Assessment overview
There are three endorsed titles within this qualification.
- Design and Technology: Design Engineering (H404)
- Design and Technology: Fashion and Textiles (H405)
- Design and Technology: Product Design (H406)
The assessment structure is the same for all:
Content overview
There is distinct content for each of the endorsed titles. Much of this content takes an endorsed approach to underlying core principles of design and technology. The examined content is assessed in components 01 and 02. The content for component 03/04, the iterative design project, is more generic but specific application will be determined by the focus of the endorsed title selected:
- Design Engineering (H004) focuses on engineered and electronic products/systems with their analysis in respect of:
- Function, operation, components and materials
- The selection and use of the above in commercially viable products and/or systems.
- Fashion and Textiles (H005) focuses on a range of different fashion and textiles products, along with their applications and analysis, in respect of:
- Materials, components, process and trends and their selection and use
- The selection and use of the above in industrial and commercially viable products and practices.
- Product Design (H006) focuses on consumer products and applications and their analysis in respect of:
- Materials, components, process and their selection and uses in products and/or systems
- The selection and use of the above in industrial commercially viable products and practices.
The content covers the following topic areas:
- Identifying requirements
- Learning from existing products and practice
- Implications of wider issues
- Design thinking and communication
- Material and component considerations
- Technical understanding
- Manufacturing processes and techniques
- Viability of design solutions
- Health and safety.
For a number of these principles, mathematical and/or scientific knowledge is also required; this is indicated in the specifications.
Component 01: Principles of...
Students:
- Analyse existing products
- Demonstrate applied mathematical skills
- Demonstrate their technical knowledge of materials, product functionality, manufacturing processes and techniques
- Undertake case studies to demonstrate their understanding of wider social, moral and environmental issues that impact on the design and manufacturing industries.
Component 02: Problem solving in...
Students:
- Apply their knowledge, understanding and skills of designing and manufacturing prototypes and products to given situations and problems
- Demonstrate their higher thinking skills to solve problems and evaluate situations and suitability of design solutions.
Component 03/04: Iterative design project
Central to this non-examined assessment is the requirement for students to understand and apply processes of iterative designing in their design and technology practice: exploring needs, creating solutions and evaluating how well the needs have been met.
Students identify an engaging and challenging context of their own choice that offers design opportunity or problem to respond to in the development of a design solution. They create a chronological portfolio of evidence in real-time as they design, make and evaluate the project according to the iterative processes of explore, create and evaluate.