Is the steady hand game an appropriate project for this decade? An analysis of the factors why teacher trainees in an ITT partnership are not moving projects forward

This paper considers the issues facing trainers, trainees and schools in an initial teacher training (ITT) partnership in the use of new materials and emerging technologies in design and technology projects. It considers problems with the frameworks offered by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) and the Design and Technology Association (DATA) in meeting subject knowledge requirements with respect to schools’ design and technology provision in the 11 to 18 age range. Data are used from a survey of an ITT partnership and from Ofsted HMI Design and Technology summaries to explore the extent of problems with existing curriculum provision in Design and Technology. The validity of traditional projects, such as the ‘steady hand game’ and wooden storage boxes are questioned. What is their merit in engaging and exciting pupils who are surrounded by everyday products, using new materials and technologies, which could be explored as design and make opportunities at school? The paper discusses how schools involved with teacher training could make more effective use of trainees’ recent subject knowledge and experiences, for example from their degree studies or industrial experience. It concludes with suggestions as to how trainees, during school placements, should be moving existing projects forward and developing projects that make use of new and emerging technologies