What Does Design and Technology Learning Really Look Like?

This paper presents findings from a research study investigating the relationship between intended learning and actual learning in Design and Technology lessons (Southall, 2015). The research focused upon the ‘pre active’ phase of the teaching-learning process, that is the teacher’s planning processes and procedures. The planning processes and procedures used by teachers are an essential pre-requisite to ensuring students’ progress their learning and consequently a vital aspect of teaching. Unfortunately however, it is an area of teaching often only considered in the context of ‘novice’ teachers. With the recent increasing focuses on the production of measurable learning ‘outputs’ in education, understanding the mechanisms behind effective planning processes that provide appropriate learning experiences, producing a range of learning outcomes is challenging for teachers and schools. The concept of being able to identify students’ learning and consequently plan for, capture and then gather learning, is directly related to the notion of learning outcomes, however can learning outcomes demonstrate the type of learning required to progress in Design and Technology? The role and function of a learning outcome within the teaching-learning process, the influences on and issues involved in the application of Design and Technology learning outcomes will be discussed. Seventy lesson plans were analysed and the intended learning outcome was identified and compared with the actual learning outcome produced during the lesson. The findings from this study reveal that the dominant, systematic planning model used by many teachers, provides only to a limited extent the relational framework for the intended and actual learning that supports the teaching-learning process. The prevailing focus on learning outcomes identified during this research is, it is argued, unable to fully support the multidimensionality and multimodality integral to Design and Technology learning. Instead it is restrictive and promotes a limited approach to the subject in relation to both teaching and learning. The study concludes that the planning processes and procedures in Design and Technology need to be developed with the clear intention of strengthening their role within the teaching-learning process. This would encourage the development of the underlying important principles inherent within the subject and support teachers’ and students’ achievement, creativity and enjoyment in teaching and learning in the classroom