KS3 & KS4 Design and technology

Aims and purpose

What are the aims and purpose of our curriculum?

This curriculum develops pupils’ knowledge of and skills in design applied through the designing and making of prototypes. Pupils build design and technology capability by solving real-world problems in context-led units. They will evaluate their work and the work of others and critique how developments in design and technology impact the world's social, moral, and ethical issues. This will enable pupils to become responsible designers, citizens and consumers.

Oak curriculum principles

What overarching curriculum principles inform the design of our curriculum?

Knowledge and vocabulary rich

This principle recognises the important role that knowledge, and vocabulary as a particularly important type of knowledge, play in learning. Declarative knowledge, such as how products and systems function and using the work of designers to inform design decisions is woven alongside procedural knowledge such as the processes and methods used in design and technology and how to design using digital and physical strategies with increasing complexity over time. We identify and map vocabulary across the curriculum, both in terms of introducing new vocabulary and the necessary repetition of vocabulary that has gone before, focusing on materials, processes and design strategies. New vocabulary, called keywords, are signalled in bold in our lesson materials to indicate their importance.

Sequenced and coherent

A careful and purposeful sequencing of our curriculum content underpins the design of our curriculum, ensuring that pupils can build on and make links with existing knowledge. For example, when pupils ‘make’ in year 1 there is a focus on the use of scissors when working with paper to make simple structures. Simple joining techniques, such as pinning and stitching, are taught when working with textiles. This progresses to pupils selecting techniques with confidence, such as complex folding to produce shell structures when working with paper and incorporating fasteners and decorative stitching with textiles. Attention is paid to vertical coherence via threads, which map the developments of concepts over time; for example, in our ‘systems’ thread, pupils are taught about levers and linkages in year 2 through to designing a control system for a greenhouse in year 10.

Evidence-informed

Our evidence-informed approach enables the rigorous application of research outcomes, science of learning and impactful best practice both in education in general and at a subject specific level. For example, the design of our resources reflects findings from Sweller’s cognitive load theory and Mayer’s principles of multimedia learning whilst our lesson design draws on Rosenshine’s principles of instruction. We also draw on findings from research organisations such as the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). At the subject level the curriculum is informed by the work of the Design and Technology Association including the principles identified in ‘Characteristics of a Genuine D&T Experience Within the School Curriculum’ and their ‘Progression Framework’ which was developed in collaboration with the National Curriculum Expert Group for Design and Technology.

Flexible

Our flexible approach enables schools to use our resources in a way that fits their contents and meets the varying needs of teachers and their pupils. Our curriculum can be used in its entirety or units can be selected to complement existing curricula or to match the equipment and materials available to the school. Our resources are adaptable so that, for example, teachers can edit or add checks for understanding or adapt practice tasks to better reflect the prior knowledge of their pupils. For example, in the year 8 unit ‘Ergonomic design: accessible controllers’, an alternative accessible product could be used, and in key stage 4 materials can be varied within units. At key stage 4 teachers and pupils can select a pathway aligned to the most frequently used exam board specifications for GCSE Design and Technology: AQA, Edexcel or Eduqas.

Diverse

Our commitment to breadth and diversity in content, language, texts and media can be seen in the curriculum, for example in the group of diverse school age characters that feature in our resources. Pupils are exposed to designers and practices from around the world: for example the year 6 unit ‘Products and people: inspirational design’ introduces pupils to the work of the female Iraqi/British architect Zara Hadid. When working with textiles, pupils learn about the work of British fashion designer Virgil Abloh alongside more widely known designers such as Vivienne Westwood.

Accessible

Our curriculum is intentionally designed to facilitate high-quality teaching as a powerful lever to support pupils with SEND. Aligned with EEF guidance, our resources have a focus on clear explanations, modelling and frequent checks for understanding, with guided and independent practice. Lessons are chunked into learning cycles, demonstration videos used to support explanations where appropriate, and redundant images and information are minimised to manage cognitive load. We have removed reference to year groups in our resources so that they can be used when pupils are ready, regardless of their age. Our resources are purposefully created to be accessible, for example by using accessible fonts, colours with good contrast, and captions in our videos.

Oak subject principles

What subject specific principles inform the design of our curriculum?

Focuses on the knowledge and skills specific to design and technology, including:

The fundamentals, and integration, of designing (including communication, understanding contexts and users, iterative design strategies and avoiding fixation), making (including techniques, tools, processes, equipment and machinery, materials and components), evaluating (including ideas and products, past and present designers, new and emerging technologies) and technical knowledge (including structures, properties of materials, electronic and mechanical systems) to solve real world problems.

Our curriculum aligns learning with the national curriculum subject content of design, make, evaluate, and technical knowledge. In order to allow pupils to develop a broad capability in design and technology these content areas are taught through units that focus on the interrelated areas of design and making, mainly designing, mainly making and exploring technology and society. An example is the ‘mainly designing’ unit ‘CAD structures: architecture’ at key stage 2, where pupils will focus on designing a sustainable house without having to make a complex model. Where possible, units are taught through a context, giving authenticity to learning while building pupils' empathy through designing for others.

Facilitates the appropriate use of restrictive (a focus on specific tasks and procedures) and expansive (where autonomy and creativity are encouraged) approaches to how pupils apply knowledge

Knowledge is applied through the appropriate use of restrictive and expansive approaches. A restrictive approach is one with a focus on specific tasks and procedures, an example of which is the year 7 unit, ‘Principles of Materials and Manufacturing,’ where pupils handle, shape, and join sheet materials using different manufacturing processes. Whereas an expansive approach enables pupil autonomy to create their own designs, an example of which is ‘Functional Prototypes: Wearable Technology’ in key stage 3, where pupils design and manufacture a wearable technology product of their own design.

Applies our diversity principle by exposing pupils to the wider influences on design and technology including historical, social, cultural, environmental and economic factors

Our curriculum teaches pupils about a wide range of influences to help them understand the diverse nature of the subject. In key stage 1, pupils will be inspired by designs from Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Emily Roebling, Ove Arup and Satoshi Kashima. In the secondary curriculum pupils will learn about the environmental, social, and moral issues of designing products. For example, in key stage 4, pupils will be introduced to ‘The Washing Machine Project’ to understand issues faced by people in lower income countries.

National curriculum

How does our curriculum reflect the aims & purpose of the national curriculum?

The national curriculum for design and technology has four aims, three relating to design and technology and one to cooking and nutrition. Here we discuss how our curriculum enacts the three design and technology aims.

The first aim is to ensure pupils ‘develop the creative, technical, and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and participate successfully in an increasingly technological world’. Pupils will build confidence by working with a range of materials, focusing on paper, card, textiles and timbers at primary, with polymers and metals introduced at secondary. With increasing complexity, pupils will develop technical and practical expertise when using tools, processes, equipment and machinery, both physically and digitally. In year 1, they will confidently and safely use scissors. Sawing of timbers is introduced in year 2. They will be taught how to animate mechanisms using the latest computer-aided design (CAD) software in year 7. In year 10, they will use AI to aid creativity while learning about its limitations.

The second aim is that pupils should ‘build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding, and skills to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users’. Pupils will be taught to design and make for a wide range of users. Examples include designing an interactive book for younger children in year 4 and making an accessible product for someone with limited dexterity in year 5. In secondary, pupils will learn how to promote a product for a toy company in year 7 and design a product to support new parents in year 9.

The final design and technology aim is for pupils to ‘critique, evaluate, and test their ideas, products, and the work of others’. The importance of this aim is highlighted by the existence of a thread entitled ‘critique and evaluate’ which maps the progression of this over time. In year 3, pupils will critique the sustainability of packaging and how its environmental impact can be reduced. Later in year 8, they will evaluate the ergonomics of their work to suggest improvements. In year 4 and in year 9, pupils will test electrical systems to find faults and make improvements.

Curriculum delivery

What teaching time does our curriculum require?

Our curricula for key stages 1-3 are designed for 36 weeks of curriculum time across the school year, which leaves time for other activities both within and beyond the curriculum, such as assessments or school trips. At key stage 4, year 10 also has 36 weeks of curriculum time, but year 11 has only 24 weeks (approximately 2 terms) to recognise that schools will not be teaching new content in the run-up to the GCSE exams.

At key stages 1-3, our design and technology and cooking and nutrition curricula have been presented independently on our platform, for ease of use by teachers. These curricula have been designed to offer a weekly lesson in all years, approximately 40 minutes long in key stages 1-2 and an hour at key stage 3. We understand that exact time dedicated to design and technology and cooking and nutrition can vary greatly between schools due to differences in curriculum planning, resource allocation, and school-specific priorities. Therefore we fully expect and encourage teachers to adapt our resources to suit their needs and timetable structure.

At key stage 4 for design and technology we have provided approximately two lessons per week, which also takes into account examined and non-examined assessment time. In places there may be more lessons in the sequence to allow for flexibility across exam boards and unit options focused on different materials. Oak is not currently offering cooking and nutrition at key stage 4.

Curriculum coherence

What are 'threads'?

We use threads to signpost groups of units that link to one another, that together build a common body of knowledge over time. We use the term thread, rather than vertical concepts, themes or big ideas, because it helps to bring to mind the visual concept of a thread weaving through the curriculum.

Our design and technology threads weave through both our primary and secondary curricula with the exception of one thread. This one thread still spans key stages 1 to 4 but is called ‘make’ at primary and ‘manufacture’ at secondary to reflect the language of the national curriculum and exam board specifications. In alphabetical order, our threads are:

• Critique and evaluate
• Design
• Make (primary) / Manufacture (secondary)
• Materials
• Sustainability
• Systems
• User-centred design

Our choice of threads has been informed by the design and technology national curriculum subject content areas of ‘design’, ‘make’, ‘evaluate’ and ‘technical knowledge’ and the Design and Technology Associations’ ‘Characteristics of a genuine D&T experience within the school curriculum’ and ‘Progression Framework’. Consistent threads across our primary and secondary curricula can enable more effective transition, helping pupils to bridge their knowledge and understanding from primary to secondary. For example, the thread ‘user-centred design’ is developed through all years of the curriculum, with increasing complexity of design and user requirements as seen through the following units:

• Year 1 unit ‘Templates in Textiles’ - pupils make a product for a younger child
• Year 2 unit ‘Freestanding structures’- pupils design a playground structure for a school environment.
• Year 6 unit ‘Systems and control unit’ - pupils program an alarm system for a museum
• Year 7 unit ‘Prototypes with mechanisms’- pupils use digital design to create a promotional display for a company
• Year 8 unit ‘Ergonomic design’ - pupils improve the design of game controllers to make them more accessible for users.
• Year 9 unit ‘Developments in new materials’ - pupils develop knowledge of smart and modern materials and apply this to designing a product to support new parents.

Recommendations from subject specific reports

How does our curriculum address and enact recommendations from subject specific reports (e.g. EEF guidance reports & Ofsted Research Review)?

Our curriculum is aligned with the Design and Technology Association's ‘Characteristics of a genuine D&T experience within the school curriculum’, which describes the features of a genuine design and technology experience from the pupils’ perspective. Through the characteristic of authenticity, pupils design and make products that are believable, real and meaningful to themselves and others. For example, in key stage 2, pupils will make a stationery storage product to develop their knowledge of joining techniques when working with woven fabrics. In key stage 3, pupils will work together to design and batch manufacture tactile toys for children.

Although the Ofsted subject report for design and technology is still pending publication, we have consulted with them to ensure we are drawing on evidence-based research.

Subject-specific needs

How does our curriculum deal with elements that arise from the specific needs of the subject?

How are design and technology, and cooking and nutrition organised in the curriculum?

At key stages 1-3, our design and technology, and cooking and nutrition curricula have been presented separately to help teachers find cooking and nutrition content quickly and easily and to signpost the importance of cooking and nutrition as a body of knowledge. Each subject area has been carefully sequenced so that they can be taught independently or together. Cooking and nutrition has approximately one third of the curriculum time compared to design and technology. Each subject has its own distinct group of threads. At key stage 4 we currently only offer a design and technology curriculum.

What tools, equipment and materials are required to teach the design and technology curriculum?

Careful consideration has been given to the equipment and space needed to teach the curriculum. We understand that resources are limited, especially within primary schools. Design and technology is a practical subject and therefore most lessons involve some practical activity. When designing, pupils will communicate their ideas through discussion, peer feedback, sketching, and producing mock-ups out of card and board. When making, they will cut, shape and join paper, card, wood, and textiles through context-led units. They will use construction kits when building structures and make mechanisms out of card and wood when exploring systems. Pneumatic systems are modelled using bottles and syringes in key stage 2. Computer-aided design is used in both key stage 1 and key stage 2, and Micro:bits are used in key stage 2 to develop knowledge of electrical and programmable systems.

At secondary, pupils will use a variety of approaches when designing to create ideas. They will communicate using sketches, physical and digital models, and oral and digital presentation techniques. When designing and manufacturing at key stage 3, units will have an example for each product or system which can be adapted by teachers. For example, in the year 8 unit ‘Collaborative design’, this will be a timber based product. In year 9, the ‘Developments in new materials’ smart material will be used within a product. Computer-aided design and manufacture are used from year 7. Systems knowledge from key stage 2 is further developed using Micro:bits in year 9. Our secondary curriculum can be adapted to suit the needs of the schools depending on their available materials, tools, equipment, and processes.