Abstract

This paper has emerged out of my life-long passion for Design and Technology (D&T), which I will refer to as D&T from now on, my on-going research which has informed my practice as a teacher of D&T in England over the past forty-five years, and in particular my practice as a trainer of D&T teachers for the past twenty years.

In this paper I have taken the conference theme and I will discuss the problems I see in meeting the challenge inherent in the conference strapline ‘D&T – A platform for Success’. I will not be referring to the subject as a whole but homing in on one aspect that I, and many others (e.g. Barlex & Rutland, 2003; 2004; Baynes, 2009; Nicholl, McLellen & Kotob, 2007; Welch, 2007) consider is very important – the activity of ‘designing’.