ECT: Electronics, Creativity and Technology?

There is small-scale research evidence (Spendlove, 2003) that Electronics and Communications Technology (ECT) is perceived by pupils as allowing little scope for creativity when compared with other focus areas of design and technology. This paper reports a preliminary, small scale, investigation into the extent to which Spendlove’s findings are replicated in a study of schools where ECT has a substantial presence in the D&T Schemes of work and GCSE syllabuses. Based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, coupled with scrutiny of schemes of work, the paper investigates the relationship between the teaching approaches adopted in ECT classes and the extent to which pupils feel they are able to engage creatively with the subject matter. In particular, we examine the extent to, and ways in, which the use of: • a ‘components and circuits’ approach; • a ‘systems’ approach; • a programmable microcontroller (‘PIC’) based approach; supports or hinders pupils’ perceptions of creativity. The small sample doesn’t allow definitive conclusions to de drawn, but the data do indicate that, at least in some settings, pupils rate work in ECT as providing a great deal of opportunity for creativity and that the underlying ECT technology used is not the only factor affecting pupils’ creativity. This raises intriguing possibilities for further investigation.