Design and Technology: GCSE

(asked on 18th July 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to prepare young people for future jobs in the engineering sector in light of the decrease in the number of students taking GCSE Design and Technology since 2014.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 25th July 2018

The Department is committed to ensuring that young people are prepared for a range of careers including in the digital, engineering and creative industries.

To prepare students for a broad range of careers it is important that they study a broad curriculum including the core academic subjects to the age of 16. Music, art and design, dance, drama, and design and technology are compulsory from the age of 5 to 14, and computing from the age of 5 to 16 in all maintained schools. Academies are also required to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, which Ofsted consider in their inspections.

The Department has reformed GCSEs and A levels, including in arts subjects, design and technology and computer science, to ensure that they provide our students with the knowledge and skills to prepare them for further study, higher education and careers.

The Department is also introducing new T Level programmes, which will give young people a high quality, technical alternative to A levels. They teach students the knowledge and practical skills that employers are looking for. The first T Levels in Education and Childcare, Digital, and Construction will be taught by a small number of providers from September 2020.

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