December 2025 Design and Technology update
December 2025 Design and Technology update, bringing you focused news, including key dates, available training and more.
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| 12 December | Last date to use the Access To Scripts service via Script Viewer. |
| 21 February 2026 | Entries deadline |
| 15 May 2026 | Deadline to submit NEA samples and NEA marks |
| 22 May 2026 | A level Design and Technology 9DT0 01 exam |
| 10 June 2026 | GCSE Design and Technology 1DT0 (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) exam |
Our Response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review
The Curriculum and Assessment Review is an important milestone for education and skills in the UK – and it’s just the beginning.
We welcome the Review’s support for many of the recommendations we shared. All of these have been inspired by our work with schools and colleges across the country. And we’ll keep working to build an education system that empowers students, champions teachers, and drives the UK’s long-term success.
As we now move from ideas into further action, we’ll keep collaborating with educators, students, partners, sector experts to drive manageable and truly impactful change.
We’ve already started to do this and would love for you to join us in our next steps.
From June 2026, we’ll be asking you to submit a slightly larger sample size for NEA moderation for both GCSE and A level qualifications.
This change is designed to make moderation smoother and reduce the need for additional sample requests later in the year.
Therefore if you are selecting your students for sampling for the May 26 moderation submission, please ensure that you refer the information here and in the Administrative Support Guide.
We’ve got a range of training events lined up to help you deliver the GCSE and A level Design and Technology specifications with confidence.
And here’s some exciting news – we’re expanding our face-to-face events, including new sessions for A level. These are currently being scheduled, and you’ll be able to book your place soon.
Online events for both GCSE and A level are now scheduled. You can book on to these from the following update!
Online training events for GCSE and A level Design and Technology
Join the final January Challenge!
Pearson is proud to partner with 64 Million Artists for the last-ever January Challenge – a free programme of daily creative prompts throughout January. Perfect for classrooms, staff rooms, and whole-school activities.
This year the theme is ‘Courageous Change’ with each of the prompts designed to help us get a new perspective, build our courage and helpus collaborate so that we can be more prepared for this ever changing world.
At Pearson, we've helped create the schools resource pack again this year and two prompts were written by your Subject Advisors!
To get involved, you can:
- Sign up to receive daily creative prompts in January
- Download the schools pack
- Use the schools pack to help your school get creative and make change
Last year 360,000 people took part and we’re hoping to make the last one the biggest and best. There’s no better time to make change than now, so sign up and take part, and we’ll see you there!
Subject advisor
Evren Alibaba
Design and Technology
