D&T could be gone from national curriculum in four years, business leaders warn | Design

Design and technology could disappear from the national curriculum within four years unless plummeting student and teacher numbers are reversed, business leaders warn.

A report by organisations including the Design Council and Design & Technology Association to be released this week, found that about 20% of schools in England and Wales do not teach the subject. Pupils numbers taking D&T at GCSE level have fallen 68% in the last decade. D&T was a compulsory GCSE subject until 2000.

In 2009, more than 15,000 secondary teachers in England were trained to teach D&T. Now the figure is 6,300, and this will probably dip below 4,500 in the next four years, the report said. Tony Ryan, a former teacher and CEO of the D&T Association, said: “This is not enough to sustain the subject.”

Major businesses have voiced concern. Aston Martin’s executive vice-president and chief creative officer Marek Reichman told the Observer how his GCSE studies in D&T inspired him to become a designer: “They were fundamental to my growth and development, not only as an artist but as a human being. And look who it’s given us: [Apple’s] Jony Ive, Stella McCartney, David Hockney.”

Arts, design and technology subjects challenge students to “think, problem-solve and explore new ideas through our own creative spirits”, said Reichman: “If more of the arts were core subjects of our early education, the world would be a better place.”

Panasonic Design London creative lead Rowan Williams said: “When you’re sitting in your chair at home or walking to work or travelling on a train or plane, look around you. Everything has been designed. Thinking we can let the subject die out is really sad, and shows there has been a miscommunication of what design is.”

Ryan believes the schools most likely to drop D&T are those with students who need it most. “They’re the schools that are most socially deprived, and they drop it because they can’t get the right teachers, it’s more expensive to run than other subjects, and they’re desperate to get good results,” he said.

The Design Council said the design sector contributes more than £100bn a year to the UK’s GDP.

Chartered engineer Yewande Akinola, who presents shows on Channel 4 and National Geographic, said the engineering and design sector is already suffering from a shortfall of talent coming into the industry. “We need to compensate for a potential shortfall of nearly 200,000 creatives and engineers over the next few years, especially if we’re going to reach net zero goals,” she said.

Ryan added that D&T is not just a practical subject and that “making is only 15% of it, while the other 85% involves ideation, problem-solving and innovating”.

The report suggests the curriculum should reflect how designers operate in industry, giving students briefs to respond to and real-world problems to solve. Akinola said: “The subject gives students the chance to come up with progressive ideas that will ultimately help us become a more innovative country that the world looks to for solutions.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said that the level of tax-free financial incentives for prospective D&T teachers has increased from £20,000 to £25,000 for the academic year 2024-25.

Ryan said the bursary was removed completely for the year 2022/2023, “resulting in a devastating dip in recruitment that year”.