C.D.T. at Norwood Girls School

Abstract

In this brief article I hope to convey the extent to which innovation can develop by constraints which act as a framework for action. Teaching in a small department endows one with something akin to the 'pioneer spirit', heightened by the fact that this 'small department' is set in a girls' comprehensive.

There has been a 'craft workshop' at Norwood School for many years and until ten years ago, craft was offered as an option for senior pupils to work in wood. Developments at national level have so raised the status of the subject area in the school that our pupils are able to enjoy these opportunities as an integral part of their curriculum. Without the confines of traditional workshops it has been possible to expand the work of the department to suit the needs of our pupils.

We are moving away from the 'leisure-craft' image of the past to make a substantial contribution to our pupils' designing and technological development.

Recently, a visitor to our department asked a fourth year group why they had chosen Design and Technology as an examination course. A pat reply was not forthcoming, only a measure of surprise that the question had been asked at all. They were  following the course because they both liked the subject and were achieving success with the work. It must be unusual for many visitors to our school to see the workshops full of females - teachers and pupils, but for many of our pupils the subject is a 'normal' choice.