ECT in Schools : St Mary's Catholic High School : Technology for All Seasons

	Welcome to St Mary’s Catholic High School in Chesterfield. I’m Summa (pronounced ‘Summer’) Walker and I’ve been teaching here for two years.
	In this article I will explain how we approach design and technology, and especially electronics. There are two issues that I will highlight: Staffing of design and technology is organised to get away from the gender stereotyping that is typical of most focus areas. We have developed our own PIC-based Unit of work for Y9 that places a major emphasis on electronics design.
	Design and technology is organised into ‘CDT’ and Food-Textiles blocks on the timetable. So, in Y7, Y8 and Y9, groups spend a year with the same ‘CDT’ teacher for one lesson a week and they also have one lesson a week with a Food-Textiles teacher. Two years ago the head of department expressed concern that this was reinforcing gender stereotyping, with most ‘CDT’ teachers being male (apart from me) and most Food-Textiles teachers being female. He asked D&T staff, on a voluntary basis, to engage in CPD that would enable all of us to teach in all design and technology focus areas up to GCSE level.

Nearly all staff have been receptive to this. We have been supported to go on courses in unfamiliar focus areas, ‘sit in’ on GCSE lessons in other areas and there is a named mentor/advisor for each focus area.

This approach has had a range of positive benefits:

It has encouraged discussion and collaboration between all D&T staff
It has reduced the pupils’ perception of different focus areas as ‘male’ and ‘female’
It means that staff have more continuity of contact with pupil groups – I am able to stay with the same group throughout KS3 – and so I can refer back to earlier work.