Dear Trainee,
PGCE Secondary Design and Technology: pre-programme preparation
Welcome to the PGCE Secondary Design and Technology Programme in the Department of
Education at the University of the West of England. Well done on gaining an offer of a place
on the programme and I hope you are looking forward to beginning your journey to
becoming a successful Design and Technology teacher.
We want you to be prepared before you start the programme in September and have a
number of activities we would like you to complete to help you with that preparation. We
want you to begin to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills that you will need and
be ready to make the most of your PGCE year. You should access the new Teachers’
Standards and read them carefully.
https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/teachers%20standards.pdf
You will need to demonstrate that you can meet all of those Standards by the end of your
PGCE Programme but we have put a particular focus on the following standard in your precourse preparation:
TS 3 Demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge
• have a secure knowledge of the relevant subject(s) and curriculum areas, foster
and maintain pupils’ interest in the subject, and address misunderstandings
• demonstrate a critical understanding of developments in the subject and
curriculum areas, and promote the value of scholarship
• demonstrate an understanding of and take responsibility for promoting high
standards of literacy, articulacy and the correct use of standard English, whatever
the teacher’s specialist subject
Come and dress up with us on our cross curricular days!
We hope to meet many of you if and when you attend the Subject Knowledge Enhancement
Course (SKE) in late August, early September but all of you (including those who attend the
SKE) need to complete these tasks.
Showcase your designing and making skills at the D and T and Art and Design Exhibition!
Developing Subject Knowledge in Design and Technology (TS3)
There are 2 routes to follow in training to be a Design and Technology teacher:
D and T Product Design and D and T Food Technology.
As a trainee teacher of D and T : Product design you will follow one main specialism chosen
from Resistant Materials, Textile Technology or Systems and Control (up to an including
post 16 teaching) and then you will need develop the other two to teach at KS3 (up to Y9). If
you are training to be a D and T: Food Technology teacher (up to an including post 16
teaching) you will then choose ONE specialism to teach up to and including Y9.
We follow the DATA (2003) Minimum Competences to teach Design and Technology in the
Secondary School model as shown here but have adapted it to suit the needs of the
contemporary D and T Teacher. We are also offering lots more opportunities to develop your
understanding of the Art and Design curriculum too – another exciting development this
year.
We have planned a wide range of Design and Technology activities for the PGCE
programme that have been designed to help you to stimulate interest, enthusiasm,
confidence and deep understanding in your future students. You will also need to update
and extend your own knowledge of your main and second specialist D and T subjects and in
ICT/CAD/CAM/CAE. By the end of the programme your subject knowledge will need to
include a very good understanding of GCSE and other post 14/16 programmes including A
level. You should begin work on this as soon as you can, before you become immersed in
the programme itself. When you join the programme in September you will be asked to audit
your subject knowledge to identify strengths and weaknesses and to write an action plan for
areas to develop further. If you are attending the SKE you will have already begun the audit
and action plan process and begun to build a portfolio of evidence.
Tasks to undertake:
Task 1.
Purchase (or better still recycle) 2 A4 lever Arch files and label one TS3
Portfolio Subject Knowledge Development and the other Professional Development
Module : PD and D and T Seminars. (You will need lots more files once you start the
programme but these are to get you started).
Task 2.
reading:
Please acquire the following texts and undertake the suggested pre course
Capel S, Leask M & Turner T (eds) (2009) Learning to Teach in the Secondary School
(5th edition) London: Routledge (general Professional Studies core text) Read the first
chapter and browse through generally.
Write a one page A4 chronology of your own education and educational experiences to date
highlighting where you enjoyed your experiences and identifying the reasons why. Place in
your PS folder.
Task 3.
You should familiarise yourself thoroughly with the content of the National
Curriculum for Design and Technology, which can be found at the
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum/secondary/
Down load the full Programmes of Study for KS3 and 4 and place in your TS3 File.
Task 4.
Teaching D and T: key texts
Owen-Jackson G (ed) (2008) Learning to Teach Design and Technology in the Secondary
School.
Read the first chapter and then those chapters relevant to your chosen specialist areas.
Make some brief notes on your readings. Place in PS File
Rutland, M (1997) Teaching Food Technology David Fulton. Read chapters 1 and 2 and
make brief noted on your readings. Place in PS File.
Design and Technology subject knowledge development choose the relevant texts
and browse
Resistant Materials – Caborn C, Mould I, Cave J (1989) Design and Technology Nelson
Food Technology – Proudlove K (2001) The Science and Technology of Foods Forbes
Publications
Textile Technology - Stephanie K. Holland (1987) All about Fabrics Oxford
Systems and Control - Caborn C, Mould I, Cave J (1989) Design and Technology Nelson
Task 5.
thoroughly:
We also suggest you access the following reports and read them very
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-allby/Education/Curriculum/Design-and-technology/Secondary/Education-for-a-technologicallyadvanced-nation-Design-and-Technology-in-schools-2004-07
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Documentsby-type/Thematic-reports/Meeting-technological-challenges/(language)/eng-GB
http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DFE-00031-2011
For those of you with Food Technology as one of your specialisms you should also read the
following:
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-allby/Education/Providers/Secondary-schools/Food-technology-in-secondary-schools
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Documentsby-type/Thematic-reports/Healthy-eating-in-schools
Task 6.
You should also access the websites of the examination groups and look at
the relevant Design and Technology subject specifications at all examination levels.
www.aqa.org.uk , www.edexcel.org.uk, www.ocr.org.uk, www.wjec.co.uk.
Some other useful websites for subject knowledge:
http://www.helenhudspith.com/
http://www.technologystudent.com/
http://www.nutrition.org.uk/
http://www.tep.org.uk/
http://www.free-teaching-resources.co.uk/design_technology.shtml
ICT/CAD/CAM/CAE skills that you will need include:
Basic word processing, using different font styles and sizes, cutting and pasting, spell
checking for writing assignments ; when working with pupils, importing images from the
Internet, clipart or scanned images and using tables and graphs, for the production of
worksheets and other resources; databases and spreadsheets for recording marks, targets
and comments on students’ progress; PowerPoint for presentations. Video cameras and
video playback are commonly used, as are digital cameras and interactive whiteboards. You
will also be expected to use CAD/CAM/CAE as part of both your PGCE programme and
teaching.
Task 7. If you can, download the following demo version of 2D Design a popular CAD
software package for schools and try it.
http://www.techsoft.co.uk/products/software/2D_Design_V2.asp
We will be running CAD/CAM Basic Skills workshops for you as part of the PGCE
programme.
I recommend that you purchase at lease one memory stick and bring it with you from day
one of the course - it will be invaluable in planning lessons, downloading and sharing
resources with other PGCE trainees and storing your profiling documents accessibly to show
your tutors.
Task 8. Design and Technology Association
You should join the Design and Technology Association www.data.org.uk and I recommend
you subscribe to receive the magazine ‘Designing’. It is full of ideas, articles and resources
for D and T teachers contributed by currently practising D and T teachers and teacher
educators and will connect you with the D and T teaching community of practice.
Task 9. Current issues in education and teaching
You should begin to focus on current debates in education, particularly in the teaching and
learning of Design and Technology and the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering,
Maths) subjects Relevant articles appear regularly in the Times Educational Supplement
(Fridays) and in the Guardian (Education on Tuesdays) newspapers.
We suggest too that you try and visit the Victoria and Albert museum and the Design
Museum in London. Visit museums near your home too as they often have very relevant
collections for an intending Design and Technology teacher!
We look forward to working with you in September. We will be contacting you all by e-mail
before the programme starts with more information and activities. If you have changed your
e-mail address since you applied through GTTR please contact Sally Bassett at the e-mail
address below with your new one.
If you need any further information or advice, please do not hesitate to contact us by e-mail
sally.bassett@uwe.ac.uk
See you on the SKE!
Yours sincerely,
Sally Bassett
PGCE Secondary Design and Technology Group Tutor