Evaluating the Craft, Design and Technology Department

Abstract

One: Why We Should Review Craft, Design and Technology Departments

After a century of fringe importance, the activity which we now call Craft, Design and Technology is coming out of the cold. After twenty years of accelerating development CDT is being rooted into the school system. There is even a possibility of it becoming a core area for study at secondary level. How can practising teachers of CDT help to ensure that this vitally important subject is developed to its full potential?

Any system which is directed towards certain end results will need to be continuously reviewed and sometimes modified. If CDT is to become a valued member of the educational club, its teachers will need to develop a clarity of vision, confidence in the importance of what they offer, professional ways of monitoring and improving the quality of their practices, and not least, a stronger impulse to articulate the educational value of their wares. Systematic evaluation procedures will be a powerful tool in this exciting endeavour.