Talking D&T
Talking D&T is a podcast about design and technology education. Join me, Dr Alison Hardy, as I share news, views, ideas and opinions about D&T. I also talk about D&T with teachers, researchers and academics from the D&T community.
The views on this podcast are my own and of those I am interviewing and are not connected to my institution. Much of the content is work in progress. As well as talking about D&T, I use it to explore new ideas and thoughts related to D&T education and my research, which are still embryonic and may change. Consult my publications for a reliable record of my considered thoughts on the topic featured in this podcast.
This podcast is independently produced and funded by Dr Alison Hardy. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or representative of Nottingham Trent University. All views expressed are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of the University.
Podcast music composed by Chris Corcoran (http://www.svengali.org.uk)
Episodes
221 episodes
Making Confident Design And Technology Curriculum Decisions Without Guesswork
A curriculum can look tidy on paper while the teacher behind it is quietly thinking, “Am I getting this right?” We sit with that reality and treat it seriously, because design and technology education is full of high-frequency decisions that ra...
The Evidence Gap In D&T Curriculum Decisions
D&T curriculum leadership often feels like making consequential calls with half a map. When time is squeezed, pupils disengage, policies shift, and senior leaders want clear rationales, it is easy to end up relying on instinct or borrowed e...
What Changes When We Design D&T For Access
The best support in Design and Technology rarely looks dramatic. It looks like a calm voice re-reading instructions, a bigger print-out placed quietly on a bench, a checklist that turns panic into progress, and a student realising they can fini...
Drafting Curricula By Day, Walking Kip By Night
I’ve been quiet on the podcast, and I wanted to be honest about why. The short version is not drama, it’s the reality of design and technology education work right now: drafting curriculum, managing confidentiality, and trying to protect enough...
How A Senior Leader Put D&T At The Heart Of Three SEMH Schools
What happens when a senior leader who grew up in the workshop helps design three SEMH schools from the ground up? In this episoode, I sit down with Paul Quinn to unpack a bold, practical vision for Design and Technology that prioritises access,...
Designing For SEMH: Teaching D&T With Care
A noisy workshop can feel like a storm, but what if the path to learning starts with rhythm, not rush? We sit down with D&T teacher Ailis Brown from a specialist SEMH school in Leeds to unpack how safety, trust, and regulation turn short le...
"You're going to let me use THAT?" - Empowering special needs students in D&T
Nicola Brown shares her experience teaching design and technology at Springwell Leeds North, an SEMH school catering to students aged 7-16 with social, emotional, and mental health needs. She discusses how building relationships, establishing m...
Beyond Empathy: What the V&A's Design and Disability Exhibition Taught Me
A museum floor changed underfoot and so did my thinking. After a visit to the V&A’s Design and Disability exhibition, I came home energised and unsettled—in the best way—and unpack how inclusive design moves from a nice‑to‑have to the engin...
When outsiders define your field: who decides what counts as value?
In this episode, I share some fascinating early findings from our ongoing survey exploring how people value design and technology compared with art and design. The research reveals both consensus and divergence amongst teachers, lecturers, and ...
Bridging Art & Design and D&T: Values, Overlaps, and Why Differences Matter
Ever been told art and design and technology are basically the same because they share the word “design”? Let’s test that claim with real data and grounded classroom experience. In this episode I unpack how teachers and stakeholders describe th...
Your Voice, Your Subject: Three Ways to Shape D&T's Future
In this episode, I'm excited to share three brilliant opportunities for you to get involved in research that's shaping the future of design and technology education. First, I'll tell you about the Redesigning Design and Technology project I'm c...
Not Ready Yet: The Professor Application That Wasn't
I applied for my professorship at my university and didn't get it despite approval at school level. The feedback indicated I was "not ready yet" due to insufficient sustained activity, impact and income generation.The rejection has force...
What Gets You Out of Bed to Teach Design & Technology?
Reconnecting with purpose is essential when facing professional challenges. In this reflective episode, I share my experience of an unsuccessful professorial application and how it prompted me to rediscover why I'm passionate about design...
[Archive] Talking Design Studio Pedagogy with Alice Hellard and Derek Jones
Recommended read: Studio Properties: A field guide to design education (edited by Derek Jones ,
[Archive] Subject Integrity: When Art Meets Design & Technology
Michelle Gregson, General Secretary and Chief Executive of NSEAD, discusses the relationship between art and design and design and technology education, exploring their distinctiveness while highlighting their shared values and challenges.<...
Behind the Mic: Planning the Podcast's Future
An update on forthcoming podcast episodes and series, including three planned series for the next academic year. This summer has been spent editing live recordings and planning new content that bridges academic research with classroom practice....
[Archive] Shaping the Future: The Evolution and Advocacy of Design and Technology Education with Tony Ryan
If you are interested in helping the Association evaluate their Inspired by Industry programme, sign up here: https://bit.ly/IBIinterestWhat happens when we look beyond textbook proj...
[Archive] Talking about design education in schools and higher ed with Max Pownall
Max Pownall is a product design lecturer at Nottingham Trent University. Find out more about Max and his work:
Holistic Evaluation: The True Measure of Design & Technology Capability
Holistic, summative assessment is essential for properly evaluating design and technology capability, drawing on research by Richard Kimball and Kay Stables that predates the National Curriculum and has been tested across multiple countries and...
Beyond the Design Crit: How Students Learn Through Giving and Receiving Feedback
Formative assessment in Design and Technology requires structured peer feedback approaches to be effective. Research shows a significant gap in assessing technological knowledge, with most studies focusing on design knowledge instead.• ...
The Research Gap: How to Assess Knowledge Components in Design & Technology
How do we effectively assess knowledge in Design and Technology education? It's a question with surprisingly few research-backed answers, despite its critical importance to teaching practice.I talk about this assessment gap in the...
Assessment in D&T: An Overview
How do we measure what truly matters in Design and Technology education? The challenge lies in distinguishing between assessing individual knowledge components and evaluating the holistic capability that emerges when students apply their learni...
Deliberate Teaching: The Art of Pedagogical Decision-Making in D&T
What makes for effective teaching in Design & Technology? Returning after a brief hiatus, I delve into the research-backed pedagogical approaches that can transform D&T education. This episode synthesizes my recent exploration of teachi...
Exploring Product Analysis as Signature Pedagogy in D&T
In this episode of the Talking D&T podcast, I explore the pedagogical approach of product analysis, often known as IDEAS (Investigation, Disassembly, Evaluation, and Analysis). I examine how this signature pedagogy helps develop learners' u...
Explicit Modelling in D&T - Moving Beyond Demonstration
In this episode, I explore the boundary between pedagogy and curriculum intent in D&T education. I reflect on how we can make our implicit modelling of design strategies more explicit to enhance pupils' learning and metacognitive awareness....