[Archive] Subject Integrity: When Art Meets Design & Technology

Talking D&T

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Michelle Gregson, General Secretary and Chief Executive of NSEAD, discusses the relationship between art and design and design and technology education, exploring their distinctiveness while highlighting their shared values and challenges.

• NSEAD operates as a learned society, subject association, and specialist trade union for art and design education
• Both art and design and design and technology subjects face similar challenges of reduced curriculum time and resources
• Michelle describes a "spectrum of practice" where art and design focuses more on internal/artist expression while design and technology addresses external/user needs
• Curriculum "blurring" between subjects is often driven by budget constraints rather than pedagogical innovation
• Both subjects share dispositions like curiosity, critical thinking, and problem-solving but apply them with different intentions
• Creativity exists across both subjects but manifests differently depending on context
• Children lose authentic learning experiences when subjects are narrowed down to what can be taught cheaply
• Education should value children for who they are today, not just as "units of currency for the future"
• Both subjects uniquely give students opportunities to be in control of their learning

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Chapters

1. Summer Archive Introduction (00:00:00)

2. Meeting Michelle Gregson from NSEAD (00:00:58)

3. NSEAD's Three-Part Mission (00:05:27)

4. Challenges for Art & Design Education (00:08:28)

5. Blurring Subject Boundaries (00:12:26)

6. Subject Integrity and Distinctness (00:17:50)

7. The Spectrum of Creative Practice (00:24:00)

8. Shared Dispositions and Different Intentions (00:32:29)

9. Creativity Across Subject Areas (00:36:40)

10. Education's Purpose Beyond Future Economy (00:43:20)

11. Closing Thoughts and Farewell (00:45:07)