Why is DT failing?

In the Summer of 2016, the Joint Council of Qualifications (JCQ) revealed that there had been a 10% decrease in the number of students taking Design & Technology at GCSE level – one of its most significant drops to date.

But anyone keeping tabs on the state of the subject already knew the most worrisome part – this drop was not the start of a new trend, but rather the continuation of one.

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      string(289) "... and would have been offered a close working relationship with the Williams team, one of the F1 Teams based at Milton Keynes.For the young DT staff group, who all met each other at University and from teaching in the Middle East, failure is part of the learning process. It ..."
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      string(5583) "Back at base, the motorsport teams were a little disheartened. The constructors in the gruelling 4×4 Jaguar Rover Challenge trials had failed to secure a place in the world finals, even though at regional level they had won Best Innovative Car Design and Best Engineered Car. To come away empty handed after that was tough!The Land Rover Jaguar 4×4 Challenge – run under the auspices of the F1 in Schools organisation – requires school teams to build and design their own off-road remote controlled model vehicles and then put it through a series of very challenging trials: up steep inclines, down treacherous slopes, across steeply walled valleys and through unevenly surfaced tunnels. They even have to cross an unstable wood-slatted bridge hung across a ravine.The teams are judged on their vehicle’s success in traversing the route, and on design and engineering principles. They are interviewed in the ‘pits’ by experts and then interrogated in rigorous interview panels. The rookie teams in their first year of competition, as was the Shireland team, are given their engine by the sponsors. But the more experienced teams build their own.The F1 Challenge is more about speed on the track, although the other design and engineering criteria also apply.The F1 Team fared a little better in the speed trials, coming third nationally. For Shireland Collegiate Academy, F1 in Schools and the 4×4 Challenge are a serious business and a reflection of the school’s drive towards engineering and product design excellence. Had either team won they would have been taken to Malaysia to take part in the international schools finals and would have been offered a close working relationship with the Williams team, one of the F1 Teams based at Milton Keynes.For the young DT staff group, who all met each other at University and from teaching in the Middle East, failure is part of the learning process. It teaches the students resilience and problem solving skills. Elfyn Jones, one of the teachers working with the students on the Challenge explained that it was this predisposition towards problem-solving within the subject that was behind the reason that Shireland Collegiate Academy in September 2015 made the unprecedented decision to make Design and Technology compulsory through to GCSE – one of the few schools, perhaps the only school – in the UK to do this.A period of self-reflectionImtiaz, the Year 12 team leader in the 4×4 Challenge contemplated on their disappointing form. “We think we failed one of the critical regulations on the cars. It might have been too high off the ground. This didn’t come out in the regional trials and we are waiting for the final ruling but that is what we think was the problem”.There were other issues he admitted: “We had a problem with the tow bar in the towing part of the challenge [where the 4×4 model cars have to tow a sailing boat around a tricky circuit and back it into a narrow space to park the boat]. And some of the driving was not so good. We know what to fix”.Given that the effort was pretty huge, two evenings a week plus weekends and most lunchtimes, the team were philosophical about their disappointment. “It’s not just about winning, it’s also about learning how to work together as a team and learning things that will help with our coursework. It also helps with our future careers,” said Imtiaz.“4×4 has given me an insight into the world of engineering, I now want to become a design engineer. I am hoping it will help me get a place at Jaguar and Land Rover – I am looking into their apprenticeships. They are very competitive and I know this experience will help. It has been inspiring. I didn’t think I was good at communicating and managing the team until I did it. Now I think I am”He added: “It increases your fundamental skills like time management, communications, and making applications to universities; and it’s given me a good background with CAD design software such as Solidworks”.Ibrahim, the manufacturing engineer explained that taking part had given him a lot of confidence in talking to different kinds of people, and using different kinds of machinery like 3D printing, CNC milling and laser cutting. “I was really surprised at how many skills I could learn and become good at!”Ali, the head of resources and security added: “It helped me understand what larger companies go through to produce something. The materials, for example – they might want to use ABS plastic but it’s not recyclable and bio-degradable, and sustainability is now a big factor. There were lots of choices we had to make, that process was new to us. It was also very unusual to be working together in teams, I believe we have learned how to communication with each other; we need more of this.”For Zeeshan, the Graphics Coordinator, it was mostly, but not all, about the technology: “I gained experience to use design software, the Arduino board, light sensors, and to apply the different stuff we learned in science and maths. I also learned how to work together as a team, and I am looking forwards to taking part in apprenticeship programme by Jaguar and Land Rover.Fostering a passion for designThis is one of the big gains of the challenges, says Elfyn Jones; the children begin to become ambitious for jobs in engineering or design, or indeed in the manufacturing side of things. It opens up career routes for students who might be brick-walled by academic routes. The school’s general commitment to D+T has, he says, allowed"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Off Road But On Track

20 Jun 2017

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Special Needs

Why we are failing children with dyslexia

24 Sep 2013

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Leadership briefing issue 7.11 (83)"
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Leadership

Why We Are Failing Children With Dyslexia

24 Jun 2013

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      string(5448) "go into special measures. Two of these, like us, were junior schools and one a primary. What a coincidence that all bad teaching and leadership seemed to be located within a very small circumference.I just couldn’t understand, and still can’t, why our school and those in the surrounding area were classed as ‘average’. We gained nothing from translating VA into CVA. Our context counted for nothing. And yet all you had to do was step outside the school gate and you could blatantly see  that this catchment had its problems. How could this possibly not be taken into account? Many of our children came into school with a low level of oracy, never mind literacy. Some of them came into school barely adequately dressed, let alone ready to tackle the curriculum. Why was no account taken of this? I’d given up protesting, as this was considered to be making excuses and not having high enough expectations. But more of that later.Now, although indignant, I was also worried. Perhaps I had better have a look at those SATs results and CVA percentages again. Looking at it as an inspector might, focusing on the data and ploughing through it once more. It didn’t look good. Our statistical profile was gloomy. But then there was always the self-evaluation form. The ‘S’ forms I’d completed for the last inspection had been complimented. In fact, the lead inspector had asked me if I’d trained as an inspector because he considered them so good.  I’d completed the SEF in the same way.It told the story of our school and, I believed, indicated where we were and what our next plans would be. I could send that with confidence. Our school improvement and development plan was a strong document. We had always had an ethos of self-evaluation. Staff, pupils and parents were consulted regularly on their views of the school and we used a mixture of this and individual discussions with the senior leadership team to form our plan for improvement.It was only on the second phone call with the lead inspector that I really got the message.“You do know that it’s not looking good. You’ll need to collect as much evidence as you can to show the progress the children are making.”No sympathyI tried to imagine what the lead inspector looked like. I had hoped for a man. I don’t know why, but sometimes men can have a softer core (although my later experiences would lay that impression to rest). I hoped, as well, that he/she was from an ‘old school’ of headship. The headteachers who didn’t just focus on statistics and a mythical body called ‘school improvement’. Those that had a heart and a love for the job outside of the jargon of attainment and progress and ‘ratcheting’ and ‘hiking up’, as though we had to break our backs to get somewhere.It turned out that she didn’t sound as though she was that kind of inspector at all. She was clear, concise and forthright.  I suppose you have to be to do the job. Perhaps there was a note of sympathy disguised somewhere in there. But it was hard to find and at the moment, she left me with no other impression than that we were going down unless I had an army of barristers to prove otherwise.I blithely acquiesced to all she asked for and promised I would prepare my evidence, explanations and data analysis. I put down the phone and started to wonder what else  I might do if I wasn’t a headteacher. I enjoyed my writing and academic studies but I was a little young for early retirement and wasn’t sure what else I might have to offer. Headship was hard but rewarding. Day-to-day survival in some cases. But it was the career I’d chosen and loved.That evening I went home and panicked. My husband calmly provided the sounding board for my exasperated ranting about how unfair everything always seemed to be. This was a role he became all too familiar with as the new few days, weeks and months of turmoil unfolded. I must have appeared to be the harbinger of all things gloomy as each day my car drove up to the house bringing with it a further flow of increasingly demoralised ravings.But at this stage, it was all still to go for. I knew we were good – we just had to prove it and I had to make a case for why our SATs results were poor. Provided if I could produce the evidence and demonstrate the quality, richness and breadth of what we were delivering, then surely we should be OK. Shouldn’t we?This article is the first in a five-part series from School Leadership Today. Also in this series:The longest day of my life – In part 2 of SLT’s shocking new series on a successful school condemned by Ofsted, the headteacher recalls her dread and helplessness as the inspection team arrives.    Judgement day  – In part three of our series, the inspection team deliver their damning verdict and wonder why the head is not ‘in pieces’    Picking up the pieces – After Ofsted’s shattering verdict, part four of our series fnds the successful head of a failing school left to rally the staff, handle the media and prepare for special measures.    Fresh start or false dawn? – In the final part of our series, the school escapes special measures at last – but with a twist in the tale for the headteacher.To access these articles:Subscribe to School Leadership Today.    Log in – if you are already a subscriber.Articles can also be purchased individually. Register for a free account here to get started."
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Leadership

I was a failing headteacher

20 Feb 2009

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