Plight of Design and Technology Education

Published 2nd July 2024

We were fortunate to be involved in a recent article concerning the plight of design and technology education featured in The Observer.

Since the release of the Observer article, the story has garnered a lot of attention and found its way into other press outlets, including Dezeen.

The UK's Design Council has announced an upskilling target to prepare one million designers for the green transition, starting with a call to reverse the "critical decline" in design and technology education. The plan was launched in conjunction with the report ‘A Blueprint for Renewal: Design and Technology Education’, compiled by the Design Council and 20 leading design and education organisations.

The report highlights a 68% decline in D&T GCSE entries over the past decade and a more than halved number of trained D&T teachers. It calls for urgent action to renew D&T subject content, place design at the heart of a reformed curriculum, and develop a funded strategy for teacher recruitment and retention.

Since the report's release, we've seen an influx of companies, big and small, reaching out to support design and technology education and prevent its possible extinction from the school curriculum. To help save design and technology education nationally please see our three steps to help our lobbying efforts here.