Send me a message. D&T curriculum leadership often feels like making consequential calls with half a map. When time is squeezed, pupils disengage, policies shift, and senior leaders want clear rationales, it is easy to end up relying on instinct or borrowed evidence from other subjects. I wanted to pause on a simple but uncomfortable question for primary and secondary Design and Technology subject leads across England, the UK, and beyond: what decisions are you making right now where you gen...
Apr 27, 2026•19 min•Ep. 218
Send me a message. The best support in Design and Technology rarely looks dramatic. It looks like a calm voice re-reading instructions, a bigger print-out placed quietly on a bench, a checklist that turns panic into progress, and a student realising they can finish what they started. I’m joined by Sarah, a Learning Support Assistant working closely with a D&T department, to explain what inclusion actually requires when lessons move between food tech, textiles, workshop making, and CAD. We ta...
Apr 20, 2026•45 min•Ep. 217
Send me a message. I’ve been quiet on the podcast, and I wanted to be honest about why. The short version is not drama, it’s the reality of design and technology education work right now: drafting curriculum, managing confidentiality, and trying to protect enough headspace to do any of it well. A big part of my time has been taken up with national curriculum work. I’m involved in drafting the new national curriculum for England, which comes with an NDA, so I’m careful about what I say and how it...
Apr 13, 2026•13 min•Ep. 216
Send me a message. What happens when a senior leader who grew up in the workshop helps design three SEMH schools from the ground up? In this episoode, I sit down with Paul Quinn to unpack a bold, practical vision for Design and Technology that prioritises access, safety and pride in making. Instead of chasing every shiny gadget, Paul explains why reliable hand tools and a hard-working laser cutter deliver outsized gains for learners who need quick wins, clear routines and visible success they ca...
Nov 18, 2025•27 min•Ep. 215
Send me a message. A noisy workshop can feel like a storm, but what if the path to learning starts with rhythm, not rush? We sit down with D&T teacher Ailis Brown from a specialist SEMH school in Leeds to unpack how safety, trust, and regulation turn short lessons into meaningful progress. From clocks and board games to careful joinery, Ailis shows how a flexible bank of projects meets pupils where they are and gently moves them forward. We compare mainstream pressures with the reality of SE...
Nov 11, 2025•30 min•Ep. 214
Send me a message. Nicola Brown shares her experience teaching design and technology at Springwell Leeds North, an SEMH school catering to students aged 7-16 with social, emotional, and mental health needs. She discusses how building relationships, establishing micro-routines, and adapting teaching approaches helps students thrive in a subject that offers unique opportunities for personal development. Working with SEMH students requires understanding dysregulation and supporting emotional regula...
Nov 04, 2025•26 min•Ep. 213
Send me a message. A museum floor changed underfoot and so did my thinking. After a visit to the V&A’s Design and Disability exhibition, I came home energised and unsettled—in the best way—and unpack how inclusive design moves from a nice‑to‑have to the engine of real innovation and dignity. It caused me to question a stubborn myth: that able‑bodied designers solve problems for others. The stories on display point to something richer—design with, led and instigated by Disabled people, where ...
Oct 30, 2025•17 min•Ep. 212
Send me a message. Ever been told art and design and technology are basically the same because they share the word “design”? Let’s test that claim with real data and grounded classroom experience. In this episode I unpack how teachers and stakeholders describe the value of D&T and the value of art and design, then draw a clear map of where they overlap, where they diverge, and what leaders risk when they blur them into one. First, I outline five widely reported value themes for D&T: tran...
Oct 07, 2025•10 min•Ep. 210
Send me a message. In this episode, I'm excited to share three brilliant opportunities for you to get involved in research that's shaping the future of design and technology education. First, I'll tell you about the Redesigning Design and Technology project I'm co-leading with Ciaran, Andrew, and Amanda. We've identified 18 contentious questions that divide our community and created a survey where you can share your views on these crucial debates. This research feels particularly timely with Eng...
Sep 08, 2025•17 min•Ep. 209
Send me a message. Reconnecting with purpose is essential when facing professional challenges. In this reflective episode, I share my experience of an unsuccessful professorial application and how it prompted me to rediscover why I'm passionate about design and technology education in the first place. The start of a new academic term offers the perfect opportunity to step back from the excitement and apprehension of returning to teaching and consider our fundamental values: What drives us to tea...
Sep 01, 2025•18 min•Ep. 207
Send me a message. Recommended read: Studio Properties: A field guide to design education (edited by Derek Jones , Elizabeth Boling , James Benedict Brown , James Corazzo , Colin M. Gray , Nicole Lotz ) Derek Jones and Alice Hellard explore the concept of design studio as a transformative educational approach that extends beyond physical space to encompass social dynamics, extended cognition, and embodied knowledge. • Design studio is not just a physical space but a collection of practices invol...
Aug 25, 2025•56 min•Ep. 206
Send me a message. Michelle Gregson, General Secretary and Chief Executive of NSEAD, discusses the relationship between art and design and design and technology education, exploring their distinctiveness while highlighting their shared values and challenges. NSEAD operates as a learned society, subject association, and specialist trade union for art and design education Both art and design and design and technology subjects face similar challenges of reduced curriculum time and resources Michell...
Aug 18, 2025•46 min•Ep. 205
Send me a message. If you are interested in helping the Association evaluate their Inspired by Industry programme, sign up here: https://bit.ly/IBIinterest What happens when we look beyond textbook projects and expose 11-14 year olds to real industry design challenges? Tony Ryan, Chief Executive of the Design and Technology Association, reveals how they're transforming technical education from the ground up through their ambitious "Inspired by Industry" programme. Six years into his leadership r...
Aug 11, 2025•44 min•Ep. 203
Send me a message. Max Pownall is a product design lecturer at Nottingham Trent University. Find out more about Max and his work: Instagram (NTU Focussed) LinkedIn Uni profile Final Year Degree online degree show Mentioned in this episode Events with Alison Hardy The Design Thinking Toolbox https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/books/michael-lewrick/design-thinking-toolbox/9781119629191 Tools from the book at - https://en.dt-toolbook.com/t Support the show If you like the podcast, you can always bu...
Aug 04, 2025•40 min
Send me a message. Holistic, summative assessment is essential for properly evaluating design and technology capability, drawing on research by Richard Kimball and Kay Stables that predates the National Curriculum and has been tested across multiple countries and age groups. Effective capability assessment tasks allow pupils to demonstrate ability to respond to an unfamiliar design contex Assessment focuses on students' design capability, not their knowledge of the specific context Teachers shou...
Jun 09, 2025•14 min•Ep. 200
Send me a message. Formative assessment in Design and Technology requires structured peer feedback approaches to be effective. Research shows a significant gap in assessing technological knowledge, with most studies focusing on design knowledge instead. • Design crits from higher education can be adapted for classroom use through peer feedback • Research from the Netherlands identifies convergent feedback (clarifying ideas) and divergent feedback (promoting creative responses) • Teachers must mo...
Jun 02, 2025•10 min•Ep. 199
Send me a message. How do we effectively assess knowledge in Design and Technology education? It's a question with surprisingly few research-backed answers, despite its critical importance to teaching practice. I talk about this assessment gap in the second episode of my sub-series on D&T research. I remind listeners that D&T knowledge encompasses both conceptual understanding ("knowing what") and procedural application ("knowing how"), forming the foundation upon which capability is bui...
May 26, 2025•11 min•Ep. 198
Send me a message. How do we measure what truly matters in Design and Technology education? The challenge lies in distinguishing between assessing individual knowledge components and evaluating the holistic capability that emerges when students apply their learning autonomously. In this foundational episode, I introduce a new mini-series focused entirely on assessment in D&T education. Drawing from research literature, I establish the critical difference between two assessment targets: speci...
May 19, 2025•8 min•Ep. 197
Send me a message. What makes for effective teaching in Design & Technology? Returning after a brief hiatus, I delve into the research-backed pedagogical approaches that can transform D&T education. This episode synthesizes my recent exploration of teaching strategies, clarifying the crucial distinction between curriculum (what we teach) and pedagogy (how we develop student capabilities). At the heart of D&T education lies a persistent misconception I'm determined to challenge: there...
May 13, 2025•11 min•Ep. 196
Send me a message. In this episode of the Talking D&T podcast, I explore the pedagogical approach of product analysis, often known as IDEAS (Investigation, Disassembly, Evaluation, and Analysis). I examine how this signature pedagogy helps develop learners' understanding of technology in society—a core aim of the National Curriculum in England. I discuss how product analysis bridges curriculum and pedagogy by teaching pupils to examine artefacts through multiple lenses. When handled thoughtf...
Apr 14, 2025•12 min•Ep. 195
Send me a message. In this episode, I delve into the pedagogical approaches that exist beyond the traditional 'design and make' activities in Design and Technology education. Drawing on research literature and classroom practice, I explore how 'mainly designing' and 'mainly making' activities can be powerful pedagogical tools when used deliberately and appropriately. I share insights from Bill Nichol's work on designing for future contexts, including how case studies and question cards can help ...
Apr 07, 2025•16 min•Ep. 193
Send me a message. In this episode of Talking D&T, I explore the complex nature of design and make activities in design and technology education. Drawing on research from Richard Kimball, David Perry, and Robert McCormick, I unpack the pedagogical approach of design and make that underpins our subject and challenge some common misconceptions about "the design process". A key insight emerges around the balance between process and outcome in D&T education. When we become fixated on the fin...
Mar 31, 2025•13 min•Ep. 192
Send me a message. Drawing a clear line between how we teach and what we teach seems straightforward—until you step into a Design & Technology classroom. In this thought-provoking exploration of pedagogy in D&T education, I unpack why teachers often blur the boundaries between teaching methods and curriculum content, sometimes without realising it. The heart of effective D&T education lies in developing students' design and technology capability, but this requires navigating complex ...
Mar 23, 2025•14 min•Ep. 191
Send me a message. Knowledge frameworks matter profoundly in Design and Technology education, yet teachers often struggle to distinguish between what students need to know for a specific project versus what builds lasting capability. This episode tackles that challenge head-on. In this episode, I explore the concept of knowledge frameworks in design and technology education, continuing my series on what research tells us about D&T. I delve into two types of knowledge that I believe are parti...
Mar 11, 2025•16 min•Ep. 190
Send me a message. In this episode of Talking D&T, I explore the complex role of values in design and technology education. Drawing on research from influential scholars like David Layton, Mike Martin and Rhoda Trimingham, I unpack how values aren't merely peripheral to D&T but are, as Layton puts it, "the engine of design and technology." I examine two key perspectives: values within design (how values influence design decisions) and values developed through design and technology (how s...
Mar 02, 2025•16 min•Ep. 189
Send me a message. In this episode, I delve deeper into the forms of knowledge that underpin design and technology education. Building on McCormick's conceptual and procedural knowledge framework, I propose a more nuanced approach that considers design knowledge and technological knowledge as existing on a spectrum. I explore how these knowledge types can be visualised as intersecting axes, creating four quadrants that help teachers plan their curriculum more effectively. This framework isn't me...
Feb 25, 2025•17 min•Ep. 188
Send me a message. In this episode, I explore what research tells us about knowledge in Design & Technology education. Understanding the nature of knowledge in D&T is crucial for effective teaching and curriculum planning, so I examine both procedural and conceptual knowledge, exploring how they connect and what this means for our practice. Following our previous discussion on D&T capability, I analyse the relationship between these knowledge types, drawing from Bob McCormick's 1997 ...
Feb 11, 2025•32 min•Ep. 187
Send me a message. In this episode, I delve into the fundamental purpose of the design and technology curriculum, focusing on the concept of D&T capability. Drawing from seminal research by Richard Kimball and Kay Stables, I explore how this capability encompasses creative and critical thinking, problem-solving, and solution creation within authentic contexts. I unpack how D&T capability isn't something that simply emerges through teaching knowledge and practical skills – it requires car...
Feb 05, 2025•10 min•Ep. 186
Send me a message. In this episode, I'm sharing some exciting developments in design and technology education, starting with insights from a recent policy event I led at Nottingham Trent University. The day brought together D&T teachers and university lecturers in design education to envision the future of our subject, using an innovative co-navigator approach from Denmark. I discuss the growing collaboration between schools and universities in design education, highlighted by lightning talk...
Jan 28, 2025•9 min•Ep. 185
Send me a message. In this reflective end-of-year episode, I take stock of Talking D&T's journey through 2024 and share plans for the future. With 52 episodes published this year - including 27 interviews spanning two major series, PATT40 and Shaping D&T - it's been my most prolific year yet, reaching listeners through nearly 8,000 downloads. I reflect on how the podcast has evolved from its origins as a way to make design and technology research more accessible to teachers, into a platf...
Dec 10, 2024•16 min•Ep. 184
