Diversity within design and technology is essential: our creative ideas are drawn from our collective experiences as we reflect on and refine our designs.

People from different identity groups are able to make contributions from different life experiences and so together we can produce more original and creative responses to design challenges.

The AQA, OCR, Edexcel and WJEC/Eduqas exam boards are failing to champion this approach in their specifications for Design and Technology at GCSE. Aspirational role models for students who do not identify as white or male are underrepresented in the specifications. The responsibility to increase diversity within design and technology should be shared by both the classroom teachers and the examination boards.

This petition asks the examination boards to address this imbalance and update their specifications to be a fair and aspirational reflection of the diversity within the classroom and the design industry.

For reference, in the AQA specification for GCSE design and technology, under “The work of others” students must investigate the work of a minimum two of the following designers:

Alexander McQueen
Aldo Rossi
Charles Rennie Macintosh
Coco Chanel
Ettore Sottsass
Gerrit Reitveld
Harry Beck
Louis Comfort Tiffany
Marcel Breuer
Mary Quant
Norman Foster
Philippe Starck
Raymond Templier
Sir Alec Issigonis
Vivienne Westwood
William Morris.

And a minimum of two of the following design companies:

Alessi
Apple
Braun
Dyson
Gap
Primark
Under Armour
Zara

Edexcel asks students to investigate the work of past and present professionals and companies, and suggests the following:

Alessi
Apple
Heatherwick Studio
Joe Casely-Hayford
Pixar
Raymond Loewy
Tesla
Zaha Hadid

WJEC/Eduqas asks students to Investigate and analyse the work of past and present designers and companies:

Airbus
Apple
James Dyson
Philippe Starck
Matthew Williamson

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash