Economic and industrial understanding and primary design and technology - implications for initial teacher training

The importance of co-operation between industry and education has come to be recognised in recent years, but the realisation of the relevance of this co-operation to primary schools is only just emerging (1). Education for economic and industrial understanding is one of the cross-curricular themes identified by the National Curriculum Council (2), "It helps pupils understand the world in which they live and prepares them for life and work in a rapidly changing, economically competitive world" (3). The provision of the cross-curricular theme of economic and industrial understanding within the National Curriculum creates exciting possibilities for primary design and technology (4). The potential of the business context has been explored through the medium of retailing with an emphasis on establishing appropriate curriculum development in initial primary teacher training courses. This study focuses upon ways to provide for economic and industrial understanding in primary design and technology and their implications for initial primary teacher training.