SMSC in Design and Technology
Spiritual development in Design and Technology
Design Technology
Food and Nutrition
Students are provided with the opportunity to participate in making and evaluating food from other countries learning about others from the world around them. They are exploring government guidelines for healthy eating and dietary requirements to make healthy life choices.
Students are offered feedback and assessment that values their effort and achievements.
Mutual respect is developed through the process of peer evaluation of each other’s work and standards. A pupil’s ability to self-reflect is developed through self-assessment.
Both classroom and practical based lessons in Food offer pupils the opportunity to reflect on their experiences, use their imagination and creativity when cooking.
Moral development in Design and Technology
Moral development: In design & technology we seek to develop a sense of ‘moral conscience’ in our students, through focusing upon the moral dilemmas raised in designing and making new products. We teach students to understand the wider impacts on the environment when designing and making new products and expect them to carefully consider the materials & components they will use when designing and making. We encourage sustainable thinking through the active application of the ‘6 R’s’ and to highlight the impact on environmentally sensitive areas of the world. The 6 Rs include: reinvent/rethink, refuse, reduce, reuse/repair, recycle, replace/rebuy.
Impact on society: Not all products are designed for the mass market - there are some groups of people who have specific needs that need to be met. This can be achieved either through inclusive design or through specific products. For example, designing for disabilities is a unit of work we look at in KS3.
Age: When designing products aimed at elderly users, it is important to understand the difficulties this user group may experience, such as mobility issues, visual impairment, and hearing loss. An example of a product aimed at this group is a long shoehorn, which will allow an elderly person to put a shoe on without having to bend down. Pupils are made fully aware of such issues and how to address them.
Religious groups: Religious groups have a variety of preferences that can be addressed through design. The use of certain symbols, dietary restrictions and clothing requirements all need to be considered so that beliefs are upheld. Pupils continually study and discuss this in DT lessons.
Social development in Design and Technology
Social development is a key feature of all design & technology lessons. We teach the concept of self-regulation to ensure that students accept responsibility for their behaviour and the safety of others. We encourage students to give each other reminders when standards fall short of the collective expectation. This establishes and maintains a safe, secure, learning environment. We place an emphasis on developing the ability to work with other and to accept each other’s unique personality. We encourage effective conversations about the work we do through self & peer evaluation, and to give and accept constructive criticism as a vehicle to improve students learning outcomes.
Companies are trying to save money, improve products, develop new materials, and become more efficient. New technologies are developed to positively impact the manufacturing industry and society. These concepts are discussed by pupils within the class and with clients attributed to their NEA work at GCSE.
Cultural development in Design and Technology
We develop wider cultural awareness in design technology through projects that have a connection with our past heritage and how our industrial routes have shaped our nation. We seek to expand student’s knowledge of other cultures influences on design and manufacture including an increasing awareness of the influences digital manufacturing developments from other countries is having on the designing and making of products that we use.
