Subject leadership and design and technology

The Centre for Design and Technology Education at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) supported by The Design and Technology Association (DATA) has developed a Postgraduate Certificate in Managing School Design and Technology as part of a three-year part-time MA in Design and Technology Education. This has been run successfully for three years in five locations in England. This paper seeks to explore the development of specific leadership skills required by secondary school subject leaders of design and technology as defined by DATA’s Exemplification of National Standards for Subject Leaders. It describes a specific research project designed to investigate teaching and learning methodology. A virtual learning environment (VLE) was made available to teachers through Sheffield Hallam University’s Intranet site. The project compared the teaching and learning issues arising from teachers completing a core activity as part of the Managing School Design and Technology course. The work of two groups of teachers was observed, one being taught using traditional ‘face-to-face’ teaching methods and the other working remotely in a VLE. The research findings are discussed with a view to informing development of continuing professional development (CPD).