Craft Design and Technology - The uncertain future

Abstract

One hundred years ago, the teaching of craft design and technology (then manual training) began in the playground shed of a Paddington School. The instructor was the school caretaker, John Chenoweth, who happened to be a carpenter. The case for including practical subjects in the school curriculum had already been supported by a Royal Commission, but even so the Government refused grants and the City and Guilds of London Institute provided initial funding. Now in its anniversary year CDT seems to have everything going for it. After its years in the outer reaches of the curriculum - and often the school buildings - it has painfully fought its way out of the cold. CDT teachers, advisers, inspectors and teacher trainers have devoted decades of committed work to the struggle. With the assistance of the national projects of the 1960's and 1970's (which probably had more effect on CDT than on any other subject) they have achieved a new identity - from woodwork and metalwork to design and technology.