English National Curriculum for Design and Technology for the first-time featured D&T as a subject area (D&T). Most colleges have to offer it as a separate course due to a lack of support and familiarity among the majority of professors. Since the professors were well-versed in D&T, they could incorporate it into a topic of interest to their students. Starting in the year 2000, the Department of Education and Skills began classifying issues under broad headings, such as Excellence or Fun. The Rose study, a subsequent National Curriculum review, may use topics or themes to teach subjects. In addition to the phrase ‘the Creative Curriculum’, new vocabulary was developed at the same time, and while it does not have a single definition, it was generally interpreted to signify that schools should be more creative in designing a curriculum that was suited for their pupils. When D&T was included into a creative curriculum, a lack of impartiality was instantly apparent. In the drive to include disciplines into a creative curriculum/theme/topic approach, design and technology were overlooked. As a result, products that would typically be considered improper may be quickly discovered. D&T was tested in a small-scale study to examine what happened when it became a part of every school subject. Surveys and semi-structured interviews were completed by 47 primary school teachers who participated in award-winning D&T courses. An unpublished dissertation reveals the conclusions of a teacher’s extensive case study. The outcomes of this research will highlight how difficult it may be for instructors to preserve their personal integrity when including creative curriculum or cross curricular teaching into their lessons.
