Craft, Design and Technology - The Spearhead fo our Future

Abstract

During the last three years my colleagues and I have had the privilege of studying in depth how the design process, as understood in the industrial sector, could be introduced into the secondary school curriculum. Although we had been working with schools for several years, the speech by Mr. Callaghan in October 1977 focused our attention on determining what really could be done to link the world of industry and education.

In 1979 we set up the Fulmer Industry/Education Project to develop ways of improving the image and explaining the role of technology and engineering in schools. The reason for the work was threefold: firstly, the poor status of technologists and engineers in our society, secondly, the present educational requirements for students entering engineering courses and thirdly, the need to attract more able children from the arts and science streams into technological courses on a broad front.

As a contract research and engineering company, owned by the Institute of Physics, employing 150 qualified people in subjects ranging from physics, chemistry and mathematics through to ceramics, plastics and mechanical engineering, we see at first hand the educational and technological opportunities, open to this country. The graduates in our company' earn their livelihood by using the information and expertise taught at school and college in the development of innovative and successful products; we are always pleased to remind teachers of science subjects that what they teach in schools has a use other than passing examinations.