Curriculum Notes

General information & resources linked to the D&T curriculum

KS1-3 Curriculum 2014 (England)

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See the KS1-3 National Curriculum 2014 documents for all subjects on the DfE website
Direct link to the D&T KS1-3 D&T National Curriculum Programme of Study
Variety of free documents from the D&T Association designed to support the KS1-3 curriculum (including guidance and resources on formative assessment/assessment without levels)
D&T Association units of work designed to support delivery of KS1 - 3 (free to members)
D&T Association Inspired by Industry resources that provide real life contexts for KS3 students to work with (most are free)
Oak National Academy provide a curriculum outline for KS1, 2 and 3 as well as supporting lesson resources.
BBC Bitesize also has resources that might be useful to support the creation of resources.

D&T GCSE Subject Content 2015 (England)

DfE Subject Content documents for all GCSE subjects. Exam boards have to use these documents when writing GCSE specifications.
Direct link to the DfE Subject Content for D&T GCSE (2015). This document lists basic content exam boards have to cover but it's up to each exam board how they interpret this content so, although there will be lots of similarities across all GCSE specifications, there will be key differences in their approach. This is a positive thing as it gives schools a choice of approach that suits them.
No one exam board that is better than any other and each has advantages and disadvantages. A department's choice of specification will depend on lots of different factors and it’s important that a key factor in the decision making process is what is right for the students. When the D&T GCSE specifications were first released we produced a summary document to try to objectively compare the specs, along with some key questions departments might ask themselves when choosing an exam board. Note these are our opinion only & departments must also do their own comparisons of the specification and other supporting documents provided by each exam board. Download the document here (one page compares each exam board's approach to the written exam and the other compares each exam board's approach to the NEA). It’s important to note the documents are a general overview only and were produced before the specifications were taught which means the don't include any updates that have taken place since then.
Each exam board has curriculum planning and lesson resources to support the delivery of GCSE D&T. As each board has to cover the same basic content in the original subject content resources can often be used from an exam board even it isn't the one being studied by students so it's useful to get an overview of what each board offers.
Oak National Academy and the D&T Association are also useful sources of resources.
BBC Bitesize also has resources that might be useful to support the creation of resources.

A Level Subject Content 2015 (England)

DfE Subject Content documents for all A level subjects. Exam boards have to use these documents when writing A level specifications.
Direct link to the DfE Subject Content for D&T A level (2017). This document lists basic content exam boards have to cover but it's up to each exam board how they interpret this content so, although there will be lots of similarities across all GCSE specifications, there will be key differences in their approach. This is a positive thing as it gives schools a choice of approach that suits them.
Each exam board has curriculum planning and lesson resources to support the delivery of A level D&T. As each board has to cover the same basic content in the original subject content resources can often be used from an exam board even it isn't the one being studied by students so it's useful to get an overview of what each board offers.

Things to consider when choosing a GCSE or A level specification

Which spec interprets the original Subject Content the best?
Which spec best reflects what a 21st Century D&T curriculum should look like?
Which spec gives you the most flexibility to teach your vision of what D&T is?
What spec meets the current (and future) needs of your students the best?
Is the spec content up to date with accurate and contemporary examples?
Which spec follows on the best from the KS3 curriculum?
How could content be covered at KS3 to help reduce pressure at KS4?
How much content has to be taught and to what level of depth?
How much detail in the spec do you want as guidance?
Does the detail and examples given in the spec aid teaching and learning or reduce your flexibility and ability to be creative?
Would a particular spec offer a good short term solution with a department working towards offering something different in the longer term?
Which specification flows the best into to A level and other post 16 options?
Which board offers the best support?
How well do past papers reflect the specification?
How well are questions worded in past papers so that students can access them?
Are non stereotypical products/images used in questions that all students can relate to?
Which exam paper layout best suits students e.g. do some papers have more to read than others? Are questions laid out in a logical way? When there’s choice is it obvious what these are & how to respond?
Which approach to grading the NEA best suits students?
How good is exemplar work that is provided for the NEA?

Rules & regulations for the Non Exam Assessment (NEA)

There are strict regulations set out by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) on how the NEA can be approached and how it is supervised. It’s important schools are aware of these regulations and the impact they might have on school policies, in particular those relating to marking work, feeding back grades to students and parents, and giving students help and advice.
The NEA contexts are released on 1st June in year 10 and it’s essential the school understands that students who are removed from lessons after this period may be severely disadvantaged as it may be logistically impossible for them to make up lost time.
It’s essential the KS3 curriculum provides students with sufficient time to develop the skills they will need at GCSE when approaching the NEA. It’s also important to consider that whilst schools may restrict students in the materials and equipment they're able to access because of the logistics of rooms and staffing, where possible students should be able to develop design solutions that use the most appropriate material. This will require time to develop a broader range of skills at KS3, as well as consideration of how this might logistically be managed at KS4.
There are also strict rules on the sharing of 'live' work on social media so it's important teachers and parents are aware of these.
There is a legal requirement that students are given the opportunity to request a review of marks for the NEA so it's important appropriate time is built in for this to happen. The school should also create their own policy for how this will take place and JCQ provide some templates for this.

All rules covering the NEA are listed on the JCQ website. Departments should consider sharing this information with parents so they understand what support their child can be given, the implications of breaking the rules as well as the importance of good attendance.

Schemes of learning

We prefer to provide starting points for inspiration rather than finished schemes of learning. This is because it's difficult to write a ‘one size fits all’ scheme of learning as there are so many variables between each department e.g. time allocation, group sizes, teacher skills, available equipment and materials, room sizes, department vision and approach to D&T. For a scheme of learning to be properly effective it should be planned with the needs of a specific department and group of learners.

Our resources therefore provide starting points for ideas that departments can then develop into their own schemes of learning and which can be mapped against the appropriate key stage curriculum (the D&T Association free planning resources are a useful starting point for this for KS1-3 and the GCSE specifications can be used for KS4).

We also have some curriculum planning resources on our website that outline the approach we take to curriculum planning. These resources are included in courses we deliver and can be purchased separately. Note our curriculum planning courses don't include KS3 cooking and nutrition or GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition and we recommend The Food Teacher's Centre for these resources.

Our activities and projects are linked to learning and in most cases start off with learning in mind rather than the end outcome being the driver. We use the curriculum planning resources on our website to identify this learning. This 'led by learning' approach to curriculum planning doesn't reduce the importance of hands on activities or projects or mean that there's a bigger focus on 'theory' in lessons. Indeed, as anyone who’s been on our courses will tell you, we advocate a very hands on practical approach to D&T, including theory being taught through a practical approach.

If learning isn’t the focus when choosing a project there’s a risk students go from one project to another ‘making stuff’ without there being any real joined up thinking and progression. Although students are learning practical skills by doing this, considering the wider learning means the same project has even more validity and depth. The project then becomes the vehicle for the learning rather than just an isolated make task.

It can be tempting to identify a project first and then to fit the learning into it. Whilst this may work it can end up feeling disjointed and there’s also the temptation to stick with a project ‘because students love it’ or ‘it’s cheap’ and to lose sight of the bigger picture.

The Inspiration for Activities section on the website includes different types of activity ideas. Our #ThinkDoMake resources are designed to be the most detailed, with learning identified, lesson resources provided and suggestions on delivery. There are also activities that mainly include instructions which teachers can then map against learning themselves. There are also activity ideas in the Tutorials section of our website all of which are free).