Team-based design work: developing an essential skill for pupils and design and technology teachers

Team-based design skills are generally considered an important aspect of the work of designers and engineers today. This paper explores the issue of training teachers of design and technology to be able to develop team-based design skills in pupils (age 11-18). Current thinking on team-based design work and its development as a skill is reviewed. The development of team-based design skills in the teacher-training course at Loughborough University is described. The paper then describes how this growing student experience is transferred into knowledge and practice in developing these skills in pupils as student teachers enter schools.