Design and technology vital to our future

Design and Technology in Rotherham education plays a key role alongside maths and sciences in providing the skills required by key growth sectors like advanced manufacturing, design, engineering and creative industries.

It inspires children to follow careers in these vital sectors, as it is one of the few subjects that bring the real world into the classroom. It’s about much more than woodwork and needlework.

It covers graphic design, electronics, product design and development and encourages enterprise, all skills our economy desperately needs.

It prepares young people for life in an advanced technological society and opens up entrepreneurial minds by involving them in designing and making products that work and that people want. Design and Technology’s position at the heart of the

National Curriculum in England is currently under threat. Removing it as a statutory subject will seriously undermine Rotherham’s economic prospects now and in the future.

Its retention is vital if we are to have an education system fit for the 21st century. We have manufacturing industries opening up all over South Yorkshire. Do we want to see another opportunity for our children go begging? Make sure you let your MP or councillor know what this government is throwing away.

Jenny Shorthill, Spring Gardens, Penwortham, Preston