Why diversity is important

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

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 current situation with exam boards:

The AQA, OCR, Edexcel and WJEC/Eduqas exam boards do not champion this approach in their specifications for Design and Technology at GCSE.

Design role models who do not identify as white or male are underrepresented in the specifications.

We're asking the examination boards to address this imbalance and update their specifications to be a fair and aspirational reflection of the diversity within the classroom.

You can sign the petition here: http://chng.it/j2pD8hL6

What's the plan?

By working with the community of teachers, I hope that we can co-create a diverse list of designers and design lead businesses to put forward in a proposal to the exam boards.

Designers in the current exam board specifications

AQA 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

AQA Design Businesses

  • Alessi

  • Apple

  • Braun

  • Dyson

  • Gap

  • Primark

  • Under Armour

  • Zara

Pearson / Edexcel

  • Alessi

  • Apple

  • Heatherwick Studio

  • Joe Casely-Hayford

  • Pixar

  • Raymond Loewy

  • Tesla

  • Zaha Hadid

WJEC / Educas

  • Airbus

  • Apple

  • James Dyson

  • Philippe Starck

  • Matthew Williamson