VIEW FROM THE CLASSROOM
The power of the D&T classroom
Multi Academy Trusts, supporting over 100 schools and approximately 50,000 students. These wide range of schools across these trusts; from new schools in temporary accommodation, to all-through academies and Independent schools, means there is limited consistency between the way D&T departments are staffed, timetabled or the types of classrooms and workshops they have access to. Each Trust is unique in its aims and ambitions, but both share a vision for D&T to have a central curriculum teachers can rely on and refer to. And both believe that sustainability and responsibility are core themes and threads that should explicitly underpin and run-through D&T.
E
ducation Today speaks with Ed Charlwood, National Lead Practitioner, Curriculum Lead and D&T Subject Advisor across two Multi Academy Trusts.
Tell us about your school.
I am the National Lead Practitioner, Curriculum Lead and D&T Subject Advisor for two major
How important do you think it is for children and young people to understand the environment within which they live? Understanding their local environment is crucial for young people because (arguably) sustainability represents the defining challenge of their generation - yet much of this crisis remains invisible and beyond their direct control. Global issues like climate change, resource depletion, and biodiversity loss can feel overwhelming and abstract to students. They see the effects but cannot directly influence multinational corporations, government policies, or international supply chains. This disconnect often leads to disengagement or anxiety about problems that seem insurmountable.
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However, local environmental understanding offers something powerful: genuine agency. When students understand their immediate surroundings - local ecosystems, community needs, regional materials, and neighborhood challenges - they can design solutions for local problems, make informed choices about materials and processes, and see the direct impact of their decisions.
What role do you think D&T has to play in this?
D&T is uniquely positioned to address environmental understanding precisely because of the ambiguity within the national curriculum - and this ambiguity is actually a great strength. It enables D&T teachers to be genuinely responsive. We can focus on local environmental challenges, use regionally appropriate materials, and develop challenges and design briefs that address real community needs. While geography might teach about environmental systems and science might explain the mechanisms of environmental change, D&T allows students to act - to design, make, and test solutions within their actual environment. The subject’s inherently practical nature means students can grapple with real constraints: available materials, budgets, community needs, and environmental limitations - it’s applied environmental problem-solving where students experience the tension between ideal solutions and practical realities.
July/August 2025
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