Effective professional development to enhance the teaching of Design and Technology: an on-going small-scale research study

Abstract

High-quality Design and Technology (D&T) education is essential for pupils in primary schools. Professional development (PD) is a crucial tool that offers primary school teachers the ability to maintain high-quality teaching in order to improve pupil outcomes. The National Curriculum in England and Wales requires children in KS1 and KS2 to be hands-on and creative through the designing and making of products within their D&T learning. Currently, a local authority (LA) in an outer London borough, works with teacher facilitators to run PD virtual networks. Teachers who coordinate and lead on specific subjects within a school are invited by the LA; however, through summative feedback, conversations around designing, delivering and assessing D&T have been viewed as challenging when undertaking PD networks online. Initial research has shown that teachers within the borough lack confidence and feel their skills and knowledge required to teach D&T effectively are limited.  

This paper reports on research-led guidance reports to support the designing and evaluating of effective PD. This ongoing mixed method research study will involve the participants’ initial feedback with regards to current PD practices. Subsequently, participants will give feedback on two bespoke face-to-face PD classes led by the University. The continuation of virtual PD sessions, run by the LA, will run alongside. The data collection method will be through questionnaires that are designed around current research in effective PD. From this study, the research acquired will assist the University and LA in developing/refining effective D&T PD while also helping D&T teachers to cultivate sustained lifelong learning goals.