Hi there all.
I was wondering what thoughts colleagues have with regards to this issue? I have been teaching Design Technology for 17 years now. Prior to coming to the International School Of Toulouse in 1999 to start up a department from scratch (including introducing IB Design Technology), my only post 16 experience was A – Level and then the A/AS scenario in schools in the UK (although I was educated overseas in Hong Kong where I followed the A-level Design Technology course as a student). Personally, having now taught the IB for 5 years, I think that it has significant advantages over the A/AS level courses for a variety of reasons, not least that it really does delve into a broad range of Design and Technological issues and the three examination papers are really quite challenging. The downsides currently (although these are soon to be addressed in the ‘new’ DT syllabus for IB I hope…) are the lack of ‘design’ work on paper (A3 and A2 portfolio work) required. For me, this design development sketching is probably the most important component….Having read the mixed reviews recently about the current A/AS levels (and results in the UK press) I would be interested to hear other viewpoints from other DT colleagues.
Any other thoughts?
David
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