An International Overview of Curricular Approaches and Models in Technology Education

Technology is a peculiar subject in that its status and its nature have been subject to radical changes in recent years. The subject is seen to serve several aims, which are given different relative priorities in different countries, and there are many traditions that are associated with competing pressures in the redefinitions of the subject. These changes and varieties are further complicated by the different curriculum models within which a reformed subject is meant to fit and play a specific role. It is suggested that the tensions between instrumentalist and humanist models for the subject may be dissolving, but that there are deeper problems about the nature of the learning involved in the fields of practical application. However, the most intractable problem is to implement very new pedagogy when the teaching force may be illprepared and where the classroom experience needed to temper and transform novel plans is lacking. PB