Bridging Art & Design and D&T: Values, Overlaps, and Why Differences Matter

Ever been told art and design and technology are basically the same because they share the word “design”? Let’s test that claim with real data and grounded classroom experience. In this episode I unpack how teachers and stakeholders describe the value of D&T and the value of art and design, then draw a clear map of where they overlap, where they diverge, and what leaders risk when they blur them into one.

First, I outline five widely reported value themes for D&T: transferable skills, careers and the economy, the human–technology relationship, making and creating, and creative and critical thinking. These insights come from a larger, validated body of research and speak to the discipline’s focus on users, systems, materials and evidence through iterative making. Then we contrast early qualitative findings for art and design: career preparation, societal impact, skills for life, and creativity and expression. Here, empathy, cultural awareness and personal voice take centre stage, with a strong link to creative industries, innovation and sustainability. The conversation surfaces a simple truth: both subjects champion creativity and problem solving, yet each serves a distinct purpose that deserves protection.

I share practical ways to collaborate without erasing identity: agree non‑negotiables for cross-teaching, and design joint projects where D&T’s functional rigour and art’s expressive depth enrich each other rather than compete. This is a toolkit for faculties, middle leaders and senior teams who want the benefits of a shared banner without collapsing two powerful traditions into one bland compromise. If your timetable or staffing model pushes subjects together, this guide helps you hold the line—respectfully, clearly and with evidence.

Got thoughts or examples from your school? Add your voice to the ongoing survey, share the episode with your faculty, and help us build a richer, more rigorous picture of what these subjects offer. If you find value here, subscribe, leave a review, and pass it on to colleagues who care about getting design and the arts right for young people.

Link to the survey: https://bit.ly/Valueofdesigned 

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Scene: DT Focus
• 0:23 Why Compare Art And DT
• 2:20 Five Stated Values Of DT
• 4:01 Early Findings For Art & Design
• 6:03 Where The Subjects Align And Diverge
• 8:23 Protecting Uniqueness, Enabling Collaboration
• 9:15 Open Survey, How To Engage

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:06

You're listening to the Talking DT Podcast. I'm Dr. Alison Hardy, a writer, researcher, and advocate of design and technology education. In each episode, I share views, news, and opinions about DT. I had the pleasure recently of running a session, or rather taking part in a session, for a group of art and design and design and technology teachers at the Future Teachers Alliance in Coventry. I was invited by Lucy Burns of Artbytes, I'll put links to these in the show notes, to come and do a talk which was primarily to art design teachers about design and technology. So what I decided to do was draw on my research about how people value design and technology and some early findings from the second phase of my research about how people value art and design. And I thought I'd share a little bit of that with you in this episode. So you had some insights because I know what's happening in England more and more is that we have faculties in secondary schools of art, design and technology, which means that we have specialists in art and design teaching design and technology, and DT teachers are teaching art and design. I think there's strengths in that, there's also weaknesses because there are distinctness, is that's an odd word, isn't it? Um to the two subjects. And if senior leaders are assuming that they're the same thing because they've got the word design in it, we potentially could be losing the very essence of these two subjects. I had a great conversation quite a while back now with Michelle Gregson from NSEAD about this, and I started to collect this uh data from this research back in June, but I've only just now had the opportunity to analyse some of this data. So I said I thought I'd share that with you because I think it's useful to have some sort of framework to have conversations about what the similarities are and what the differences are. So if you heard about my uh value of DT research before, you'll know that some of the themes here are that they originate from quite a longitudinal study of this. So let's just go through what those five values are for design and technology. Then I'll talk about the similar value, the values for art and design, and we can talk talk a little bit about what the differences are and what the similarities are and what that might mean. So for DT, there's five that came out of the data from our analysis. There's transferable skills for personal development, and there's careers, life, and the economy, people's relationship with technology, making uncreative, creating and creative and critical thinking. Now, let me be clear. This is not about what the value of design and technology is. All I'm measuring at the moment is what people say is the value of design and technology. Now, if you've listened to me in the past, you'll know I have some tensions around some of these, around particularly transferable skills for personal development and careers, life and the economy. But my tension there is that we forget to then focus on what the intention of the curriculum is, which is kind of almost like a subset of what people say is the value of design and technology, because we know education has a value beyond what is taught in the classroom or what is written in the curriculum. So that's those five. There's transferable skills, which might involve researching, communicating, managing time, collaborating, careers, life in the economy. So they develop knowledge and skills that develop their personal lives and future careers and are valuable to businesses and contribute to economic growth. We've got no evidence of that. I'm just saying that's what people value. I'm not saying there isn't evidence, I'm just saying in terms of published research, there isn't. But I know, you know, from evidence from uh case studies from schools, there is evidence of this. People's relationship with technology, the dynamic relationship between humans and technology, uh, including its environmental impact, and they learn that inclusive design must consider people's differences. This kind of idea about um that one size doesn't fit all, that we have a relationship with technology, we shape technology, and technology shapes us. Um that that's a really key value that comes out of the data. Making and creating, pupils experience hands-on making and creating, which fosters learning, achievement, and pride, um, and gives this space for children to realise what's in their mind's eye. And then finally, creative and critical thinking, DT gives pupils space to be curious and creative, and then they also learn to think critically by evaluating existing designs and considering their impact and their usefulness. Excuse me, I'm gonna take a slurp of T. So that's the design and technology values. Let's have a look at what the art and design wants. Now, this research for art and design is is much earlier, um, very much in its preliminary stages. So, all I have here for this data analysis is qualitative work. I don't mean that all I have. I haven't been able to validate this, and I've only had about 25 responses. Whereas the DT research um is it's a much bigger study, um, qualitative, validated, checked, we've done statistical analysis on those. Whereas this one for the art and design is very much emerging. And I don't mean that they've emerged from the data, is I mean that they are very much preliminary. These may change as we get more responses. So, again, we've got career preparation, societal impact, a little bit different to this people's relationship with people's relationship with technology, skills for life, again there a little bit about transferable skills and creativity and expression, um, which sort of relates to the DNT ones about making and creative and creative and critical thinking. But let's focus on art and design. So, career preparation. The subject is seen as a foundational for roles in creative industries, design, architecture, especially in a future shaped by innovation and sustainability. So that's interesting. Matt mentioned about sustainability in there. Societal impact. Art and design education promotes societal impact by fostering empathy and cultural awareness. So that empathy, similar to DC, but the cultural awareness is something that's different. Skills for life, uh, developing transferable skills again, but here critical thinking, resilience, uh, confidence, problem solving. Again, that one was similar to the design and technology, sort of skills, transferable skills. And then creativity and expression. Aren't design education fosters creativity and encourages personal expression through imaginative work. So, what's interesting on that one for me is the difference is it's personal expression through imaginative work, where the design and technology is more focusing on the making and creating, uh, so the realization of a design, but also being curious and creative in terms of uh transforming the world and thinking about existing designs. So there's some really for me some quite distinct differences here. So if you think about what those shared values are, there's both prioritise creativity, problem solving, and positive social impact. Whereas DT emphasizes more the technical skills and economic benefits, whereas art and design promotes expressive freedom, emotional connection, and cultural engagement. Now I can hear some DT teachers and art and design teachers saying, yes, but DT does that, or art and design does that. Well, yes, but this is a collective response. Um this is not saying that these are the you know these values are prioritized equally by everybody in those two different communities, but it's about saying that they are foregrounded differently by those two different communities. I think that what that helps us think about is if we want to understand the differences between them, that to help us foster collaboration and mutual enrichment, I think we need to understand these differences and these similarities because they they do have different purposes. And if we don't understand them, if we're design and technology going in to teach art and design, we can try and impose our own values on that subject and how it's taught, um, which is disrespectful to the art and design community, and vice versa as well. So there's different purposes and different intentions and different values. So hopefully that's given you something to think about today, um, about those insights about what the differences and what the similarities are, and why we need to defend the uniqueness as well as talk about the strength of the interdisciplinary collaboration. But what we would lose if we merged, and I've got no evidence that we would merge, but I know in some schools senior leaders um have a misunderstanding about the nature and the purpose of the subjects. So I'm hoping that starts to give you some insight. The survey that I've used for this data analysis is still open. I'm going to put a link in the show notes. So you're welcome to complete that. Fill that in because the more responses I get, the more rigorous the data analysis can be. So hopefully you found that interesting, giving you some opportunities to have some conversations in the schools that you teach in. And as ever, come back to me if you've got any questions, comments, or thoughts. I'm Dr. Alison Hardy, and you've been listening to the Talking DT Podcast. If you enjoyed the podcast, then do subscribe on whatever platform you use and do consider leaving a review as it does help others find the podcast. I do the podcast because I want to support the DT community in developing their practice, so please do share the podcast with your DT community. If you want to respond to something I've talked about or have an idea for a future episode, then either leave me a voice memo via Speakpipe or drop me an email. You can find details about me, the podcast, and how to connect with me on my website, dralisonhardy.com. Also, if you want to support the podcast financially, you can become a patron. Links to Speakpipe, Patreon, and my website are in the show notes. Thanks for listening.