Developing the Teaching of Food Technology in Primary Schools in England through Curriculum Development and Initial Teacher Education

This paper investigates developments in the teaching of food technology introduced as an element of design & technology in the 1990 National Curriculum for Technology in the English primary curriculum for children aged five to eleven years. It reviews briefly the situation for food teaching before 1990 and identifies a number of relevant issues. This is followed by an overview of developments in food technology in primary schools between 1992 and 2001, highlighting the need for primary teachers and trainee teachers on initial teacher education courses to develop an understanding of how to teach food technology in their schools. The development of teaching materials through the Nuffield Approach to food technology in primary schools is outlined together with a case study of the use of the materials in initial teacher education at the University of Surrey Roehampton. The paper describes the uptake of Nuffield Primary food technology materials as measured by down loads from the Nuffield Primary Design & Technology web site. Alongside this, there are reflections of primary trainee teachers on the impact of using the Nuffield food technology materials on their classroom practice during school experience. It concludes with a discussion of the key issues arising from the paper and suggestions for future research. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Teachers learning about technology and technology education: Insights from a professional development experience

The introduction of technology education in primary and secondary schools during the past 10–15 years around the world has presented a number of difficulties for teachers, primarily related to their coming to understand the phenomenon of technology and to conceptualise the technology learning area in line with national frameworks. This paper reports on a professional development experience that aimed to assist a small group of primary school teachers to develop their understandings of technology and technology education. A theoretical model framed a series of professional development interactions between the researchers and the experienced teachers who were new to teaching technology. Data sources included teacher interviews, video recordings of the activities, teacher made models, and extracts from their reflective journals. The study presented some insights into how professional development experiences for teachers new to technology could be organised and implemented to best support their developing technology practices and understandings.     

Analysing teacher knowledge for technology education in primary schools

Teacher knowledge guides a teacher’s behaviour in the classroom. Teacher knowledge for technology education is generally assumed to play an important role in affecting pupils’ learning in technology. There are an abundant number of teacher knowledge models that visualise different domains of teacher knowledge, but clear empirical evidence on how these domains interact is lacking. Insights into the interaction of teacher knowledge domains could be useful for teacher training. In this study, the hypothesised relations between different domains of teacher knowledge for technology education in primary schools were empirically investigated. Subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy were measured with tests and questionnaires. Results from a path analysis showed that subject matter knowledge is an important prerequisite for both pedagogical content knowledge and self-efficacy. Subsequently, teachers’ self-efficacy was found to have a strong influence on teachers’ attitude towards technology. Based on the findings in this study, it is recommended that teacher training should first of all focus on the development of teachers’ subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. This knowledge will positively affect teachers’ confidence in teaching and, in turn, their attitude towards the subject. More confidence in technology teaching and a more positive attitude are expected to increase the frequency of technology education, which consequently increases teaching experience and thereby stimulates the development of teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge. This circle of positive reinforcement will eventually contribute to the quality of technology education in primary schools.     

Towards a Model for Teacher Development in Technology Education: From Research to Practice

This paper reports on a series of interventions in New Zealand schools in order to enhance the teaching of, and learning in, technology as a new learning area. It details the way in which researchers worked with teachers to introduce technological activities into the classroom, the teachers' reflections on this process and the subsequent development of activities. These activities were undertaken in 14 classrooms (8 primary and 6 secondary).The research took into account past experiences of school-based teacher development and recommendations related to teacher change. Extensive use was made of case-studies from earlier phases of the research, and of the draft technology curriculum, in order to develop teachers' concepts of technology and technology education. Teachers then worked from these concepts to develop technological activities and classroom strategies. The paper also introduces a model that outlines factors contributing to school technological literacy, and suggests that teacher development models will need to allow teachers to develop technological knowledge and an understanding of technological practice, as well as concepts of technology and technology education, if they are to become effective in the teaching of technology.     

Technical and vocational teaching and training in Gabon: how future teachers build their vocational identity?

The professionalism of teachers is based on three levels of expertise: mastering academic knowledge, mastering the teaching of this knowledge and mastering the role played by teachers in schools. For each of these levels, each student during the teacher training courses has his own understanding. This understanding influences their perception of the job of teacher and thus their attitude towards their training. Efficiency of this training could be evaluated through the evolution of this understanding. The experimental part of this study will involve looking at this evolution with students from the ENSET in Libreville at the beginning of the training course, the end of the first cycle and the end of the second cycle. Data collected shows that training does not really produce the desired results for a university vocational teacher training course for technology education.     

Reviewing the relations between teachers’ knowledge and pupils’ attitude in the field of primary technology education

This literature review reports on the assumed relations between primary school teachers’ knowledge of technology and pupils’ attitude towards technology. In order to find relevant aspects of technology-specific teacher knowledge, scientific literature in the field of primary technology education was searched. It is found that teacher knowledge is essential for stimulating a positive attitude towards technology in pupils. Particularly, teachers’ enhanced Pedagogical Content Knowledge is found to be related to pupils’ increased learning and interest in technology. Six aspects of technology-specific teacher knowledge that are likely to play a role in affecting pupils’ attitude are identified and schematically presented in a hypothetical diagram. It is concluded that more empirical evidence on the influence of technology-specific teacher knowledge on pupils’ attitude is needed. The hypothetical diagram will serve as a helpful tool to investigate the assumed relations between teacher knowledge and pupils’ attitude empirically.     

Emerging Assessment Practices in an Emergent Curriculum: Implications for Technology

This paper reports on detailed case studies into emerging assessment practices in technology in two New Zealand primary schools (Years 1–6) with nine teachers. This research is part of the two year Research in Assessment of Primary Technology (RAPT) project and formed the basis for the one year New Zealand Ministry of Education funded Learning in Technology Education (Assessment) project.Emerging classroom assessment practices in technology, a new subject area in the national curriculum, are discussed. It was found that the existing subcultures in schools, teachers' subject expertise and the school wide policies impacted on the teachers' assessment practices. Assessment was often seen in terms of social and managerial aspects such as team work, turn taking and information skills, rather than procedural and conceptual aspects. Therefore teachers' formative interactions with students distorted the learning away from procedural and conceptual aspects of the subject, and the learning and the formative assessment interactions focused on generic skills rather than student technological understanding.The importance of developing teacher expertise in three dimensions of knowledge about the subject, knowledge in the subject and general pedagogical knowledge is highlighted. Thus the findings from this research have implications for thinking about teaching, learning and assessment in technology.     

Recognising Uniqueness in the Technology Key Learning Area: The Search for Meaning

The purpose of this study was to investigate areas of significance which were related to the understanding of technology and technology education, identified by teachers introducing the key learning area, technology, into their primary school classrooms for the first time. Working from Australia's national document on technology education, A Statement on Technology for Australian Schools (Curriculum Corporation, 1994), two teachers wrestled with how to fit this new curriculum area into their current classroom programs, their understandings of technology as a phenomenon and with their beliefs about teaching and learning in general. The study showed that the teachers made sense of technology education as it related to, from their perspectives, ideas about and aspects of primary school classrooms with which they felt comfortable. Implications for professional development include the need to acknowledge and value the prior experiences and understandings of primary teachers. The challenge for teachers in implementing technology education is gaining a conceptualisation of the learning area, which in some respects, is very like other more familiar learning areas in the primary curriculum, but in many other respects, unique. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Learning in DEPTH: developing a graphical tool for professional thinking for technology teachers

In this issue of the International Journal of Technology and Design, we report on a series of case studies from the second phase of an international project—Developing Professional Thinking for Technology Teachers (DEPTH2). The first phase of the project was a study conducted with both primary and secondary technology pre-service teacher education students in a number of different countries who were given the same teacher-knowledge graphical framework as a tool to support reflection on their professional knowledge. We discovered that, despite the different country contexts, student teachers of technology could articulate aspects of their developing teacher knowledge using the same framework for teacher professional development. As previously reported in this journal (Banks et al. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 14, 141–157, 2004), the common graphical tool enabled them to set out their subject knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and ‘school’ knowledge and was useful in helping them become more self-aware. In this second phase of the project we have developed this line of research in two ways. First, we extended the range of participants to include experienced teachers involved in in-service work connected to curriculum development. Second, we looked at the inter-relationship for pre-service teachers between their developing professional knowledge and their own ‘personal subject construct’. In this article, the theoretical framework for the subsequent papers is described and set in the context of recent debates surrounding the nature and importance of teacher knowledge; and the way such professional knowledge can be articulated by teachers.     

Communities of practice as a tool for continuing professional development of technology teachers’ professional knowledge

With the introduction of a new school curriculum in South Africa in 1998, Technology as a school subject was introduced for the first time. Implementation by the National Department of Education took place over a very short time frame allowing very little time for adequate training of technology teachers by the provincial departments of education. Teachers were expected to implement technology in schools without being adequately trained. They needed to develop their professional knowledge which comprises school knowledge, subject knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. This could mainly be done through continuing professional teacher development (CPTD). To address the lack of CPTD opportunities and to develop these teachers’ professional knowledge, the Unit for Technology Education at a university in South Africa established a Community of Practice (CoP) as a strategy to develop teachers’ professional knowledge in Civil Technology. However, after a number of CoP workshops, and although these CoPs have been designed to serve as a tool for CPTD, we do not know to what extent it succeeds in developing teachers’ professional knowledge. The purpose of this article is to determine to what extent the CoP succeeded in developing teachers’ professional knowledge. A qualitative study was conducted. Data were collected through the observation of the teachers during the CoPs, open-ended questionnaires and field notes taken during workshop discussions. The main findings were that the teachers gained discipline knowledge and acquired instructional methodology (pedagogy) from which learners may benefit. The presentation and organisation of the CoP influenced the learning of the teachers.     

Recognising Uniqueness in the Technology Key Learning Area: The Search for Meaning

The purpose of this study was to investigate areas of significance which were related to the understanding of technology and technology education, identified by teachers introducing the key learning area, technology, into their primary school classrooms for the first time. Working from Australia's national document on technology education, A Statement on Technology for Australian Schools (Curriculum Corporation, 1994), two teachers wrestled with how to fit this new curriculum area into their current classroom programs, their understandings of technology as a phenomenon and with their beliefs about teaching and learning in general. The study showed that the teachers made sense of technology education as it related to, from their perspectives, ideas about and aspects of primary school classrooms with which they felt comfortable. Implications for professional development include the need to acknowledge and value the prior experiences and understandings of primary teachers. The challenge for teachers in implementing technology education is gaining a conceptualisation of the learning area, which in some respects, is very like other more familiar learning areas in the primary curriculum, but in many other respects, unique.     

Swedish technology teachers’ views on assessing student understandings of technological systems

Technology education is a new school subject in comparison with other subjects within the Swedish compulsory school system. Research in technology education shows that technology teachers lack experience of and support for assessment in comparison with the long-term experiences that other teachers use in their subjects. This becomes especially apparent when technology teachers assess students’ knowledge in and about technological systems. This study thematically analysed the assessment views of eleven technology teachers in a Swedish context. Through the use of in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews, their elaborated thoughts on assessing knowledge about technological systems within the technology subject (for ages 13–16) were analysed. The aim was to describe the teachers’ assessment views in terms of types of knowledge, and essential knowledge in relation to a progression from basic to advanced understanding of technological systems. The results showed three main themes that the interviewed teachers said they consider when performing their assessment of technological systems; understanding (a) a system’s structure, (b) its relations outside the system boundary and (c) its historical context and technological change. Each theme included several underlying items that the teachers said they use in a progressive manner when they assess their students’ basic, intermediate and advanced level of understanding technological systems. In conclusion, the results suggest that the analysed themes can provide a basis for further discussion about defining a progression for assessing students’ understanding about technological systems. However, the findings also need to be examined critically as the interviewed teachers’ views on required assessment levels showed an imbalance; few students were said to reach beyond the basic level, but at the same time most assessment items lay on the intermediate and advanced levels.     

DEPTH2: developing professional knowledge in D&T secondary initial teacher education

There are various aspects to teachers’ professional knowledge, some such as subject knowledge are more easy to articulate than others, for example knowing how to construct a scheme of work. Student teachers need to be able to understand the various aspects of teachers’ professional knowledge in order to be able to help themselves reflect on and develop these various aspects. This research builds on earlier work conducted with design and technology colleagues in a number of different countries and teacher training institutions (see Banks et al., International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 14, 141–157, 2004). Leach and Banks, together with other colleagues, developed a visual tool for discussing the aspects of professional knowledge that student teachers are required to develop and this formed the basis of this research (Leach and Banks, Investigating the developing ‘Teacher Professional Knowledge’ of student teachers, 1996). The research was carried out with a cohort of 1-year Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students on a conventional face-to-face programme. There were 11 in the group with six male and five female and the majority were aged under 25; this is atypical of this course both for gender and age, but this constituted the 2004–2005 intake. There were three data collection points: September 2004, on their first day of their course; January 2005 following their first school placement and June 2005 at the end of the course. The findings indicate the students’ development across the PGCE course in each of the areas relating to knowledge of subject, pedagogy and school. In each area there is a growth in their knowledge and a development in the complexity of their understanding. The students’ knowledge developed from a generalised understanding to a more specific and sophisticated one. It is hoped to be able to continue this research during the induction year of each successful student.     

The study of technology as a field of knowledge in general education: historical insights and methodological considerations from a Swedish case study, 1842–2010

Today, technology education in Sweden is both a high-status and a low-status phenomenon. Positive values such as economic growth, global competitiveness and the sustainability of the welfare state are often coupled with higher engineering education and sometimes even upper secondary education. Negative values, on the other hand, are often associated with primary and lower secondary education in this subject. Within the realm of technology education at such lower levels of schooling in Sweden, different actors have often called for reformed curricula or better teacher training, owing to the allegedly poor state of technology education in schools. Recurring demands for a change in technology education are nothing unique from an historical point of view, however. In fact, the urge to influence teaching and learning in technology is much older than the school subject itself. The aim of this article is to describe and analyse some key patterns in technology education in Swedish elementary and compulsory schools from 1842 to 2010. This study thus deals with how technological content has developed over time in these school forms as well as how different actors in and outside the school have dealt with the broader societal view of what is considered as important knowledge in technology as well as what kind of technology has particular significance. The long period of investigation from 1842 to 2010 as well as a double focus on technology as scattered educational content and a subject called Technology make it possible to identify recurring patterns, which we have divided into three overarching themes: Technological literacy and the democratic potential of technological knowledge, The relationship between school technology and higher forms of technology education and The relationship between technology and science.     

Preservice Primary Teachers' Thinking About Technology and Technology Education

It is apparent from previous research that primary school teachers have very limited or narrow perceptions of design and technology and such views may affect adversely their ability and confidence to teach the key learning area of design and technology in the classroom. Therefore, it is the task of technology teacher educators to provide experiences that will broaden preservice teachers' perceptions of technology and technology education. This paper reports an investigation, using an interpretive research methodology, of preservice primary teachers' prior perceptions of design and technology and changes in their perceptions of design and technology as a result of their engagement in independent technology projects. Students enrolled in a one-year postgraduate teacher education program were the participants in the study and the methods of data collection included the use of survey instruments, interviews, field notes and students' reflective journals. The results indicate that the independent projects broadened and deepened the students' understandings of technology as a process. The implications of the approach for the design of technology education courses for preservice and inservice teachers are discussed.     

Exploring the (un-) usefulness of mandatory assessment documents in primary technology

Every student in the Swedish compulsory school system is entitled to information regarding their progress in all school subjects given. In 2008, a mandatory assessment tool, called the individual development plan (IDP) with written assessment, was introduced by the Government. The statutory purpose was to provide teachers with a formative assessment tool to be used mandatory in the follow-up of student’s progress all thru mandatory compulsory school (year 1–9). This study explores the use of the IDP documents in technology education. Authentic documents from different municipalities, different schools and different school years have been studied. In this article findings regarding formal assessment documents and teacher’s formal assessment practice in primary (year 1–6) technology education are presented.     

A process-based assessment framework for technology education: a case study

Over the past few years, educators in South Africa have been subjected to many changes in the educational sphere. Not only was a new approach to education, namely outcomes-based education (OBE) implemented, but the curriculum was also changed and now consists of eight learning areas, some of which are groupings of traditional school subjects (e.g. languages). Technology, however, is a new and for most educators unfamiliar learning area. The implementation in 1998 of the technology learning area in South African schools had educators reeling as they were unprepared and untrained to facilitate this new learning area. There was also limited information available for the assessment of learners in technology. Learners’ competence in technology education should be assessed in a meaningful and responsible manner, which requires more than just the evaluation of the end product. The purpose of this research was to develop a process-based assessment framework to support the technology teacher with assessment activities, which incorporate the technological process and provide opportunities for the assessment of aspects of the thinking sub-processes as part of the technological process. Qualitative action research was undertaken. Three Grade 7 learners and a teacher at a parallel medium primary school (school where two official languages are used congruently as medium of instruction) were involved in the case study. Resource, case study and a capability task were done by the three learners. For the purpose of the research project, information obtained from the capability task was used. This research focused on the initial idea generation stage (stage five) of the technological process, as well as creative and critical thinking (as thinking sub-processes) processes. Observation and semi-structured interviews were used as data-collection methods. The validity and reliability of the research were ensured by means of triangulation. Three main categories (findings) were named as aspects which could be employed when compiling a process-based assessment framework, namely outcomes, content and assessment methodology. Further subcategories were identified within each of these main categories. The framework will serve as a roadmap to technology teachers, especially those with little or no pedagogical knowledge in technology to assist them to base their assessment on sound methodology.     

Dilemmas and opportunities of a new curriculum: Design and technology with Young Children

The article draws on the University of Leeds research project Technological Capability in Young Children. The research objectives were to identify and characterize capability in design and technology for children aged 5–11; to document features of progression in capability within the domains of graphicacy, evaluation skills and the handling of tools and equipment; and to identify and investigate factors which contribute to the development of a technological knowledge base in primary school classrooms. The research perspective relates to previous studies of contextual and developmental features of capability and the development of practical intelligence. Data sources include fieldnotes and video recordings of children working on tasks defined by their teachers as design and technology activities; interviews with the teachers and children about the outcomes of the activities; and contextual data such as availability of materials, resources, use of teacher time, and classroom organization.Analysis of classroom recordings, together with teacher and pupil interviews, revealed a learning environment which presented teachers with new dilemmas and children with opportunities to demonstrate previously unnoted capabilities and deficiencies, particularly in graphicacy, evaluation processes and the manipulation of tools. The findings are exemplified through analysis of critical incidents.     

Emergent technological literacy: what do children bring to school?

There has been very little research into children’s technological practice in early childhood settings. This article describes four typical examples of the technological activity that occurs on a daily basis in New Zealand early childhood settings. It is suggested that children come to compulsory schooling with well-developed technological knowledge and competence in instigating and carrying out technological tasks that is not recognized and taken advantage of by the majority of primary early years programme developers and teachers. A number of ways by which early years school technology programmes could benefit by recognizing the extent of children’s emergent technological literacy and amending programme delivery and teaching strategies are detailed.     

Assessing nutritional status and nutrition-related knowledge,attitudes and practices of Albanian schoolchildren to support school food and nutrition policies and programmes

In Albania, many children exhibit poor nutritional status, have unhealthy diets and inadequate physical activity. Yet, comprehensive studies on the nutritional status, food and nutrition knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) are largely non-existent for Albanian school-age children.To fill these important gaps, a nationwide survey was conducted in Albania in 2017–2018 to assess the nutritional status and the nutrition-related KAP of Albanian school-aged children.The study consisted of a nationally representative sample of 7578 Albanian schoolchildren from all regions of the country. In addition, 6810 parent questionnaires were collected, along with interviews with the directors of all involved schools, 311 teachers and 53 key informants representing local authorities in all districts of Albania. Data collection consisted of anthropometric measurements of children and structured questionnaires administered to children, their parents, teachers, school directors, and key informants.The survey is unique in both the scope of the respondents involved, and in the breadth of content area covered, and as such, makes an important contribution not only to Albania, but also to the field of research in food, health and nutrition for school-age children.This paper presents the preliminary findings from the KAP survey that will help influence policies for actionable advancement on the commitments and priorities of Albania to improve food security and nutrition. In particular, the study findings will support the development of a national school food and nutrition programme in Albania embedded into the local food system and the design of food and nutrition educational materials and campaigns to promote healthy diets and practices among both school-age children and the Albanian population.