Technology Education in Secondary Schools in the 21st Century

Technology plays an increasing significant role in our lives and it is important that students understand how it influences their lives and that of society and their own participation in it.

Mitcham (as cited in Jones & Moreland, 2003) states

First, technology is a major and, some would argue, a determining feature of the world we inhabit. In consequence, young people, as future citizens need to understand how it shapes the world and how they participate in it. If future citizens are to understand and participate in decision making, technology education must prepare them adequately by dealing with the technical, social, ethical, political and economic issues that underlie technological process and by ensuring that students recognize that technology is located within a philosophical, historical, and theoretical context.

In New Zealand in the late 1980s, early 1990s a curriculum review was undertaken which led (after much development) to technology being added as a separate subject area and as one of the seven essential learning areas that students need to acquire knowledge and understanding of. Technology was made mandatory in January 1999 thus making it compulsory for all students until the end of their tenth year at school. Technology was seen as a fundamental component of developing the economy of New Zealand and empowering students to deal with and participate in a technological society in the future.

As a relatively “new” curriculum area, gazetted at the end of 1998 (Curriculum Framework, Ministry of Education, 1993) it has been in a state of continual change. The curriculum has since been revised and a new edition was published in 2007.

In this paper some of the challenges faced by secondary school teachers wi...

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...ricia Murphy, & Michael Harrison (Eds). Teaching and Learning Technology, pp 3-14, Milton Keynes, Open University Press. ISBN 0-201-63169-5

Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media Ltd.

Naughton, J. (1994). What is 'technology'? Chapter 1 in Frank Banks (Ed), Teaching Technology, pp 7-12. London, Routledge. ISBN 0-415-10254-5

Turnbull, W. (2002). The place of Authenticity in Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 12, 23-40.

Williams, J. (1996). Philosophy of Technology Education, Chapter 2 in John Williams and Anthony Williams (Eds), Technology Education for Teachers, pp 27-62. Melbourne, Macmillan. ISBN 0-7329-4090-7

Williams, P. J. (2000). Design: The only methodology of technology? Journal of Technology Education, 11(2), 48-60. ISSN 1045-1064