Design and Technology in the National Curriculum 1995

The 1995 National Curriculum Revisions for Design and Technology, which defines the much simplified Programmes of Study (PoS) for each Key Stage and the level descriptions for AT1 and AT2. The requirements for Information Technology were separated and published separately.

By this stage it had become clear that design and technology was essentially the responsibility of former ‘Craft, Design and Technology’ (CDT) departments, combined with ‘Home Economics’, and that Art and design, and Business education were therefore excluded.

A much simplified PoS for each Key Stage defined:
1. A combination of extended assignments, short ‘focused practical tasks, and activities involving product analysis
2. Opportunities for pupils to work with a wide range of materials, to work independently and in teams, and to apply skills, knowledge and understanding from other subjects
3. Designing skills
4. Making skills
5. Knowledge and understanding of materials and components, control, structures, products and applications, quality, health and safety, appropriate vocabulary.

At the same time, the Attainment Targets were reduced to two:
AT1: Designing
AT2: Making

Both described using eight levels and ‘exceptional performance’, but were only intended for use up to the end of Key Stage Three, with GCSE examination specifications providing the means of assessing attainment, for courses starting in September 1996.

The GCSE examinations that followed placed emphasis on the need for students to consider the implications of industrial production of the products they designed, including an understanding of the use of quality control systems.