Home Search Sitemap Contact Bookmark

Free Dissertations - Education Dissertations

Design And Technology In Scotland's Knowledge Economy The Fact About Our ...

Design and Technology in Scotland's Knowledge Economy
The fact about our present curriculum is that it was essentially created by the nineteenth century, following some eighteenth century models and retaining elements of the medieval curriculum near its centre.
Writing in 1965 (p.188), Raymond Williams sums up the urgent need for reform in the postwar educational setup of the United Kingdom. Out of date and out of use, the curriculum for both primary and secondary schools was considered to be obsolete. Moreover, it did not represent the cultural and economic realities of the second half of the twentieth century whereby manufacturing and industry were on the decline and Britain became, in essence, a marketplace predominantly for trade between the major western capitalist powers as opposed to the nexus of world industry as had been the case some one hundred years previously. The major historical problem for the national curriculum in a British context has been the difficulty in maintaining a healthy balance between producing a curriculum that pays due attention to essential academic pursuits such as numeric and literacy skills while at the same time making sure that the next generation of decision makers are well enough equipped to cope with the vocational hazards of the modern world. Essentially, while it may be useful and cultural to be well versed in history, geography and English literature, these skills would prove little use in a private sector workplace where business acumen and the ability to make quick decisions are seen as far more important ‘life skills' to possess than any form of academia. Therefore, the modern debate about curriculum has always concerned knowledge and how best to apply the knowledge taught in schools to a workplace setting. This remains as true today as it did in 1987-1988 when the Thatcher Government passed the Great Educational Reform Bill (‘Gerbil'), which should be seen as a watershed moment in British educational policy and the logistical starting point of the following analysis. It was only after this sweeping piece of legislation that the modern curriculum as we know it today was conceived with in put from ministers, teachers, local authorities, parents and industry. In this way, an element of market discipline would be brought into education. (Sked and Cook, 1993:52)
For the purpose of perspective, the following account of the changing nature of the curriculum in the United Kingdom and, specifically, Scotland, must adopt an analytical approach, looking first at the challenges to the Scottish economy before logically turning attention to the strategies being developed and implemented by the Scottish Parliament in response to the constantly shifting edifice of both education and work at the dawn of the twenty first century.


Thanks