Design and Technology

Immediately after the publication of the 3rd official version of the UK national curriculum (NC2000), a group of academics based at the London Institute of Education undertook a fundamental reappraisal of that curriculum. The group - chaired by Professor John White, a philosopher of education - argued that the structure of the curriculum was at odds with the espoused aims for it. The book presents a subject-by-subject analysis of these aims and structures, and in the process it presents a 're-think' of what the curriculum might be like if it were truly to be based on the espoused aims. Kimbell was responsible for the design and technology chapter and demonstrated that (unlike most subjects) there is a remarkably good fit between the subject and the wider aims of the National Curriculum, partly because of the newness of the subject (formally articulated as design and technology for the 1st time in the original 1990 version of the NC), partly because of the 'outward-looking' nature of the subject, and partly because of the procedural priorities that underpin its definition.