Filling the design and technology education gap
by Rodney Magazinovic
A
degree specialising in the training of design and technology teachers
will produce its first graduates later this year.
The program was developed in response to market demand and lobbying groups such as the Technology Teachers Association, who were concerned that the absence of an undergraduate degree was leading to a lack of qualified design and technology teachers in South Australian schools.
The four-year Bachelor of Education (Design and Technology Education) focuses on the development of knowledge and skills in a range of traditional and future-focused areas with emphasis on critiquing and designing as teaching methodologies.
Program director Denise MacGregor said a large proportion of the current teaching force in this sector will reach retirement age in the next five years.
"As there hasn’t been a design and technology undergraduate degree in South Australia for more than 10 years, the majority of staff in this area are aged between 40 and 60 years," she said.
The program’s quota of 50 students – evenly split between the fields of design and technology, and home economics – was easily filled by first preferences in the first student intake in 2005, with the Tertiary Entrance Ranking increasing with each successive intake. Another positive aspect has been the increase in the number of female and male students enrolling right across what traditionally have been highly-gendered areas of design and technology, and home economics.
With UniSA only one of three tertiary institutions nationally that offer such a program, it is expected that the current intake quota of students will be sustainable for the next five to 10 years.
"There will be demand in this field for teachers right across Australia for the next decade or so," MacGregor said. "We also expect that some students will take up opportunities overseas in territories such as the United Kingdom and Canada where shortages also exist."
MacGregor said the program had forged links within the community and education sectors including TAFESA, the Robotics Peer Mentoring project and the Northern Areas Manufacturing Partnership.
"Giving our students the opportunity to be part of community, TAFE and school-based projects enables their learning to be really contextual."