Competence in question: the relevance of the Design and Technology Association minimum competences to initial teacher education.

The development of subject knowledge by student teachers has been a key part of initial teacher education courses for design and technology. Since 1995 there have been subject specific competences which students have been expected to address. With a changing curriculum in secondary schools it was felt timely to reflect on their relevance. This paper explores the background to the competences, undertakes a brief critical review of their content and reviews employer requirements in relation to fields of knowledge. The paper concludes by highlighting a number of issues to be addressed and possible consequences of dropping the design and technology association competences as a guiding document and the need for future research.