Abstract

The work presented here serves to document the results of a national survey of in excess of one hundred and forty classroom practitioners and middle leaders about the current situation of textiles technology within their place of work. (School, Academy). Areas such as technological content, where textiles is actually delivered within the curriculum, the level to which it is delivered and the duration throughout the curriculum were all covered within this study.

With recent national discussion centred the introduction of the English Baccalaureate (E.Bacc.) and the place of Design and Technology within any ensuing curriculum, textiles technology is facing an uncertain future. The work present here shows that in many secondary education settings textiles is being moved into “Art and Design” and away from “Design and Technology”. The research presented here also illustrates that a majority of textiles teachers are passionate about resisting the move from Design and Technology into Art and Design. Further, it is acknowledged by many that there is a place for textiles within Art and Design, particularly in relation to surface embellishment techniques but there is strong opinion of a need to retain its place within Design and Technology to cover technological textiles including garment construction.