Designed for Life - In conversation with the Textiles Skills Centre (Report released April 24)

In this episode, we are delighted to talk with Dawn Foxall and Roy Ballam about the recently released paper commissioned by the Textiles Skills Centre, 'Unravelling the Fabric of Textiles Education'.  As we seek to move the subject forward, building from the bottom up being our approach at the Association, we need to carefully look at where textiles fits into primary and secondary education. Our view is that we want to keep textile education within design and technology, a position that is perhaps challenged by the large number of textile teachers who are now delivering examinations within art and design in secondary education. We were, therefore, somewhat relieved and delighted that this report strongly indicates that textile teachers have moved predominantly for the assessment methodology adopted through art & design and a strong desire to "teach to their expertise" at KS4 and KS5. A large majority have stated in this report that they would come back to design and technology if the examination requirements were adapted to allow them to do this within the subject; this giving us a clear steer as we seek to start the process of reform. We drop the normal format of the podcast and dive straight into the report on this episode; there is so much that demands discussion. Thanks to Dawn and to Roy for giving up their time to talk with me. You can download the report from the TSC: https://www.textilesskillscentre.com/As always, huge thanks to the Edge Foundation for their continued support of this podcast.