Humanising the design and technology curriculum: Why technology education makes us human

As practical and creative education in England continues to experience challenges and a relative loss of status, this paper argues for the importance of a broad and balanced curriculum and in particular design and technology (D&T) education. This paper is a position piece and discusses some of the challenges facing D&T.Calling for a reinvigoration of the subject to its original intentions, as the first National Curriculum subject in the programmes of study for England - discussed in the 1980s and enacted in 1990 – we explore how perspectives on education, curriculum and technology are politically informed and constructed.This paper reasserts the fundamentally humanising nature of technology in society. Drawing on ideas from science and education, both within and outside of D&T, the authors explore the cultural aspects of the subject; beyond the technical and economic arguments.