Industrial Design and Production Projects in Secondary Schools

Abstract

This article is based on research carried out by the author during a year's full time study at Shoreditch College, Surrey, in 1972-73. It was a follow-up to the concept of schoolbased production lines, first pioneered by the Schools Council Design and Craft Project centred at Keele University, and set out to survey and analyse the development of school-based 'factory days' which had emerged and aroused much interest in a number of areas up and down the country. Under the general heading of Preparation for Occupational Role, the method was originally aimed at young school leavers and the so called R.o.S. L.A. pupils, but its potential for other ages and abilities as a wider and more meaningful educational experience was soon realised. The author's interest in this appr<>ach was initially aroused by being personally involved with a production line experiment in his own school and later by the suggestion of a member of the Keele Project central team that this was a worthwhile field for research.