Teaching design and technology-has the emphasis changed?

Technology in the school curriculum has developed at an astonishing rate since the early 1960s. The subject has grown through practice and not from theory. It has become established by teachers in the classroom being innovative and trying out ideas that have appealed to them. In the early periods there was very little academic analysis taking place into what was making the subject so successful. Pupils voted with their feet and courses expanded. Competitions and public recognition led to a high profile for the subject and over a period of time, mainly through the development of A level success, the Universities and Polytechnics acknowledged that there was some exceptional young talent available through this subject route and increasingly found ways to attract these youngsters to their courses. The author discusses these changes and developments