AS and A level Design and Technology consultations now open
AS and A level Design and Technology qualifications will be redeveloped for first teaching from September 2017. The consultations on subject criteria and assessment objectives are now open.
Proposals
The consultation proposes that:
- students will still able to specialise through one of three endorsed routes, these are engineering, product design, and fashion design and development
- students will be required to develop a core breadth of knowledge of materials, techniques, equipment and processes
- there will be a focus on students being able to identify market needs for new products and initiate and develop design solutions
- there is a stronger focus on how students communicate their design ideas, using sketching and computer-aided design
- food technology has been removed as an endorsed route within design and technology, and DFE have decided not to develop a separate food A level, as has been done at GCSE
The Department for Education (DfE) and Ofqual have released the consultation documents on their website for the new subject criteria. The DfE is consulting on the subject content and Ofqual is consulting on the amount of non-examined assessment and the assessment objectives.
You can find details of the consultations by clicking on the links below:
Department for Education consultation on subject content
Ofqual consultation on assessment arrangements
These pages contain details of the content and assessment for this qualification, as well as how you can respond to the consultation.