Design and Technology or D&T as a school subject is under threat. To anyone with curious kids, this must be baffling. All parents and carers know that their kids love making, creating, and problem-solving. It provides new ways for them to learn and they get something awesome at the end of it.
Yet the D&T Association says that the “…subject is in severe danger of being eliminated to the very margins of the school curriculum.” Losing D&T reduces the opportunities for children and young people to explore concepts like design thinking. With skills gaps in manufacturing, engineering, and digitalisation, schools should be focusing on subjects that encourage critical thinking and collaboration.
Thankfully, despite uncertainty about the future of D&T in schools, there are extracurricular ways to get involved in D&T via challenges, competitions, and fairs.
Nurturing Young Innovators
Kids who want to get busy making and innovating need outlets for that creativity. Innovation specialist Ben Edmonds suggests that children need, “…good quality D&T lessons, where it is OK to experiment and where the prototypes and the journey are just as important as the outcomes. Lessons where every student creates their own solution and not just the same product.”
This is an important aspect of innovation: The ability to do your own thing and take risks without fear of recrimination. Standardised curriculums sometimes fail to approach this creative factor. They lack the comprehension that confidence is achieved through the contrast between failure and success. It really is possible to learn from mistakes — but only when mistakes are seen as a learning tool and not something to be ashamed of.
While organizations like the D&T Association push for better D&T classes in schools, several other groups offer ways for young people to stretch their “maker mojo” and showcase their abilities.
Design Competitions
These groups provide challenges and competitions that are often free to enter, although this varies from provider to provider. Here are three popular resources you could show to your aspiring makers and engineers.
The Big Bang UK
The Big Bang UK Young Scientists and Engineers Competition is free to enter. It’s open to anyone aged 11–18 still in education. There are also plenty of resources and inspiration on the website to help young inventors get started with their STEM projects.
Girls Into Coding founder Avye Couloute won Big Bang’s Young Engineer of the Year Award in 2022 for her innovative Air Quality Pavilion.
Primary Engineer’s National Competition
Primary Engineer® asks the question: If you were an engineer, what would you do? The competition is now in its tenth year and open to all UK-based school pupils. Successful entrants get to interview professional engineers and get advice and support to make their own unique designs. They send their designs, with a cover letter, to an engineer and say why it should get built. Winners get their designs exhibited and one idea is selected to have its prototype created.
Stem Learning
The STEM learning website provides numerous D&T projects based on real-life challenges. These are ideal for letting your young person upskill themselves and gain confidence in their abilities before moving on to judged contests. Several of these challenges are posed by existing manufacturing, engineering, or tech companies, further highlighting how they’re applicable in the real world.
Maker Fairs and STEM Events
Sometimes it’s fun to see other makers and innovators showcasing their works. Maker fairs give young people the opportunity to see other creative people at work and get an idea of what’s possible with D&T skills. Many of these events offer workshops, allowing kids to have a go at something new.
The Big Bang Fair
As well as their popular competition, The Big Bang hosts an annual fair. In 2024, the fair explores the environment, sustainability, and more.
Makers Central
Makers Central is a huge exhibition of creative types. As well as seeing amazing artistic designs and inventions, attendees get to have a go at a number of projects. These include electronics, forging metal, and even building a drone from scratch.
Girls Into Coding Events
Girls Into Coding provides free tech education events for girls ages 10 to 14. The organization aims to address the gender gap in STEM subjects and careers via fun, hands-on events and workshops. Girls get to learn how to make robots, create 3D designs, and explore physical computing.
What Parents Can Do
If you feel that your child is ready to enter a design competition or join a challenge, approach the organisers and find out how to get involved. However, if you feel your child would benefit from a little more confidence or technical ability, find out if there are any tech education groups in your local area. There may even be some you can join online.
Peer-to-peer learning groups are especially supportive for children who are unsure of their own abilities. They get to see what they could be, gaining a deep understanding that people their own age can produce amazing robots, 3D-printed products, or other physical projects.
Throughout our series of blogs on D&T, we’ve highlighted the importance of embracing both aspects of the subject. Tech and STEM education helps inform kids about emerging technologies and their usefulness. Design skills help them understand user experiences, ease of use, and the importance of creating beautiful interfaces. The design economy in Britain employs at least 1.97 million people in the UK. Nurturing these talents could increase your children’s life chances.
Combining design and creative flair with technological know-how provides your kids with even more transferable skills. Learning coding, data management, and analytics could be the key that unlocks a career in just about any industry you can imagine.
Take a look at what grass-roots tech education organization Girls Into Coding achieved in 2023, helping girls in STEM and tech topics excel, meet role models, and use relevant technology to increase their design skills.
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