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Dear Ken, Don, Derek and all, For the last ten years I've had the pleasure and honour of working with Alun Price, a member of phd-design. The last five years, Alun has guided the successful development of national secondary course curricula in Design and the associated 'end of secondary education' exams that qualify students to enter university. This secondary school Design program seems to move Design education forward significantly, and the outcomes to date present some serious challenges for university academics to improve future university design education and research. On completion of this secondary school Design program, students arrive at university after two years intensive design education tightly linked with their education in other subjects (maths, social sciences, history, geography, physics, chemistry, English, art etc). Their knowledge levels, theoretical understanding and skill levels in terms of design contrast strongly with the rather more limited skill set of applicants to design schools who are primarily assessed in terms of whether they show some artistic skills and have a reasonable average of secondary education marks. The curricula of this secondary course in Design covers much the same material as a degree in Design. The evidence so far of exam outcomes shows that these secondary students' level of knowledge and skill in design seem typically towards the middle of the second year of a university design degree. In their portfolios, however, the best of the students produce portfolios that would be considered acceptable to good submissions for end of degree grad shows. In effect, the best of these secondary students have the skills, knowledge and competencies to enter the job market as designers in direct competition with those exiting after completion of design degrees. This is the second year of this Design program being examined. Teachers are still finding their feet with the program and we can expect outcomes to improve. Around 1000 students are taking the exam, which is about the same number as the total places in Design in the universities in the same catchment. These outcomes present some interesting challenges for tertiary design education from degree to PhD. Consider: 1. What should the degree curriculum look like that starts by assuming that student entrants already have the skills to at least second year standard? More importantly, perhaps, these secondary students have these design skills integrated with and supported by the other subjects in their school education. This opens up the possibility and space in Design degrees significantly to increase the theoretical depth, breadth and standard of design-related knowledge and skills from other disciplines such as psychology, maths, management, the social sciences, business and engineering. 2. The next sensible step educationally for the best of these secondary students would be a Masters in Design rather than a design degree. Current standards in Masters education in Design is predicated on students having the skills typical of someone exiting the current Design degrees and the best of these secondary students are achieving these levels of skill and knowledge at school. 3. Assuming that undergraduate design education can now be extended to included greater depth of theory from disciplines across social sciences, business, science and engineering, anyone entering a Masters program in Design could reasonably be expected to already have this level of theoretical knowledge and skill alongside the skills and knowledge currently taught in degrees in Design. This offers significant opportunity to improve standards in taught Masters programs in Design and also to increase the level of theoretical difficulty expected of Masters by Research projects. 4. The new secondary Design curricula offers an approximately 2 years of additional study - integrated with other disciplines. In effect this also increases the standards of theoretical and conceptual difficulty expected of research projects for PhDs to assume that candidates have this extra 2 years of design-related education. 5. As Derek Miller commented recently, skills in sound reasoning are both essential and one of the most obvious weaknesses of Design students both in university and secondary school. From observation at school and in Universities, skills in reasoning are, surprisingly, often taught least well and less evident in Humanities areas. This embarrassingly makes hollow the common Humanities claim that sound reasoning and critique is the strength that Humanities brings to academia and professional practice. This is clearly an area that needs improvement as lack of adequate critical reasoning and thinking skills seems to be the greatest handicap to advancement in students design theory and practice skills. Of concern in parallel, is observation of design academics overlooking students' lack of faulty reasoning and avoiding formally addressing the associated educational and professional formation problems. 6. Undergraduate integration issues are evident for universities whose undergraduate student intake combines students who have completed 2 years of intensive secondary education in Design with other local and international students who have no prior education in Design. At the moment, potentially the only satisfactory educational resolution is to award 2 years 'recognition of prior learning' in the degree program for these secondary school Design students. This use of 'recognition of prior learning' would echo the approach used for students who have undertaken parallel design education in vocational training colleges. 7. Originally, the secondary Design curricula was conceived (like traditional university design courses) to be delivered and assessed in separate 'contexts' (3D/2D design, photography, graphic design and technical graphics). Alun, with the support of teachers, has guided the integration of the four contexts into a single integrated program in which students and teachers can specialise or not. The exam has a single set of questions answered by all students, regardless of their context. The exam is challenging for the examiners to write, it resolves, however, many moderation and assessment issues. 8. This new secondary program offers a core element of a larger program for radical improvement of design education and practices including clarifying the theory foundations, improving PhD supervision, redefining the roles and purposes of Masters of Design programs, extending the theory foundation of design degrees to include degree level theory from other fields, establishing standards for professional practice, integrating design education across the Arts, Engineering, Business and Social Sciences, and adoption of evidence-based approaches to design theory, education, research and practice. Alun is currently coordinating the national marking of the design portfolios of this secondary school Design program. As soon as I return from the UK to Western Australia, I'll be working with him coordinating the marking of the written exams. The outcomes should give some deeper insights into the potential for future improvements. All the above is a long way of explaining and giving my apologies that I'm unable to be at IASDR this year. I hope it goes well, and look forward to hearing about it. Finally, a small correction, from experience Aussies drink LESS than English and Americans - advantage to Don. Best wishes, Terry === Dr Terence Love FDRS, AMIMechE, PMACM, MISI <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] Mob: +61 434 975 848 Coordinating and Chief Examiner, Chief Marker, DESIGN 2 and 3 Curriculum Council, Western Australia Dept of Design, Researcher, Social Program Evaluation Research Unit Dept of Psychology and Social Sciences Edith Cowan University, Western Australia Dept of Design Curtin University, Western Australia Honorary Visiting Researcher, IEED Management School, Lancaster University, UK ===