Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a small-scale project that looked at whether the present Design and Technology (D&T) National Curriculum (NC) for England promotes the development of technological capability to support the generation of economic value through enhancing human capital. The English D&T NC has been in existence for 30-years with a number of iterations during that time. Throughout that time-span the technological world in which D&T education exists, has changed beyond all recognition. This paper looks briefly at the concept of the knowledge economy and the development of human capital in a technological world. It then examines whether the English NC for D&T has evolved through its various iterations. A comparison between the most recent edition of the D&T NC document and the latest New Zealand Technology document through an analysis of the words used in each document was carried out utilising the frequency of all the meaningful words in the two documents. The data would suggest that there has been little change in the English version through its various iterations whereas in the NZ document there is a focus that explicitly embraces the developing technological world. The conclusion from the analysis suggests that a more overt recognition of technological change is required in the next iteration of NC D&T if those both inside and outside the D&T community are to recognise and believe in the worth of the subject for the education of students in their acquisition of human capital that will enable them to fulfil a role in the successful economic development of England and indeed the United Kingdom.