Design and Technology A Level

The course aims to enhance student awareness of both function and aesthetics in design and to enable them to differentiate between well conceived and poorly conceived ideas. It offers a broad range of practical opportunities and allows students to develop their own design brief, in response to a context task set by the examination board for their coursework project.

A level Design and Technology carries on from GCSE, but because students have a broader understanding and knowledge base, it allows greater emphasis on commercial awareness and industrial design. Students will learn how industrial designers operate and will come to appreciate how an understanding of industrial manufacture leads to more effective and innovative design.

During the course, students will complete a coursework task, which is a non-exam assessment. The design context for the tasks will be set by the exam board each year and students will develop their own design brief in response to a real client need and input throughout their projects. Each project will be treated as a business proposition, requiring feasibility studies and informed decisions at every stage of development. Budget constraints, production scale, ergonomics and environmental factors will all exist as hurdles to be overcome in this exciting and creative path to a new product.

The portfolio work is supported by theory sessions, in many cases delivered through practical experiences, which relate directly to the written examination papers, sat at the end of the course.

Looking Further Ahead

An A level in Design and Technology could lead, in its own right, to any design career in industry whether it be Product Design, Fashion Design, Architecture or Engineering.