Constructing Technology Education: Questions of Purpose and Fit

Abstract

The technology curriculum comes into effect this year, designed to make school leavers innovators for the future. Teaching and learning is to be built around technological problem-solving as a “purposeful activity” where “fitness for purpose” is the criterion of success. This paper questions the goal of preparing students to become innovators for a future conceptualised in terms of current ideology, namely, national competition in a global market, and asks whether classroom activities that reflect current technological practice fit even this purpose. It suggests that in a late industrial society, fast becoming a “risk” society, understanding of the role of social organisation and cultural values in technological change is the primary goal, and critical technological literacy the means of its realisation. The paper examines the origins of the technology curriculum, both educational and political, the development and nature of the curriculum statement, and the progress to date of curriculum implementation in schools.