Home | Site Map | Contact us | Search | Glossary | Accessibility | Disclaimer | Subscribe

Information for parents about Technology Education

Five questions to ask your child's school about Technology education

1: What is my child being taught in Technology?

Technology teaches the knowledge and skills to be confident in using a variety of ways to address needs and opportunities and to solve practical problems. It focuses on know-how as well as knowledge itself, gathering information from diverse sources.

2: What concepts in Technology is my child being exposed to?

Technology education explores choices and the factors that influence choice, including culture and society, costs and benefits, aesthetics, and fitness for purpose. It seeks to empower students to make informed choices in the use of technology and their responses to technological change.

3: How is my child's technological literacy being developed?

Technology education helps students achieve technological literacy through:

  • Technological Practice – students examine current practice and undertake their own, developing a range of outcomes, including concepts, plans, briefs, technological models and products or systems;
  • Technological Knowledge – students gain knowledge particular to technological enterprises and environments and find out why and how things work; and
  • Nature of Technology – students develop an understanding of Technology as a discipline and how it differs from others.

4: Is my child getting the right skills and knowledge needed for future study and employment?

Technology education equips your child with an enterprising and innovative attitude, and skills and knowledge foundational in a range of careers and teriary study options. It is recognised as a useful pre-requisite for a variety of tertiary studies and careers such as engineering, design, architecture, food science, biotechnology and ICT.

5: What can I do to support my child's learning in Technology?

You can take an interest in what your child is learning in Technology at school by asking them questions about it. Talk to their teachers about how you can contribute to their Technology education. This may be through providing them with real, authentic problems to solve or supporting them or their teachers by providing them access to the expert technical knowledge and skill that you have.