Work, CDT and the Low Achievers Project in Coventry

Abstract

In september 1985 the author was seconded for a period of one term by Coventry LEA to 'The Edgwi€k Centre' in order to undertake specific research into modular curriculum development in conjunction with the 'DES Project'. The area chosen for study was Engineering and on completion of his research the author intends to produce a series of interlocking modular units which will, hopefully, be made available by the LEA to interested parties.

Before joining the 'Edgwick Team' the author had only the barest information about the initiative (mainly through his work as a teacher of CDT in one of Coventry's large comprehensive schools). At the school some of his students were classified as low attainers with, in some cases, the added complication of being in care because of anti-social behaviour. The author was interested, therefore, to see how students with similar backgrounds fared in the DES Project programme. Did it offer an experience of success; something the students could succeed in which they felt was worthwhile and did not make them feel stigmatized as a group of 'slow learners'; or was the experience a backward step, educationally, and as such detrimental to the further development of the students. The answer to this question formed the basis of his research and the future composition of the learning package.