inventions with a prize of £10, 000! |
Get Creative!
There are also many companies out there that live and breathe creativity and award those for their creative minds.
Adobe Systems is one that springs to mind. They not only sell the industry standard design software, they also provide a wealth of resources and tutorials that anyone can access to unleash their creativity through design and technology.
Adobe have recently launched
the Adobe Design Achievement Awards 2011. The competition honours the best student graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, animators, digital filmmakers, developers and computer artists from higher education institutions worldwide.
Software4Students is also a company that believes Design and
Technology in the curriculum is essential to keep pace on an international scale,
and the government must encourage and implement more design and technology programs.
Every society needs all aspects of education and to dismiss all in favour of academic rigour is doing a disservice to future generations. So if you are interested in design and technology check out the awards above and show the government what amazing skills we have that does not involve literacy and numeracy!
If it's value you're after,
Adobe CS5 Software is available from Software4Students -
discounted by 80%!
We offer the tools at low prices, so get out there and take
advantage of the companies awarding creativity! |
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Posted by
admin
at
17:55
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Will design and technology survive the curriculum review?