The Cox Report and the Key Stage 3 review: creativity, design and innovation in the UK

At the time of the 2005 UK Budget Statement the Chancellor of the Exchequer decided to commission a report concerning how to exploit the nation’s creativity skills more fully in order to ensure long-term economic success. The consequent report by Sir George Cox was released in December 2005 and makes very interesting reading, particularly when considered against the review of the Key Stage 3 (KS3) UK curriculum (for 11-14 year old pupils). Many DATA members will have already read the views that the association has presented on behalf of its members, which were published in November 2005. It is clear that the challenge of sustainability in its full sense – economic, social and environmental – is now firmly on the national agenda, and driving the review of economic and educational structures, and rightly so. It is equally clear that the design and technology (D&T) education community must correspondingly review the contribution that D&T makes to sustainability agendas, facilitating change where it is needed, and resisting change where it is misdirected.