Formative Influences on Technology Education: The Search for An Effective Compromise in Curriculum Innovation

Successful curriculum development in our schools and colleges relies on compromise and interplay from a number of interested parties, some of whom are competing for recognition and resources. The interests which these factions represent vary and are not immediately apparent. While to some, the basis of curricular innovation lies soundly in the philosophical ideals of the educator whose sole concern is the successful development of the full potential of the child, to others the curriculum is perceived as having more instrumental aims which include the interests of the state and society at large. In addition to philosophical foundations, most innovators have to bear in mind the political and economic interests of stakeholders in technology education (e.g., school governors, national governments, industrialists and parents) as well as the classroom practicalities that result from the teaching/ learning strategies available. Unfortunately, while these constraints are understood by curriculum planners, they are frequently ignored and the evolution of the curriculum is still a haphazard affair which does not necessarily occur in a logically, ordered, and planned fashion. The Technology Education Curriculum in the United Kingdom is a prime example of how the evolution of a subject has been distorted both by a philosophy which was allowed to assume credibility without an empirical verification of its practicality and also political imperatives which led to changes being implemented without sufficient preparation (Eggleston, 1991). Fortunately, and in some ways undeservedly, the results of such hegemony have been to some degree ameliorated by the professional practice of teachers. The strategies utilized by these practitioners are frequently implemented unconsciously and rely on craft skills which have been handed down through generations of teachers as well as being developed as part of their stock in trade through experience of “what is possible” within the constraints of life at the “chalk face.” The current curriculum (DFE, 1995) is a praiseworthy attempt to rectify errors which would never have occurred if the basic tenets of a “process” model had been used by the curriculum developers during the planning stage of the innovation. ________________________________ George Shield is Principal Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Sunderland, Sunderland, England.