Improving practice in initial teacher education: assessing student perceptions of their design and technology capability

Students registered for the BA (QTS) Primary Programme at Roehampton Institute London, are required to undertake a six week foundation module in Design and Technology in the National Curriculum [DFE, 1995]. The students enter the module with a variety of different experiences. For many students this is the only opportunity they will be given to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding of design and technology within the modular Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme. This short-term cohort study involved 98 undergraduate students. The students were required to grade their pre- and post-module perceptions of their design and technology capability [Stephenson and Weil, 1992]. Throughout the period of study, the student's perception of their personal academic growth was matched against clearly defined course criteria. This paper raises issues connected with the possible relevance of quantifying students' perceptions of their learning to the planning, implementation and evaluation of design and technology, in order to improve practice in ITE [Gibbs, 1992].