The authors of the National Curriculum in 1988 saw fit to define Design & Technology as a separate subject from Art & Design. More recently economic instrumentalism has attempted to drive Design & Technology into an ever tighter relationship with the teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (the subjects known collectively as STEM).

Recent research by the RSA suggests that Design & Technology has failed to make itself integral to the teaching of STEM subjects and the political pressure to do so has merely resulted in a loss of status for DT in the curriculum. In the meantime Art & Design is informally referred to as just Art.

Rare and brilliant professional artists, designers, engineers and scientists may achieve magical compounds of knowledge, but how should schools attempt to connect what is learned in science and art? How can design’s relation to both be rehabilitated in the classroom?

International electronic artist Daniel Brown explains the mathematical foundations of his work before an expert panel on education, including Robert Bird, learning director for Art and Design and Competence Curriculum, Oasis Academy Enfield; Dr Rhys Morgan, head of secretariat for Education for Engineering (E4E), Royal Academy of Engineering and John Miller, designer and author of the recent RSA pamphlet ‘What’s Wrong With DT?’

Chaired by Dr Ken Arnold, head of public programmes, Wellcome Collection