Teachers should establish if students have developed robust level seven competencies and are ready to begin working towards level eight achievement objectives for the Technological Practice components, and plan learning experiences to progress these as guided by the level eight Indicators below.

Brief Development

Planning for Practice

Outcome Development and Evaluation

Achievement Objective

Students will:

• Justify the nature of an intended outcome in relation to the context and the issue to be resolved. Justify specifications in terms of key stakeholder feedback and wider community considerations.

Achievement Objective

Students will:

• Critically analyse their own and others' past and current planning and management practices in order to develop and employ project management practices that will ensure the efficient development of an outcome to completion.

Achievement Objective

Students will:

• Critically analyse their own and others' outcomes and their determination of fitness for purpose in order to inform the development of ideas for feasible outcomes. Undertake a critical evaluation that is informed by ongoing experimentation and functional modelling, stakeholder feedback, trialling in the physical and social environments, and an understanding of the issue as it relates to the wider context. Use the information gained to select, justify, and develop an outcome. Evaluate this outcome's fitness for purpose against the brief. Justify the evaluation using feedback from stakeholders and demonstrating a critical understanding of the issue that takes account of all contextual dimensions.

Teacher Guidance

To support students to undertake brief development at level eight teachers could:

• support students to identify a context that offers a range of issues for them to explore. Context refers to the wider social and physical environment in which technological development occurs. Contexts may include but are not limited to: storage, afterschool snacks, outdoor living, sustainable energy, sport, educational software, streetwear, portability, furniture.
• support students to identify considerations that will need to be taken into account when making judgments of fitness for purpose in its broadest sense. Fitness for purpose in its broadest sense refers to judgments of the fitness of the outcome itself as well as the practices used to develop the outcome. Such judgments may include but are not limited to considerations of the outcomes technical and social acceptability, sustainability of resources used, ethical nature of testing practices, cultural appropriateness of trialling procedures, determination of life cycle, maintenance, ultimate disposal, health and safety.
• support students to select an authentic issue within their selected context
• support students to identify a need or opportunity relevant to the issue and context
• support students to understand the physical and functional nature required of their outcome
• support students to justify the nature of their outcome in terms of the issue and context
• support students to develop and justify specifications that will allow the evaluation of the outcome and its development to be judged as fit for purpose in the broadest sense.

Teacher Guidance

To support students to undertake planning for practice at level eight teachers could:

• ensure that there is a brief against which planning to develop an outcome can occur
• support students to critically analyse a range of project management practices and explore how project scheduling is used to manage Technological Practice
• support students to establish and implement a coherent project schedule that allows for the coordination and management of the: regular review of goals, planning tools, all resources required (time, money, stakeholder/s, materials, components, software, equipment, tools and/or hardware etc) and review points
• support students to provide evidence of effective and efficient planning decisions. Effective and efficient planning decisions ensures that the use of resources is optimised during the development and production of an outcome produced to successfully meet the brief.

Teacher Guidance

To support students to undertake outcome development and evaluation at level eight teachers could:

• ensure that there is a brief with attributes against which the outcome communicated by the conceptual design can be evaluated, and that there is a more developed brief with clear specifications against which a developed outcome can be evaluated;
• establish an environment that supports student innovation and encourages critical analysis of existing outcomes and knowledge of material innovations;
• support students to critically analyse the ways in which the fitness for purpose of existing outcomes have been determined, and how appropriate development practices were established;
• support students to develop drawing and modelling skills to communicate and explore design ideas. Emphasis should be on progressing 2D and 3D drawing skills and increasing the range and complexity of functional modelling;
• support students to explore a range of materials/components and to develop the necessary knowledge and skills to evaluate and make effective use of them;
• support students to establish which materials/components would be optimal for use when taking into account all contextual dimensions;
• support students to undertake prototyping to gain evidence that enables clear judgments regarding the outcome's fitness for purpose and determine the need for any changes to enhance the outcome;
• support students to gain targeted stakeholder feedback and understand the implications of the physical and social environment in which the outcome is to be located.

Indicators

Students can:

• identify and evaluate a range of contexts to select an authentic issue
• explore context to identify considerations related to fitness for purpose in its broadest sense
• identify a need or opportunity relevant to their selected issue
• establish a conceptual statement that justifies the nature of the outcome and why such an outcome should be developed with reference to the issue being addressed and the wider context
• establish the specifications for an outcome and its development using stakeholder feedback and based on the nature of the outcome required to address the need or opportunity, consideration of the environment in which the outcome will be situated, and resources available
• communicate specifications that allow an outcome to be evaluated as fit for purpose in the broadest sense.
• justify the specifications as based on stakeholder feedback and the nature of the outcome required to address the need or opportunity, consideration of the environment in which the outcome will be situated, and resources available.

Indicators

Students can:

• establish a coherent project schedule suitable for the physical and social environment where the outcome is to be developed and implemented, informed by critical analysis of existing  project management
• implement project schedule, undertaking reflection at critical  review points to revise or confirm schedule to ensure the effective and efficient completion of an outcome
• manage the project to provide evidence of the coordination of goals, planning tools, resources and progress review points and justify planning decisions.

Indicators

Students can:

• generate design ideas that are informed by research and critical analysis of existing outcomes and knowledge of material innovations;
• develop design ideas for feasible outcomes that are justified with evidence gained through functional modelling that serves to gather evidence from multiple stakeholders and test designs ideas from a range of perspectives;
• undertake evaluation of design ideas informed by critical analysis of evaluative practices to support the development of a conceptual design for an outcome that optimises resources and takes into account maintenance and disposal implications;
• undertake functional modelling of the conceptual design to provide evidence that the proposed outcome has the potential to be fit for purpose;
• evaluate suitability of materials/components, based on their performance properties, to select those appropriate for use in the production of a feasible outcome that optimises resources and takes into account maintenance and disposal implications;
• undertake prototyping to gain specific evidence of an outcomes fitness for purpose and use this to justify any decisions to refine, modify and/ or accept the outcome as final;
• use stakeholder feedback and an understanding of the physical and social requirements of where the outcome will be situated to support and justify an evaluation of the outcome and development practices as fit for purpose.