Why tackling subject snobbery of Design & Technology is key to saving it & improving inclusivity in industries

Laura Tuck is R&D Team Lead at The Washing Machine Project.

The Washing Machine Project is working with the Design & Technology Association to provide lesson content for schools as part of its Inspired By Industry initiative. 

Design & technology as a curricular subject has been in a state of national neglect for many years.

Today, fewer students are studying it and fewer teachers are teaching it. The latest report by the Design Council and the Design & Technology Association released earlier this year found that design & technology was on course for extinction within the next four years.

It seemed the subject’s steep decline was largely down to academic snobbery. Whilst not specifically said, it was certainly inferred by the previous government that design & technology fell among those courses unfairly labelled “Mickey Mouse” – disciplines that do not lead to well-paid nor useful jobs in today’s and tomorrow’s market. That’s incredible when you think about the huge economic value that the UK’s creative industries bring from its inventions and design.  

With a new government now in place, design & technology’s survival as a curricular subject relies on a renewed vision and mindset that understands and is excited by the possibilities it can bring in addressing some of the biggest challenges we face in modern times: pandemics, climate change and an ageing crisis present major issues and opportunities for creative minds within the design and technology fields to come together and innovate solutions to tackle urgent humanitarian problems. 

In that, there is much scope for businesses to become involved in shaking up the design & technology curriculum to help schools inspire and nurture homegrown talent. This starts with dispelling misconceptions about design & technology as a ‘hobby’ and non-academic subject without relevance to the real world.

This challenge to preserve design & technology is personal to me. At school, my design & technology teachers were the most inspirational role models. I don’t think I would have ever become an engineer without them. Whether making architectural models or repairing musical instruments, I always looked forward to spending time in the design & technology workshop above anything else at school. 

During GCSEs, I was lucky enough to win an Arkwright scholarship, which allowed me to see different companies in action. This opportunity is the only reason I knew engineering existed as a career and why I am doing what I do today. I was lucky enough to immerse myself in a world where the subject I loved came to life outside the classroom and in a real workplace. This made the subject more meaningful and relatable – and it helped me envision how I might fit into the engineering industry after I completed my education. 

School can be a very poor replica of the real world, which is why it’s important that disciplines, like design & technology, are contextually framed in a real-life setting where young students can see how the subject is relevant to actual jobs and is applied to real life. It is one of the reasons why many companies like femtech brand, Elvie, toy brand Scalextric, and indeed the organisation in which I am the R&D Team Lead – The Washing Machine Project –  are working with schools via the Design & Technology Association to rejuvenate curriculum content for the subject so that young students can assume the mantel of a real industrial designer, product innovator or engineer and think of creative solutions to real-life briefs.

The brief we have set for students in UK schools is to create a laundry solution for a school in Uganda, which challenges them to think about the collection of water, the cleaning process and the drying of the clothes. To inspire and support creative thinking, we provided videos demonstrating our design and testing processes so that students can really engage with the task. Aside from that, I hope that students will be able to see beyond the possibilities of the classroom to the wider opportunities that lie in design & technology in helping to improve lives.

I always knew I wanted to design products that would make a positive impact on people’s lives. I would not have understood the opportunity for this had I not had early exposure to real-life workshops at school and through the scholarship. In my career so far, I have played a key part in the development and design of empowering inventions; from breast pumps, pelvic floor trainers and female urinals to today – manual washing machines for underserved global communities. Seeing the ripple effect of something I designed has been incredible.

Division and disparities all start at the grassroots. But design & technology in itself can help address the social divide. But we must eliminate the academic snobbery that surrounds it. The bigger picture to this is that we must sustainably nurture and grow the minds that will invent and innovate ourselves out of these pressing issues, right from the grassroots. This starts with supporting schools, safeguarding the design & technology discipline and inspiring young students to consider what is possible with a career in this field.